Business briefs
Rowley employee celebrates 40th
Richard S. Symms, who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary with Rowley Properties Inc, has officially been with the company since April Fools’ Day, 1968. No joke.
Symms recently reflected on his years at RPI and how Issaquah has changed from an agricultural area where few dared to venture, to a suburban city with high household incomes and many natural amenities.
While teaching with the Issaquah School District, Symms began working part-time with George Rowley Sr. as a real estate agent selling houses on Squak Mountain. He said he liked being involved in real estate so much that he left his career as an educator to be “part of the action.” Back then, real estate regulations were definitely less restrictive Symms recalls that when he had an open house, he would post signs right alongside I-90 (which was called Highway 10 at that time). Prospective home buyers traveling from Seattle who met Symms at Issaquah’s Mountain Park Estates considered Issaquah a long ways from civilization.
A trip to the local grocery store was anything but quick, Symms says, and he was always guaranteed to run into someone and find himself socializing more than shopping. Today, many in the community still stop Richard in the store to chat or come personally to the Rowley Properties office to pay their bills, just to find out what’s happening in the community.
Last year, Richard won “Business man of the year” from the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce. After reflecting on his 40 years at Rowley Properties, and the community’s growth and change, Richard said he thinks it has all been “Only great!”
Auction raises $50,000 for St. Jude’s Hospital
Sip Wine Bar and Restaurant in Issaquah Highlands raised $50,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during its “Uncorked for St. Jude’s 2008 Auction and Dinner” last month.
Approximately 10,000 children under age 15 were diagnosed with cancer in the United States last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Organizers of the event from Sip said they hoped this event would continue the fund-raising momentum started by its partner, The Melting Pot national fondue restaurant, which has raised close to $3 million nationally to fund research, treatment and exposure for St. Jude.
The event drew community leaders, neighbors and a local Seattle St. Jude patient. Auction items included highlights of Napa wineries, culinary evenings with a private chef and a cocktail cruise on a yacht.
“Events like this really celebrate the philanthropic nature of this community,” said Lane Scelzi, owner of the Washington Restaurant Group, Inc. (the local parent company of The Melting Pot and Sip). “It is this foundation of community support that reinforces St. Jude as a place of hope for children across the country and around the world.”
Discoveries at St. Jude have completely changed how doctors treat children with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses. Since St. Jude was established, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of childhood cancer, has increased from 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today.
