Dollars and Sense

Tolbert Rowe brings his thoughts on financing and his common sense every month.

Mr. Rowe is Vice President/Lending for Bay Capital Mortgage Corp. with offices in Easton and Annapolis. He has lived in Caroline for his entire life and supports the county by volunteering in a variety of ways. He currently lives near Greensboro with his wife Jeanne

and daughter Kelsey.

It is hard to believe that my father passed away 15 years ago. A lifelong old school conservative Republican at a time when there were eight Democrats for every one Republican in Caroline County, Dad would be shocked at what his Republican Party has morphed into. I find the following, written 10 years ago more than appropriate in today’s crazy world. I wish there were more Leroy’s.

In memory of my father, G. Leroy Rowe, who died on September 25, 2010, I am dedicating this article in honor of him. For those who did not know him, he was a banker, an entrepreneur who started an insurance agency and owned several small businesses, a pilot, and a person who truly enjoyed people. He was the epitome of a “people person.” In reflecting upon the lessons I learned from him during my lifetime, and the meaning they have to me, I feel that by sharing some of them with others it will help me in dealing with our family’s loss. I will call them “Lessons from Leroy.”

Lesson from Leroy number 1 is “the only way to get ahead in the world is to work hard.” Nobody is going to give you a future; you have to work for it. He made all of us kids work as soon as we were able and for me that was picking tomatoes and cantaloupes when I was 12 years old.

Lesson number 2 from Leroy is “keep your debts to a minimum,” when you do incur a debt, pay it as quickly as you can. Every dollar spent repaying a debt today is a dollar taken away from savings for tomorrow. Borrowing for large purchases like a home or a car is acceptable but you should pay it off as quickly as you can.

Lesson number 3 from Leroy is, “Those that got it don’t always show it.” This means that some of the wealthiest people live very frugal lifestyles and don’t own the biggest house, the nicest car, or most expensive clothes. Dad made it clear that if you feel you need to have the nicest “stuff” to feel important, your priorities are out of whack. Dad knew the financial status of many, many people. He also knew who had a lot of “things” making them appear wealthy and important. But in reality, they were struggling with debt to try to “keep up with the Jones.”

He was not into trying to impress people, which is Lesson from Leroy number 4. “The only person you need to impress is yourself.” And the only way to truly do that is always do your best. God knows I was not always the perfect son, but I can honestly say that for every predicament I created, Dad and Mom made sure I learned to not make the same mistake twice. I wish I could say I have lived up to this lesson.

Lesson from Leroy number 5 is “always have some other job or vocation to fall back on in case something happens to your main source of employment.” I don’t think he always had another “hustle” because he was worried about his career. I think he honestly loved having something else to do.

Dad’s passion for doing something new or different is Lesson from Leroy number 6. If you have an opportunity to do something new ---GO DO IT! But if you do, make sure it is something you will actually commit to. This is true when you are younger. But as Dad got older he became more set in his ways. When you are younger you have time to devote to making something work, and if it doesn’t you have more time to recover from it.

Not everything he did was successful, and there were many things he was not good at. Lesson from Leroy number 7 is, “don’t take yourself too seriously.” Many people have summed up Leroy Rowe’s personality by saying. “He was Leroy.” He was a unique individual who was not perfect in many ways. He was a diabetic who loved to eat sweets, and he smoked until a few days before he died. He didn’t like many vegetables, and he never exercised. He never tried to impress anyone, and he rarely was impressed by someone else, and you always knew where you stood with him. This is the greatest characteristic I think he had. He was genuine, he was Leroy.

All fathers are special, and mine was especially so. Not because he was my father, but because he taught me so much about life. I am sorry that it has taken his passing for me to realize this.