On Saturday, March 29, the Friends of the Old School sponsored an event that invited everyone to join Norby Pabich in reminiscing about Owen’s History. Unfortunately, Norby couldn’t make it because he is currently 95 and is having some medical concerns that he is dealing with. Mary Ellen Hughes introduced Norby’s son, Mark Pabich, and daughter, Lynn Verdieck, who came to speak in his stead. They primarily kept the talk on their father and Master Package Corporation.
They started their talk by calling Norby and having everyone say hi to him. The idea for Master Package started in 1921 as a different industry for the city to have. The company initially started with veneer packaging for cheese before looking to fiberboard where they stay focused to this day. In 1923 or 1924, Master Package built the original building and made quality barrels that were strong, but lightweight, focusing on lever lock barrels. Norby and his wife, Jean, bought the company when it was in trouble and turned the business around. Eventually Master Package had competition in Minneapolis and the company had to change or fail. In 1984, they talked about relocating and finally decided on Menomonie and moved the large barrel manufacturing over there, keeping the small barrel manufacturing in Owen. It wasn’t until Jean got sick that they moved all manufacturing over to Menomonie. This is truly a family business, with Lynn and Mark taking over, with Mark’s son Ben taking over production, and the hope that Ben’s daughter will carry on the business. They currently employ about 30 workers, 18 of which are Hispanic. They ship all over the country and the business is what it is today because they spoil their customers and their customers know that they can rely on Master Package to come through. The company sees itself as a bodyguard for the customer’s products. Their fiberboard barrels are used to store dry chemicals, cheese, spices, and some are even used by the Federal Government.
Norby Pabich is a unique individual, his guiding principles are Faith, Family, and Factory. He has a heart of gold and is proud to help others earn a livelihood. He is especially proud of the work in World War II and through the fifties and sixties and the women who made the company what it is today. He is also known for having some crazy ideas and most of the time being right about them. Including moving a 2,000 pound safe from the second floor of the factory in Owen to Menomonie where it was opened to reveal the original corporate records from March of 1922. More than anything Norby loves Owen and the people and history that are found here. He is planning on making it to the Centennial Celebration on April 26.
After that, there were door prize drawings to win some Master Package barrels. Then anyone with additional stories was invited to speak. That included Tom Mauel having a story about James Gummerson being babysat by his sisters at a bonfire. Tom Gelhaus thanked everyone for coming, invited people to see the dentist exhibit and told a joke that he heard from a previous patient.
The next speaker was Sharon Laube Scheinost who talked about Meek’s Dam and the logging that happened in the area in the late 1800s, including Meek building a dam on Brick Creek to assist in the White Pine logging. She told the story of Will Levine, who in 1867, walked along the rivers from Davenport to Owen to set up a logging camp and cut grass for the teams that fall. And in the spring, they made the 90 day journey down the river to Davenport, before making the return journey back to the logging camps.
The last speaker was Louise Parnewicz who talked about coming to town with her father from Redville and remembering how Main Street Owen used to be with the feed mill, cafe, dentistry, funeral home, hotel, rail station, tavern, dime store, dress shop, shoe store, drug store, bars, IGA, butcher shop, and clothing store. At the end of the talks, people were invited to tour the Dentistry display, have refreshments, and sign get well cards for Norby.