Gauthier, Joseph “Joe”

1928-2018

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/joseph-gauthier-obituary?pid=190881545&page=2

Joe retired from National 3M as District Operations Manager. He put OOH first in his 45 years of service to 3M.

I was fortunate to have Joe Gauthier take a chance on me as a twenty-one-year-old billboard painter. I met Joe at a restaurant and proudly beamed as I slid my book of sign photos to him to view. Lifting his head, he quietly said, "These aren't very good."  Joe handed me some paperwork to fill out and send in. We had a good conversation but I left for home feeling a bit shorter than when I walked into the meeting.

A few weeks passed and as I was scrapping for sign jobs locally, I received a call from Joe, "Why haven't you sent in your paperwork?", he asked. I didn't think you liked the work, I replied. I hung up promising to mail the paperwork.

A few days later I received an envelope containing scaled artwork and a  3M work order!

My father who worked in finance coached me to keep a man like Joe Gauthier in the loop at all times.

That next morning, I did just that. I called bright and early not realizing Michigan was an hour ahead in time. A gruff voice asked what I needed and I answered  I had received a work order. I would be right on it.

A curt reply of "Good" came over my phone. "I'm shaving....do you know what time it is? How did you get my number?

So started a great life thanks to a man named, Joe.

Years later & with many National 3M billboards in my photobook, Joe touched base with me. With more bragging than concern, I replied, almost jokingly how an electrician had placed the billboard lights conduit on top of the catwalk instead of underneath. This caused my toe to catch under it and I toppled forward on the catwalk sixty feet up. I told Joe that I had simply painted the top of the conduit red and solved the issue. The next time I painted that billboard, the lights were all moved and the catwalk was free from obstruction.

I had another adventure to tell Joe.  A tall I-beam structure had catwalks so narrow that my swing stage was the same size. This meant I needed to walk across a twenty-foot ladder that was loosely sitting on top of the walk. To add to the drama, the catwalk was not spaced very far from the face.

I drove past this billboard on route to another day later to see the full 3M crew installing brand new catwalks!  A stern Joe Gauthier cared about us and showed us with his actions. It meant a lot to me to see those cranes at the site.

Joe not only cared for the people he supervised, he cared about 3M National and OOH.

One winter as I painted during a blizzard it snowed perhaps a foot and a half. I packed up at the end of the day not realizing I had left some empty paint cans and rollers near the base of the billboard.  Some might not think a bit of trash next to a billboard pole, hidden in weeds was much of an issue.  A photo sent to me by Joe and a stern warning taught me that everything is important in the billboard business! Respect for property owners is one of them.

A person that knew Joe mentioned that Joe fired the Son of his Boss. It was an ethical firing but Joe paid the price of never being promoted.  This story seems like the Joe I knew. He was old school, fair, and one of the best men I knew.