L.K. Wood Success not Laced with Luck!!!
Many success stories are laced with luck. However this is not the case with L.K. Wood Sr. founder of L.K. Wood Realty Co. Inc. In fact a less resourceful person probably never would have survived Wood’s earlier years. Even today some people who didn’t know him might think he was joking as he reminisced about his childhood and his first business ventures. However the story is all true, including and unlikely beginning in a bankrupt orphanage in New York state 86 years ago this May.
The L.K. Wood Realty Co. turned 60 years old this month so I called my grandpa L.K. Wood Sr. to talk about the L.K. Wood story again to go over every detail so I could remember to tell it correctly to my son L.K. Wood IV. It’s so fantastic I thought I would share the details.
It was in the orphanage that L.K. Wood Sr. first demonstrated his resourcefulness and his desire to succeed in life. As a teenager he went to homeowners and got contract from them to haul the ash from there coal furnaces, and keep there side walks clear of snow and debris. They used the coal ash to keep people from slipping on the ice. He then hired other youngsters from the orphanage to help him with the work.
When he was only 14 he ran away from the orphanage. It was then he got the shock of his young life. “I hid out for the entire day thinking the authorities would be looking for me,” my grandpa recalled. “However, no one came I think they were glad to get rid of me, because the home was so poor and now there was one less mouth to feed.”
After his successful flight he went from farm to farm looking for work.
“I stayed for a time at the home of a farmer who was to poor to pay me anything but room and board,” my grandpa said. “However he did permit me to work for another farmer, at times, so I could earn money to buy clothes.”
Somehow despite all these obstacles L.K. Wood Sr. was able to earn his high school diploma. He also saved enough money to get his younger brother out of the orphanage. In 1942 he entered the armed services, spending four years of service mainly in the China-Burma-India area.
One day after the war Wood asked a USO worker where a good place to live was. The woman recommended South St. Louis and told him how to get a bus to take him there. “I still wonder where I would be today if I had gotten on the wrong bus” my grandpa said.
At this time in his life my grandpa only had $100 in his pockets in mustering out pay. And because he needed money he obtained not one but two jobs- working as a punch press operator for $28 a week and a bun popper in a bakery for $34 a week.
This early pattern of working hard long hours stuck with L.K. Wood Sr. throughout his life. I am confident he passed on this genetic link to his son L.K. Wood Jr. and ME L.K. Wood III.
My grandpa had a lot of jobs in his early life before becoming a real estate broker. He ran and elevator, drove stock cars, worked in an advertising agency as a layout man, and even tried his hand at bronco busting. I asked my grandpa “Why did you do all those things? He replied “When you are poor you do a lot of things.”
He finally entered the real estate field, part time, receiving his broker’s license in 1948. One year later he opened an office in his home. He told me “I remember the first night standing in the basement of my rental home. I had my first listing appointment tomorrow. I knew I had to get it and sell if fast because I needed the money.” “I stayed up late with Shirley and painted my first sign.” I said “Wow what color was is Grandpa.” He said “purple.” “Purple” I replied. “Why purple Grandpa.” He said “It was the only can of paint I had.” He listed it that next morning and sold it later that same day.
However times were still tough and one job was not enough so my grandpa became a bread truck driver, driving from 2 a.m. p.m. each day. After finishing delivering bread he would then work tell 9 p.m. Selling real estate. He followed this back-breaking routine for 2 years.
In 1951 L.K. Wood opened its first office at 3015 Cherokee St. He was understandably excited, but he received a minor setback. The phone company told him he would have to wait two weeks for his phones to be installed.
This was not about to stop Wood. He merely got a bunch of nickels and used the phone at a nearby gas station.
This is just the beginning of a very long story of L.K. Wood Sr. the L.K. Wood real estate company and the L.K. Wood family so stay tuned.
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