Head of the Clan

That fall I attended one other Green Bay game with tickets I procured through one of
the salesmen at Gamma Supplies. I was told that if I wanted to go to any of the games, just see that salesmen and I could get tickets. The implication was that the tickets were available to me because I was important to the company and Green Bay Packer tickets were hard to come by in Chicaqgo. I was the only non-sales, Gamma Supplies personnel with access to the football game tickets.

Another way my social life was used to reflect my status in the company by the social interaction with G. T. Cline and his wife. I was discreetly told Mr. Cline wanted to have dinner with Anita and me, but of course, I was not to tell Ravi about this meeting. G. T. lived in a magnificent house located on the drive along Lake Michigan in Blue Fish Bay.

When we arrived at his house, Mrs. Cline greeted us, sat us in the living room and then told us about her family and grandchildren while we waited for Mr. Cline to arrive. G. T. came in, sat down and briefly told us about his family, expounded on his wealth and then drove us to the Full Sails for dinner.

During dinner G. T. unraveled his tale about how he had accumulated his fortune. Now he was Chairman of the Gamma Supplies, Restco and Cline Advertising Company of Madison, Inc. Each of his three sons was the President of one of the three companies.

G. T. had amassed his fortune by building a chain of independent service stations in the Chicago area, and then he sold out to a major oil company. Throughout dinner, W. T. related how he had built his Empire. I sat there thinking about how all evening all he had talked about was how wealthy he was. It seemed like the only value he saw in his own life came from his wealth. At the same time, I couldn't help but get the feeling that despite all of his success, he appeared to be a very bitter man. In fact, he hardly mentioned his sons except to point out that he had given each one a company to run, and the only time he mentioned his daughter was when he was bragging about the price of a house she had sold in Door County in northern Wisconsin. I expressed a lot of interest in his business success
and spent most of the evening just listening. Anita and G. T.'s wife said very little during the evening. That evening was the last time I would have any social interaction with the G. T. Cline family.