Will to Win

Clarence Nash laid it all out during his retirement speech after a 42-year career trussing mattresses in an Ohio factory.

A member of the Greatest Generation, Nash was the type who walked to work when his car broke down. He never called in sick. He sometimes held one or two other jobs to support his wife and four kids. And when he retired, recalls one daughter, Judith Williams, he said “if the good Lord will give me a few years where I can be happy, that will be a good thing.”

Now a successful east Manatee County-based entrepreneur, with businesses that stretch from lumber supply to high-end clothes on consignment, Williams remembers her dad's speech well. It was poignant motivation.