More grom Grandpa on the Business side of life

I was going to say that I have been too busy to write - but, alas, that would have been a lie, so I will just say "sorry to have been so long".
We are now Topper, Inc, and we rent an office in Mt. Vernon and start off with our two motels for Topper, Inc. and three for Regal 8 Inns of Calif. Over time we also opened and operated two Quick Penny mini markets, one in Salem and one in Mt. Vernon.
I was able to purchase from Prudential Insurance a fairly new 140 unit motel in Memphis, Tenn, which they had repossessed @ $1,400,000. We got it with nothing down, but we had to spend a minimum of $100,000 in upgrading (carpet, paint, etc.). This property was turned over to Regal 8 Inns of California giving them their fourth location. Topper Inc opened the Billings motel giving us 3 motels.
At this time Leroy Hatfield, who had been with us the longest of any employee other than Dee Smith with Regal 8 Inns and had been our first area supervisor with them, joined us in Topper Inc and managed the Billings motel. Our three motels were all in the cold country (Fargo, North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Billings, Montana so all had indoor corridors and indoor pools. Leroy got Billings off to a very good start, and we then brought him into the main office with the title of supervisor.
In the meantime, Bill Topper had left Regal 8 the same time I did, and his first undertaking was to turn a Selma gas station I had bought into the first of our Quick Penny stores. When that was done, he took on the challenge of building two houses on two of the four lots that I had purchased around a small lake in Mount Vernon. Bill and son Joe built them, doing a very good job, and we were able to sell one to Leroy and the other one to Rick Ripley, the truck driving son of Ralph and June Ripley who also came from Regal 8 Inns to join our company. June did the books for Topper Inc. and and she and Ralph moved to Florida with us. Ralph actually didn't work for us; in Illinois he worked as Treasurer for small town, and in Florida quickly found a job.
Bill, along with Frances, then took over the operation and bookkeeping of Regal 8 Inns of California and they too moved to Florida with us.
The two Quick Penny markets were eventually closed and the buildings sold. I had hoped this would develop into a successful chain, but it was our first failure - proving we were not infallible!!!