Robert “Tolly” Tollefson turns 99
Published in the The Port Townsend Leader, 1/27/2010
| Tollycraft founder reflects on a life well-lived | |||
By Melanie Lockhart of the Leader Robert Merland Tollefson – known best by his family nickname “Tolly,” the founder of Tollycraft Corporation, always figured he would live a long life.“It’s in the genes, I guess,” he laughed while sitting in the study of his Port Ludlow home. Tolly’s grandfather lived to age 98. His father lived to 96. Tolly, born Jan. 24, 1911, is 99 – one year shy of hitting the century mark. “It feels no different than before other than I know I’m getting old in places,” he said. “I’ve taken care of myself. I’ve been a boater all these years, and I swear that’s a huge part of it.” His poor hearing and eyesight were some of the first signs of aging, and his short-term memory isn’t what it used to be. While gently tapping his head with a single finger, he admitted with a smile, “I figure I’m so old with so much stored up here that I don’t have room anymore.” But he can still recollect dates and details from his past with remarkable ease. He was born in Stites, Idaho. When he was 8 or 9, Tolly moved to Portland, Ore., with his family. His father purchased a small bank in Central Point, just outside Medford where Tolly attended high school during his junior and senior years. It was a summer job at Diamond Lake resort where Tolly’s fascination with boats began. The fishing hot spot attracted plenty of boats to the lake.
Hollywood prospects But at the time, a career in entertainment seemed more likely. Tolly was a talented singer. He performed to dinner guests at the resort. He sang in churches. In 1929, Tolly enrolled at the University of Oregon to major in architecture and minor in music. He joined the University of Oregon quartet, was in glee club and performed on radio and television. He dressed like musician Eddie Peabody, sat at a grand piano in a Portland music store and sang to customers. A talent scout approached Tolly and offered him a chance to go to Hollywood. But Tolly’s parents wouldn’t let him, claiming it wasn’t the right life for a young man. It wasn’t long before the stock market crash of 1929 doomed Tolly’s father’s bank into closure. Two-and-a-half years later, after his savings and the family’s money had been exhausted, Tolly dropped out of college. In 1933, while visiting family in Kelso, Wash., Tolly purchased a real estate office. He saved up and built his first boat – a 36-foot Douglas fir-planked boat called “Tolly.” He continued building boats and stayed with the real estate business until he joined the Coast Guard in 1942, where he served for four-and-a-half years during World War II. He conducted beach patrols, harbor patrols and swept for mines in Puget Sound. “That was probably the true beginning of my boating experience,” Tolly said. He later became the skipper of a 150-foot salvage and rescue tug. Tolly stayed on that vessel for a year-and-a-half.
Launching a business Tolly used the money he saved while in the Coast Guard to purchase a lumber mill and yard in Kelso called Central Lumber Company. About a block away, he constructed a 50-by-70-foot building where he started to build custom boats. The first was a 58-footer. “Then in 1952 the lumber yard burned and it changed the picture of everything,” Tolly said. It was then that he made the decision to switch fulltime to boatbuilding. Tollycraft Corporation was established. Tolly started off small, building 14-, 16- and 18-foot boats with plywood hulls and fiberglass covers. The company sold hundreds of small boats in the early years. In 1959, Tollycraft began selling stocks over the counter and invested the money back into the company in order to expand the facilities to keep up with the increasing orders. In the late 1960s, Tollycraft converted all boats to fiberglass. The fiberglass plant adapted a particular assembly line where the company built the boat interiors “on the floor in the jig so then the whole thing could be set inside the boat” before the deck was secured to the hull, Tolly said. “It was a pretty efficient assembly line” that many companies copied shortly thereafter. The company created 24-foot cabin cruisers, followed by the 25 and then the 26, which became Tolly’s most popular boat. After those models came the 28-, 30-, 34-, 40-, 44-, 48-, 53- and 57-foot powerboats. The largest boat produced by Tollycraft was 61-feet long.
Tested them all Tolly made sure to test them all, cruising the Puget Sound and some areas of Canada during summer trips. The cruises were Tolly’s way of being among the people, particularly those who were interested in Tollycrafts from whom he learned what they were looking for in boats. Plus, it was a chance to meet all kinds of folks, Tolly said. He remembers once sitting on the side deck with a cup of coffee and casually saying hello to a man passing by. The two talked for a while about their boats. The man, who owned a 68-foot motor sailor, finally introduced himself as one of the Boeings. In 1986, Tolly experienced a brief scare where he almost lost control of the company. Two men from the east coast entered into stock negotiations and wanted to be on the board of directors. Tolly scrambled to ensure that he had enough control in the company, and ended up “beating them by a wide margin,” but “that kind of took some spark out of me,” he admitted. Less than a year later, in 1987, Tolly sold the corporation to four Seattle entrepreneurs when it was grossing more than $18 million in annual sales. While Tolly had always managed the company conservatively to keep the business out of debt, the new owners didn’t follow his same management practices. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1993. “It makes me sad that I sold it,” Tolly said. “But as far as my health is concerned, I don’t think I would have lived another 20 years.” He stands by his decision. “I was 76 years old and running a corporation,” he said. “I felt it was time to retire.” But he has no regrets.
After he left the company, Tolly moved to Edmonds and eventually lost his 44-foot boat in a fire there. He bought another 44, then sold it and got a 48-footer – his final vessel. “I was looking for moorage and at that time, moorage was difficult,” he said of his decision to settle in Jefferson County. “I wanted to find a piece of water frontage that had a good view.” Tolly moved to Port Ludlow in 1991. He purchased a home in Bayview Village overlooking Port Ludlow Marina where he can watch the boats come in and out. The home has a faint smell of tobacco from the pipe Tolly has smoked since his college years – it’s something that is almost always with him, though he doesn’t inhale anymore because the doctor carefully monitors his lungs. The doctor, however, did OK him having one drink of scotch before dinner, Tolly noted with a smile. Tolly sold his last boat – unmistakable with its dark blue hull – not long after moving to the Olympic Peninsula. People he knew had a boating accident because of diminished hearing and other medical troubles. It sent him a message, he said, adding that his own hearing and eyesight were going bad. “When I began having trouble docking and undocking, I decided it was time to quit.” So Tolly retired from the water after 70 years.
Living on But Tolly’s name will forever live on in the hearts of those who own and love Tollycraft vessels. The Tollycraft Boating Club annually hosts a birthday for Tolly on the weekend closest to Jan. 24. It used to be held at Elliott Bay, but now the group brings the party to Tolly in Port Ludlow because he is unable to make the lengthy journey. On Jan. 23, the Harbormaster restaurant opened for a special celebration with around 100 guests. It’s something Tolly looks forward to each year. “What he realizes is that the product built way back then is still praised and regarded highly,” said Scott Fultz, Tolly’s caretaker and longtime friend. Multiple generations attend the birthday celebration. Some of the original Tollycraft owners now have grandchildren and even great grandchildren who have an opportunity to enjoy the boats. “I think what truly keeps him going is the relationship he has with the clubs and members,” Fultz said. “He sort of lives on for them instead of himself.” |
