Delivered by Dr. Liliane Willens at the Quimby Family Foundation grant-giving luncheon and ceremony at Freeport, Maine, on August 22, 2008.

Thank you, Roxanne, for introducing the Board members of the Quimby Family Foundation and for your kind remarks about me. Of course, in this respect, as your aunt, you are obliged to say only nice things about me in public! Since this is a family foundation, Roxanne, I would like to introduce to the audience family members who were able to join us today. Your son Lucas and his wife Yemaya, your daughter Hannah, your sister Rachelle, Rebecca and Eliana Rowe - your sister Renee’s daughters escorted by their father, Robert Rowe, and Megan and Morgan Quimby, the daughters of your brother Rogers..

The Quimby Family Foundation was established four years ago and I am truly honored to speak for the fourth time at this yearly award-giving event. Let me point out that neither Roxanne nor the Board members know in advance what I will speak about since I choose the theme and never discuss it with them, despite Roxanne’s pleadings. Anyway, the Board and she can appreciate the “risk” factor which is fundamental to entrepreneurship.

All the nonprofit organizations selected by the Board members represent the realization of the two goals that are spelled out in the mission of the Quimby Family Foundation: “To advance wilderness values and to increase access to the arts throughout Maine.”

Last year, in my talk I posed the question, how and why did Roxanne develop such strong interest in conservation and the arts which she combined later in her business enterprises? Several of you in attendance today who received a grant last year, may remember my talk — I hope you have not forgotten it — where I delved into Roxanne’s very early years as a child who had a flair for business — baking pies, usually not edible ones — which her sister Renée sold to neighbors in Lexington, MA. The two younger siblings were much too small to knock on doors. Of course Renée was so thrilled to work for her older sister that she never wanted any monetary compensation! Later, in her early teens Roxanne designed and printed her own catalogue — her artistic talents had come to the fore — selling handcrafted soap and stuffed cloth animals. Those were the exciting days when she made big profits in pennies, nickels, dimes and even quarters!

We understand that people have innate instincts which propel them into their field of interest. But what about role models for inspiration? As we have just seen, Roxanne certainly had a flair for business at a very early age, but did she have a role model to emulate, and help her understand that competitive world? Were her parents, perhaps, role models for her future business endeavors? No. Her mother was very busy taking care of her four children born in a span of six years. Her father, a businessman, was traveling around the country. Despite his MBA from Harvard, he had neither the time nor the inclination to discuss the intricacies of his world with a teenager.
So where did Roxanne acquire this insight in a very competitive field? Well, she has told me on many occasions that her maternal grandmother, my mother, Thaïs Willens, was her inspiration, and became her role model.

Now some background information on Roxanne’s grandmother, whom she and her siblings would later call Baba. This story will take several minutes to describe but I believe you will find it interesting. Thaïs was born in Novosibirsk in Western Siberia. Later when the Bolshevik Revolution and the civil war were wracking Russia, Baba, her parents and her siblings fled to Manchuria, China, and eventually to Shanghai. This was an extraterritorial city controlled and administered at that time by the three colonial powers, the British and the Americans in the International Settlement, and the French in the French Concession. Baba, as a young woman in her late teens, worked in a dress shop during the day but in the evening she had her own clientele for whom she sewed dresses. This sideline enabled her family to make ends meet.

When Baba married she entered the very comfortable middle class colonial life with servants, because her husband had a very good job in Shanghai at Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. They and later my two sisters and I, enjoyed a good life. However, all that came to an end when the Japanese armed forces occupied Shanghai the day their planes bombed Pearl Harbor. They immediately confiscated all enemy Allied properties and firms. Consequently Sun Life was closed and my father lost his job.

Baba sprung into action by purchasing a sewing machine and hiring a full-time tailor who during the 3 ½ years of the Japanese occupation, worked in our house – on the balcony in the summer and in one of the rooms in the winter — mending clothes for men, women and children because there was an acute shortage of material in wartime Shanghai. Baba was able to make a profit and paid the tailor very decent wages. She was also successful in bartering, selling or exchanging ration cards — a risky business and even a dangerous one since this was forbidden by the Japanese army of occupation — in order to acquire to extra foodstuff or other needs for our household. Baba’s three daughters, Roxanne’s mother, my younger sister, and I were never short of anything.

After World War II, when civil war erupted between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung, the Sun Life office closed for good because their potential Western clients began leaving China. Baba went into action again. She understood what the public wanted after the war years — goods from the United States. She knew that women, especially wealthy Chinese women, wanted to buy nylon stockings, plastic handbags and belts. She asked her sister in San Francisco to send her these items which she sold rapidly and with great profits. But this business came to an end when the Chinese civil war was nearing Shanghai. Just before the People’s Liberation Army entered the city, Baba immigrated to the United State, and soon after was followed by my father. Both of them had to adapt to a new life in the United States. She easily, he with some difficulty. Baba became the bread winner.

Now let me show you when and how Baba became a role model for Roxanne in the business world.

My parents, who wanted to live close to the ocean, settled in Revere Beach near Boston, where Baba opened in the summer a food stand for the hungry tourists who flocked to the beach. The four Quimby grandchildren visited them during the summer months. The older ones, Roxanne and Renée wanted to “work” at the stand. Baba played along, asking them to count the Bazooka bubble gums kept in a big jar and then inform Baba how many were sold that day. Roxanne, I believe this is where you acquired your mathematical skills in subtraction and addition. Obviously, this was Baba’s way to keep the two girls busy, especially Roxanne who wanted to be involved with the customers, that is taking their money and if necessary making change. Whenever Roxanne would take a piece of candy or bubble gum or wanted an ice cream bar, Baba would admonish her by saying “Don’t eat the profits, don’t eat the profits” but she always added the Russian term of endearment “dochinka maya,” my little girl. In the interim Roxanne also learned some not too polite words in Russian, which I won’t mention in this polite company! Baba muttered such words whenever the customers demanded to replace the coffee which they had sipped because it was not hot enough, or wanted more cheese placed on their hamburgers — without extra charge! Roxanne noticed how the public reacted and what they wanted — and what they did not want. She quickly understood that the profits needed to go back into the business for it to grow.

As importantly, Baba often took Roxanne by subway to Boston’s Scollay Square — now Government Center — to purchase vegetables, fruit, and other edible items for the stand. Roxanne observed how Baba examined carefully whether the fruit was ripe and the vegetables fresh, or whether there was any hint the items were not up to par, and how Baba bartered — a skill she had picked up in China. Baba explained to Roxanne that if you wanted to retain your customers you had to provide them with top quality goods. Besides these basic entrepreneurial skills, Roxanne realized quickly that hard work was imperative — if you hoped to succeed in business. She saw this not only in the long hours that Baba worked at the stand, but the many hours Baba spent peeling potatoes for the french fries, or cutting big blocks of flavored ice to make slush.

Baba’s tireless energy and commitment towards her family, made a lasting impression on Roxanne. I know, Roxanne, that Baba would be very proud of your success in the business world, your passionate involvement with nature conservancy, your promotion of the arts in Maine and consequently the establishment of your two foundations. Of course, Baba would be very flattered that you consider her your role model. So, on this very positive note I end my talk.

Thank you.

Now let’s go back to all of you so I can explain how we will proceed with the distribution of the awards The five Board members will describe very briefly each of your 30 organizations and explain how the grants from the Quimby Family Foundation will be used. So when the name of your organization is called, would the representative please come forward — stating your name and title — to receive the grant from Roxanne’s son, Lucas St. Clair, and from me. By the way, we will continue with a tradition I started two years ago. Male representatives are hugged by me, and the ladies are hugged by Lucas before receiving the awards — Blackmail, you say, but really very pleasant for Lucas and me — and hopefully for you.

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Distribution of awards by Board members Hannah Quimby, Richard Anderson, Walter Anderson, Eric Horschak and Yemaya St. Clair.

Before we disperse, let me speak on behalf of the Board members. They congratulate your organizations for having been selected for the Quimby Family Foundation grant. In addition, the Board wishes to thank you for the work you are doing in conservation and the promotion of arts in Maine. Of course they would like to hear at an appropriate time about your organizations’ achievements under the grants you have just received.

Finally, our thanks to Roxanne — a dedicated environmentalist especially in the state of Maine, and a lover of arts — who has made possible these awards from the Quimby Family Foundation. Now, how about a round of applause for Roxanne!

Copyright @Quimby Family Foundation - 2008