Breedlove’s started as a downtown store in 1949.
Today, it has grown into a business that reaches far beyond Kewanee and employs many people.
Bill Breedlove still follows the company’s basic principles: Treat customers well, and be actively involved in bettering their community.
Bill, a son of company founder R.F. Breedlove and the head of the company’s screen printing business, is being honored this year as Kewanee’s Citizen of the Year.
The award is presented by the Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassadors Club, which honored Bill at a banquet Thursday evening at the Flemish Club.
In his remarks at the banquet, retired Kewanee School Supt. Dr. Chris Sullens recounted the “vast contributions to the schools” that Breedlove’s has made through the years.
He mentioned one incident in which the mother of an athlete brought her daughter’s jersey back to Breedlove’s, where it had been made. She was upset because her daughter’s name was misspelled on the jersey.
Bill Breedlove directed that the jersey be redone with the correct spelling — at no cost to the customer.
Later, an employee at the store produced the order for the jersey, in which the girl’s name had been spelled exactly as it appeared on the first jersey.
That philosophy of “the customer is always right” has been the Breedlove’s motto from the beginning.
Some 30 years ago Bill took over the leadership of the screen printing operation that Breedlove’s was beginning. He has been at the helm of the business ever since, and his son Cal is in charge of an online operation that has extended Breedlove’s customer base throughout the nation.
Kevin Yepsen of Community State Bank told how Bill Breedlove has been a member of the bank’s board of directors for years, and is a member of the loan committee and the compensation committee at the bank.
Yepson commented on “how fortunate the community has been” since the Breedloves moved here in 1949.
Bill Mattingly, a retired school superintendent who was one of Bill’s close friends in high school, recounted some humorous events from the past, and cited Bill Breedlove’s “extraordinary” efforts to improve his community.
The Breedloves gave back to their community not because they had to, Mattingly said, but because the wanted to.
In accepting the Outstanding Citizen of the Year honor (which had been given to his father in 1996), Bill credited the work of several long-term employees as being a key to the success of the business.
He mentioned Sue Petty, who has worked for Breedlove’s for more than 50 years; Larry Standaert, an employee of more than 40 years; Mike Pillen, a 38-year employee who is in charge of the trophies and awards department; Bill’s wife LaJean, who has been part of the business for 30 years; and Kevin Witte, also a 30-year employee.
Bill said he learned from his father the importance of giving back to the community and taking care of his employees.
The Outstanding Citizen of the Year award dates back to 1976, when Gust “Brick” Lundberg was the first honoree.
