Herschel White

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Biography

Herschel was born in 1910. Herschel White ... He passed away in 1976. Herschel detested his given name and went by the initials of "H. L."or the nick name of "Whitey" for most of his adult life. Most of his friends and business associates never knew his real name. He worked in sales since he was a small boy, however, his first experience in sales was not a good one. His father, Irven, sold Bibles door to door and often went from Columbus, Indiana to the smaller surrounding towns and spent the day selling house to house. Herschel decided at 14, at the end of his sixth grade that he was ready to quit school and join his father in business. Irven gave him a sample kit, took him to Seymour,Indiana and said, "Knock on every door, sell 'em a Bible and I'll pickyou up in time to return home for supper". At 4:00 pm Irven went to the designated spot and no Herschel, Irven drove all over town and still no Herschel. Irven contacted the Seymour police and they searched but were unable to locate him. Irven went back home to see if Herschel had contacted his mother Ida, and there he was, sitting under a tree drinking lemonade in the shade. He had knocked on two doors and when they turned him down he walked the 17 miles back home to Columbus and decided this was not his cup of tea. No record was made of Irven's reaction but he must have given him another chance and it must have worked out better. Herschel never returned to school and he worked his way to top salesman in every field he entered from that time on. He sold Bibles until the depression, he dug ditches for a dollar a day during the worst of the depression and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps when all work dried up in Indiana. He moved to New Lebanon, Ohio and sold milk door to door, first from a horse drawn wagon, then in one of the first milk trucks owned by the Blossom Hill Dairy in New Lebanon. He moved back to Indianapolis,Indiana and sold bread for Colonial Bakery to groceries and restaurants. He worked for a period as a door to door laundry / dry cleaner route man for Lux Laundry, he later became route supervisor for them before leaving to sell tools to garages and filling station mechanics for Snap-On Tools. In each of his endeavors he worked his way from the bottom to positions of middle management. He was up for promotion to District Sales Manager with Snap-on until they discovered that he had only a sixth grade education. When they refused to promote him for that reason he quit and started his own company. He said many times, that it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He enjoyed a great success with White's Tool Company and achieved more personal success and realized more financial comfort than he ever thought possible.

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