Constantin A. Kari

My name is Tully Kari and I am my fathers oldest son. This is my Dads story as I remember it. My father came to US as a young man. He was one of the last to come through Ellis Island. He use to tell the story of his entering with a small amount of money and a bag of golden delicious apples. The apples were taken from him by immigation officers and as he finished the rest of his documentation he went to leave and the officers were all sitting around eating his apples. Making his way to the California he was registered to attend school at a state college where he spent his first year and then transfered to University of San Francisco where he completed his undergrad he was completely self funded and worked his way through school. Once he went into the cafeteria and sat down to study and ordered a cup of coffee. When he realized he did not have the nickel to pay for it, rather than drinking the coffee he packed his books and left. He was to proud to take something for nothing. He than made his way to Chicago to attend Northwestern to persue his PHD. While working in labs as a chemist to fund his education he entered the food industry. He worked for Griffith Labs, Cook Chocolate Co., Keebler, and Oscar Meyer. As kids we enjoyed his days at Oscar Meyer because for those of you old enough to remember we always had an abundance on the weiner whistle rings. When my Uncle Ben came to the US in 1968 my Dad had the engineering support he needed to open a small company called Combine Foods. He manufactured a chocolate drink mix called Goody Boy which he said was named after me and fondant which was used as a base for Icing. Dad would come home and eat dinner then grab Elaine, Angie and I to return to work sitting on boxes in the back of his Ford delivery van, as he worked late in the evening to get his orders ready for the next day we would pick the drippings of fondant off the liners which was like candy (yum) and close up the boxes and tape them shut. Saving his money a few years later he had an opportunity to merge with a failing company that manufactured dressings and oils and shortening. He eventually through contacts he developed over the years was able to leverage a buy out of his partner. He worked so hard, gone for weeks at a time building his business. The company grew and relocated several times in a relatively short period. He didn't really have time as we were growing up to do the things most kids remember he made up for it by taking me with him everywhere to work trade shows, road trips calling on customers. He was a tremendous business man and a great mentor. While he shouldered the huge responsibilities of running a business he did not dodge his responsibilty to his 7 children (at the time) and the additional challenge of providing the best quality life for two mentally handicapped children. In the late 70's my mother and father divorced. My Dad fought for 4 years and spent tens of thousands of dollars to keep custudy of his children, I know we meant the world to him. Elaine and Angie possesing the same inner strength as our father just like when he came to this country, struck out on their own at a very young age. Connie, Kathy, the twins and I were in my Dads care and custody. He stepped to the challenge of being single father and operating a major business. All this took a toll on his health. Fortunately, he had the strong support of his family to help care for us. After struggling for a while he decided (with some prompting from our Aunts and Uncles who were saddled with us) that with a teenege son and two young daughters that were being handed around the family while he worked and traveled that he should re-marry. He did, got himself a mailorder bride 25 years younger than him and the rest only our family know's the truth, and alot of people got hurt in the end. However we all became strong people much like him.