Tom Wegman Shares His Life at Celebration of Excellence

Tom Wegman has had quite a life, and he shared it with a big crowd gathered Wednesday morning at the latest Community Celebration of Excellence Breakfast.

The event was held at the Teutopolis Banquet Hall. Teutopolis is where Wegman's story began; actually in a small farmhouse east of T-Town. It's where his family lived until fire destroyed the house. The family started over. As he was nearing college-age, Wegman shared with his father that he didn't want to stay on the farm. His dad sold the farm and moved to Teutopolis where they started a manufacturing shop.

Wegman determined he should go to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. His sweetheart, Connie, was attending Indiana State University a few miles away.

Once graduated, Wegman went to work for McDonnell-Douglas, later acquired by Boeing. Wegman got to work on the Skylab project, America's first space station. He talked about a time years later when he took one of his daughters to a museum where pieces of Skylab were collected once the space station fell back to Earth. He told his daughter about what each piece was and what part it played in the station. He quipped the astronauts aboard might not have been so eager to blast off into space aboard Skylab had they known it was overseen by a first-year college graduate from Teutopolis.

(TOM WEGMAN TALKS ABOUT HIS YEARS WORKING ON THE SKYLAB PROJECT)

Wegman talked with Chuck Stevens, who founded Stevens Industries, about returning to Teutopolis to work for him. Wegman shared he wanted to own his own business, but agreed to return to work for Stevens, beginning a 45-year career at the business that ended with his purchasing the company from Stevens and beginning an Employee Stock Ownership Trust where the staff would eventually own the company. 

12 people worked at Stevens when Wegman started there. They now employ more than 500 people, have made at least a dozen additions to the Teutopolis plant, and recently agreed to acquire the former TQW facility in Effingham to accommodate their ever-expanding business.

Once Wegman decided to retire, he found more time for his faith. He said he spent decades going to church, but just "dusting the furniture" through his place in a pew. He said a DeColores Weekend changed his life and awakened his life to a relationship with God and the church.

Wegman also shared about his family. He and wife Connie, that college sweetheart, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Wegman had some advice for those gathered, particularly the Effingham County CEO students in attendance. He said to always exhibit "trust and integrity; never compromise." He reminded that "markets make business", not the other way around. He also reminded people to "be significant". He said, "you CAN'T take it with you; you CAN be significant."

Greg Sapp spoke with Tom Wegman after the breakfast, suggesting he could tell Wegman was speaking from the heart..