Focused on a Greater Purpose

When Abner Yoder passed away surrounded by family on March 22, 2017, the world lost a very rare human being. He was a dedicated husband and father. He was a caring employer and a generous philanthropist. He was also a very, very successful businessman. While any one of those roles can be challenging, what made Abner unique was his uniform approach to each of those areas of his life. In every aspect, he was apt to point out the hard work of his hands could only get him so far, and that he needed to place his trust in God for the rest.

At Abner’s funeral, a lumberyard owner who had worked with Abner since the 1960s recounted how one day he was driving to work and saw Abner walking on the side of the road. It was raining, so he pulled over to offer Abner a ride. When Abner got in the truck, the lumberman asked him why he was walking in the bad weather. Abner told him he had just given his truck away to a missionary who needed it more than he did.

When asked about his secret to success, Abner would often reply, “I worked hard and went to church.” This simple statement underscored his profound commitment to doing things the way he thought was right. It was a commitment that guided him through the difficult start of his business, helped him build that business into an empire and, he might say, enabled him to undertake the bigger work he felt God wanted him to accomplish here on earth.

His Hammer Never Got Rusty

Abner was born in 1932, the second youngest of five kids, and was raised in an Amish community in Holmes County, Ohio. “He and his older brother Henry learned the carpentry trade, but during the Korean War, Abner decided to serve his country by taking a job as a medical orderly,” remembers his wife Esther. After the war Abner left his Amish community, and it wasn’t long before Abner and Esther met at the Mennonite church they both attended. They married in 1960 and moved to Canton, Ohio, where Abner went to work building homes for Esther’s brother at two dollars an hour.

While he enjoyed the work, he was convinced he could better provide for his family if he went into business for himself. With this thought in mind, Abner was attracted to Gang Nail when he saw their ad in a trade publication. “He felt it wasn’t a coincidence he became aware of the fledgling truss industry through that ad,” said Janice, the second of Yoder’s four children. To Abner, “it was divine intervention for him and all of us.”

In 1963, Abner and Esther traveled to Miami, Florida to tour the Gang Nail facilities. Abner was impressed, and together they decided to join the equipment-supply franchise in exchange for the opportunity to purchase Gang Nail plates. Abner and Esther returned to Canton and sold their house and much of their furniture. They also borrowed from family and friends to raise the money to buy their first train car of lumber and get their new business off the ground. They named the company Stark Truss, after the Ohio county where Canton is located, becoming one of the first truss manufacturers in the state.

With recent experience as a home builder, Abner knew the Canton area was in the midst of a housing boom. “He understood that pre-fabricated trusses would save the builders a lot of time when framing roofs,” said Javan, the third oldest Yoder child. “Not only would he design the trusses and build them, he’d deliver them and then show the carpenters how to install them. His hammer never got rusty.”

It was hard work, and the success of the business wasn’t a sure thing early on. Esther said, “there was one point where Abner tried to sell the company, but no one wanted to buy because they were convinced he was going to go out of business and they could get the equipment for nothing.” Abner initially ran the company out of a rented building, using two sawhorses and a sheet of plywood for a desk and a wheelbarrow for a seat. The company was spared a significant setback when a fire broke out in the building but didn’t cause significant damage to the equipment.

Paid His Bills, Reduced His Costs

“Mom took care of the accounting, and together they made sure they paid back their creditors and covered all their invoices before anything else, even feeding themselves,” said Wendy, Abner and Esther’s oldest. “They’d make sure we were fed, but it was always very important to them they paid all their bills on time.”

There were a lot of long hours. “We’d all be home for dinner, and then we’d go back to the office so they could finish up paperwork,” remembered Wendy. Javan added, “we grew up climbing all over the truss bundles.”

Abner’s persistence and passion, combined with his and Esther’s strong work ethic and fiscal responsibility, eventually began to pay off. In its second year, Stark doubled its sales. “Dad was a go-getter. He could work circles around people,” said Steve, the youngest of the Yoder clan. “He also had a strong faith in the providence and wisdom of God. He believed it helped him make the right decisions.”

By 1965, Stark moved into its first permanent facility, just across the street from the building Abner had rented in Canton. The business grew slowly but steadily during the late 1960s, and one of the key factors in that growth was Abner’s fixation on knowing his costs and embracing responsible ways to minimize those costs—most notably, by becoming an early adopter of technology.

In the early 1970s, Abner hired a programmer to adapt a truss design program that lived on a large mainframe onto an early Wang computer. While computer-aided design wasn’t new, bringing it into the truss plant was. “Once he had the design program in place, he could buy connector plates from anyone, not just Gang Nail,” said Wendy. “He was able to lower his plate costs because he could buy from the least expensive supplier.”

Abner also embraced automation and continually sought ways to make his employees more efficient. “In 1982, when the economy was struggling and interest rates were sky-high, my dad shut the Canton plant down for a summer to install all new, cutting-edge production equipment,” remembered Javan. The fiscal responsibility that was a cornerstone of the Stark business often enabled Abner to make capital expenditures using cash. “Dad joked that in the early 1980s he made more money on the cash he had saved in the bank than he did making trusses,” said Steve.

Lumber purchasing was another area where Abner looked for more control over his costs. By the early 1990s, Abner got into lumber wholesaling. “He was convinced that the additional buying power allowed him to get a better price that he could then pass on to others,” said Steve. “That led to the purchase of an MSR grading machine, and we eventually started making our own finger-jointed MSR and I-joists.” Today, only 50 percent of the I-joist material Stark produces is for its own operations.

His Number One Priority: People

Abner’s family, friends and business associates are quick to point out Abner didn’t develop his business empire to make money. “Abner was dedicated to doing what he could to honor God,” said Esther. “He also had a strong commitment to tithing on what we earned.”

Through Stark, the Abner and Esther Yoder Charitable Foundation supports ministry and mission programs around the world. Ten percent of the company’s profits go through the foundation to those in need. The foundation has helped build a hospital in Guatemala and an orphanage in India. Stark employees are encouraged to volunteer in their communities, and the foundation helps support many of those endeavors. “Dad believed that if you are focused on helping others, you’re better able to handle the challenges in your own life,” said Javan.

“Dad taught us all we have a greater purpose beyond business,” said Janice. “Dad’s purpose was to make the lives of each of his employees better than it was before they worked for him.” At its height, Stark directly impacted the lives of 1,500 employees. From the first facility in Canton, opened in 1963, Stark grew into a second facility in nearby New Philadelphia a decade later. By 1977, Stark opened a plant in Champion to service Youngstown and western Pennsylvania. A year later, a Stark plant in Washington Court House began serving Cincinnati and Columbus. In 1984, the company expanded to Edgerton.

In 1985, Stark opened a plant in Rockledge, Florida, its first out-of-state location. Two years later, a second Florida plant opened in Sarasota. In 1995, Stark added a facility in Perryville, Missouri. 1996 saw the opening of a new plant in Rensselaer, Indiana and the purchase of a plant
in Auburn, Kentucky. Stark expanded to Sherman, Texas and Greenville, South Carolina in 1999, and opened second plants in each state (Hearne, Texas and Summerville, South Carolina) in 2002. The 15^th and 16^th Stark facilities—Doswell, Virginia in 2006, and Poplarville, Mississippi in 2007—began operations as the housing boom reached
its height.

Abner saw Stark’s growth as the most effective way to improve lives. “Dad’s number one priority was people. He believed he was successful for a greater purpose: to build wealth to help other people. He not only gave his money, but he gave of his time to help others turn around their lives in a positive direction,” said Janice.

His Legacy: A True Family Business

“Dad worked a lot of long hours,” remembers Wendy, “but we always saw him at church on Sundays and Wednesdays. We also took a number of family vacations.” The Yoder children are close, and they recount long road trips to Florida with alternating laughs and groans.

Today, the Yoder clan all work together at Stark. Wendy is the company secretary and works in the accounting and purchasing departments. After spending 22 years in the ministry, Janice returned to Stark in 2013 and now works in the purchasing department with Wendy while helping Esther run the company’s foundation and employee Volunteer Incentive Program. She also serves as the company’s chaplain. Javan is Stark’s executive vice president. His talent has been in reading blueprints and doing the company’s takeoffs. Steve became president of Stark in 1999.

The Yoders all agree they benefited greatly from Abner’s leadership, wisdom and modeling. As such, Abner leaves behind a family dedicated to the principles he lived out.