Dick Bodine, a pioneer in electrical engineering, is back on St. Croix to visit friends and to sign a book written about him entitled, “The Bodine Story: From Chicken Coop to Industry Leader.”
Although basically a memoir, Bodine says the book was actually written by David Yawn because, “He is a professional business writer and I am an engineer.”
The book signing will take place at Undercover Books & Gifts. Kathy Bennett, owner of the Gallows Bay bookstore, is impressed not only with the story the book tells but also the timeliness of its message.
“While the public awaits signs of an economic recovery, the new Bodine book provides a memoir that carries significant and timely themes…. the work covers the development of a specialized school and new approaches to the subjects of philanthropy, employee stock ownership plans and workforce loyalty,” Bennett writes in a press release.
The book focuses on the nearly 40 years that Bodine spent with his first wife, Jinnie, who died of breast cancer in 1999. During the couple’s unique partnership, they built a business and explored areas such as lighting engineering, employee-employer relationships and philanthropy.
The couple met and graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology, both with degrees in electrical engineering. After college, Bodine worked at his father’s saw mill, until it was sold, leaving the profits for Dick’s mother to live on.
At that point the couple was pretty much left to their own devices, and they responded by starting a business of their own in the 1950s. Bodine says they had always fooled around with ham radios, so they decided to build custom intercoms out of their home. When business became too big for their home it, moved to a chicken coop that had been used for storage on the farm they lived on just outside Memphis, Tenn.
From there the husband-and-wife team went on to build and test equipment for RCA. Bodine says his invention that really launched the business was lighting for signs on city buses. In the 1960s, the Bodines also designed emergency lighting required by new building codes.
During a recent phone interview about the book, Bodine’s wife Peggy said he and Jinnie were successful because of hard work and good timing. He emphasizes the hard work part by saying he was so busy he didn’t play golf for 27 years.
Readers of the book will note, as they follow the business growth, that the couple developed a practice that is not common in today’s marketplace. They decided to provide secure employment based on commitment.This meant that even through the early days of production, when there were slow periods, paychecks still were issued. For the Bodines, creating jobs meant long-term commitment, ensuring corporate continuity and acknowledging simple human dignity by rewarding a job well done.
“This is the way every business should be run,” Bodine says. The couple’s business was sold to Phillips Electronics approximately three years ago.
As the business grew, the couple reached a point in life where they were able to contribute to a variety of charitable endeavors extending from Memphis to St. Croix. Here on St. Croix, they have donated to organizations, including Queen Louise Home and Central High School Band.
Tragedy led perhaps to the couple’s greatest charitable contribution: the Bodine School for students with learning disabilities in Memphis, built in memory of their only child, Richard Shannon Bodine, who drowned at the age of 17. As a young child, Richard had learning difficulties and was diagnosed with dyslexia. The couple decided they needed to do what they could to help children that had the same type of difficulties as their son.
Peggy Bodine says the school that has been serving children for 34 years was built on a wing and a prayer.
In 2006, the Bodine Visitor Center at St. George Village Botanical Garden was opened and dedicated to Jinnie.
“Dick is one of those guys who has money and believes in giving it away to good causes,” says Bodine friend Stan Joines. “He takes leadership and asks friends to open up their checkbooks.” Joines, who goes to the same church as the Bodines, the St. Croix Reformed Church, says Bodine has also been a big donor to the church.
Bodine fell in love with St. Croix 20 years ago while on a diving trip. He and Peggy, his wife of six years, now divide their time between St. Croix and Memphis, Tenn.
The book signing is Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. in Gallows Bay.
