20 FEBRUARY 15, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com
Centerpiece
GIBSON'S
D
riving west on State Route 14 through wild arid bluffs over-
looking the Columbia River, Don Gibson couldn't resist the
irony.
"Where in the Sam Hill are we?" he said, cracking wise
in reference to the nearby Maryhill Museum, founded by
land-company owner Samuel Hill, one of several possible sources of the
common American idiom.
Truth be told though, the president of Mt. Adams Orchards Corp.
knows exactly where he is — inside the mobile office that is his Jeep
Grand Cherokee Overland. To stay connected to the vertically integrated
fruit company he leads and its 345 full-time employees, the 2015 Silver
Pear Award winner drives a weekly route from his Yakima, Washington,
administrative office to orchards and packing houses through the
Columbia Gorge and back, a round trip of 300-plus miles. He simply
prefers face-to-face interaction.
"It's a people business," Gibson said.
Silver Pear
Award winner leads
from the road.
by Ross Courtney
