Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 20, 1993 TAG: 9304200410
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE PATRICK BEAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
We primarily know him as the down-to-earth, plain-spoken, if slightly befuddled, television pitchman for his Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers chain.
He is, however, anything but befuddled when it comes to business skills. Thomas is one of this country's and this century's entrepreneurial and marketing geniuses.
In less than a quarter-century, he parlayed his first Wendy's restaurant, in Columbus, Ohio, into one of the top fast-food chains in the world. "Today," according to Reuters News Service, "Wendy's has 4,000 restaurants in 29 countries."
Despite this dazzling global success - the likes of which most Americans can only dream about or envy - the 60-year-old Thomas had long felt something was missing in his life.
When he was 15, the same age his granddaughter Ashley is now, Thomas had dropped out of high school to go to work.
To many people, that wouldn't be a particularly big deal. Many young Americans do the same thing today, some because they need or simply want to go to work full time, others because they believe high school has nothing worthwhile, relevant or useful to offer them.
After all, these people would rationalize, Thomas achieved far more than most high school or even college graduates will accomplish. And all without that overrated scrap of paper called a diploma.
But that's not the way Thomas saw it.
"I'm tired of being called a dropout," he told Reuters. "Being a dropout is a terrible stigma. I never liked it. . . . I've been kind of ashamed I didn't finish."
So, in his characteristic way, he decided to do something about it. With the support of his family, especially his wife of 39 years, Lorraine, Thomas began studying last year for his high school equivalency certificate.
It wasn't always an easy task, and it was time-consuming for the busy founder of a major international corporation. But it was important to Thomas. He dedicated the same intense effort and enthusiasm to successful studying that he had for many years devoted to building his successful business.
When he passed the equivalency test, Coconut Creek (Fla.) High School, near Thomas' Fort Lauderdale home, helped him celebrate.
Late last month, the school hosted a special commencement ceremony for him. As 500 students watched and cheered, as the band played the traditional "Pomp and Circumstance," the capped-and-gowned Thomas received his high school diploma.
"Education is so important," he said, using the celebration as an opportunity to encourage teen-agers not to follow his 45-year-old example. He urged them, in his plain-spoken way, to stay in school, work hard and earn their diplomas.
"Thomas holds six honorary [college] degrees," Reuters reported, "but he said his [high school] diploma was the most important because he earned it."
Because he earned it. Because it was so very important to him in ways money can't even begin to define. That's how Thomas measures success in his life.
It's an old-fashioned notion, kind of like his hamburgers. But worthwhile things never really go out of style.
Joe Patrick Bean is an assistant professor of history and journalism at Concordia College in Austin, Texas, and a contributing columnist for the San Antonio Express-News.
by CNB