Dick Zeiter worked at the Spicer Transmission Division of Dana Corporation in Toledo Ohio. As a younger employee he was faced with numerous layoffs as the Corporation began moving production out of Toledo. In 1974 while working part time at a gas station, a customer introduced him to the business of installing TV Towers part time.
As his new company, Dick's Antenna Service, began to grow, he was asked to install some garage door openers by one of his wholesale suppliers. Finding that the task took similar tools to the TV Tower Business and that it had a different busy season made it a comfortable fit to the business. He began Dick's Automatic Door Service in December of 1975. Over the years, the TV Tower business diminished, first due to cable and then satellite TV. The garage door business, however, continued to grow. After his final layoff from Dana in 1983, he finally went full time with the garage door company.
Early on a Saturday morning in July of 1987, while directing traffic at the warehouse for a delivery, a third shift worker racing home passed the delivery truck on the right side and did not see Dick until it was too late to stop. He skidded sideways and hit Dick tumbling him head over heels for about thirty feet, breaking Dick's leg and bruising his ribs. It was finally time to hire some help. Dick and his crutches went on service calls and installations with his new employee as he trained him to replace springs, cables, hinges and install garage doors and openers. In November of 1991, Dick hired another employee (who later became foreman) to meet the demands of a growing, family owned, garage door company.
The size of the company has changed over the years as the economy goes up or down, but, with his Key Employees being with the company for over 28 years, Dick looks forward to the future of Dick's Automatic Door Company a div. of D.A.D.S., Inc.
Update:
On March 9th of 2019, Dick turned the company over to Deb & Ken who had worked for him for 28 years. Dick spent a year working for the new owners when he is was not traveling. In late summer 2020, after many years of working two to three jobs at a time, he stopped going into work. |
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