T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — The late Larry Raymon, pictured, served as master of ceremonies and keynote speaker during the first ever Memorial Day service held at the Raymon Veterans Park in Albion last May.

A built-in advantage Albion has over other small communities is the presence of a large industrial employer, Raymon Enterprises (formerly known as Raymon Donco Air Distribution Equipment), which manufactures grilles and registers for commercial buildings. Under the leadership of the late Larry Raymon, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 80, it grew from a nearly bankrupt outfit with a handful of staff operating above a bowling alley in Eldora to a highly successful privately owned company employing around 80 people and thriving without government subsidies, grants or loans.

Raymon always spoke glowingly of the town where he chose to move his business and was instrumental in laying out a bold vision for its future.

“Albion is a unique community, and it really has a lot of opportunities that other small communities don’t have, one of which is the bike trail. That’s gonna be a third entrance into town, and I think future generations will live there and bike to Marshalltown (to work),” he said during an interview with the T-R on Jan. 30. “(It’s) only seven miles, and for a biker, that’s not much of a ride. What a nice thing it would be to live in Albion and not have to worry about a car, so I think that’s gonna be huge.”

A native of the small Tama County community of Elberon and a UNI graduate, Raymon first came to Marshalltown to serve as the business manager at MCC, and when he was considering locations for Raymon Donco, he said the people of Albion stepped forward and presented a proposal that “made a lot of sense.”

“At that time, I had about 30 employees, and I felt that most of them would come with me to Albion, but they wouldn’t necessarily go all the way to Marshalltown. So the Albion folks came forward with an opportunity to build a building for us,” Raymon said. “We got offers from many communities in central Iowa because we didn’t want anything except a building that we could eventually take over, which the Albion folks put together.”

A group of 28 investors came up with the money for the building and simply asked that Raymon buy it back and take over the mortgage. The rest is history, and today, his son Chad, who travels across the country selling the company’s products, has taken over as president with Blake Matney, who called Raymon “a robust and passionate leader who “moved forward wholeheartedly” and set the company up for success through his direction and mentorship, serving as CEO.

“These guys are young. They’re gonna take the company to places I probably couldn’t,” Larry said.

Chad Raymon said it was difficult to find the words in describing the kind of man his father was, but he did the best to sum up his character and the massive shoes he left to fill.

“He truly cared about the people he loved and the people who worked for him; when he referred to our family business, the ‘family’ was inclusive of so many more than just my mother, two brothers and I. My father always had a way of leaving things better than he found them, staying humble and seeing things from multiple perspectives,” Chad said. “He was beyond generous because, as he would say, ‘it was the right thing to do.’ He lived his life and built his company by that motto. My dad was the leader whom leaders follow, and I aspire daily to be like him. He will be greatly missed by so many, and his legacy will live on through his passion project, the Raymon Veterans Park.”

Arlis Mann worked for Raymon for nearly 40 years and has served as the company’s production manager since 2012. He said his boss was a no-nonsense, get to work type of person who lived by his principles every day.

“He was a mentor to all of us that had the pleasure to work for him. He did not have time for drama. He built the business with long hours and hard work. Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way, but always do the right thing was Larry’s thing,” Mann said. “Over the last several years, we have seen the softer side of Larry, which had always been there. Giving to those in need. He taught us all how to be better and we all wanted to. He lived his life with a lot of energy, enthusiasm and empathy.”

Notably, the company produced over 30,000 non-medical fabric masks and distributed them for free during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Raymon added that he wanted to do “anything he can” to help the Albion community and encourage employees to live close enough to work that they could walk if they so choose. Russell Pump and Engineering is also growing and adding more employees, and Hemming hopes that more entrepreneurs will want to come to Albion and start their businesses.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — A view of the Raymon Veterans Park in Albion, which was privately funded and opened in 2021.

As a veteran of the National Guard himself, Raymon dedicated much of what would turn out to be the final years of his life to the Raymon Veterans Park, located on four acres just north of the company’s main facility. It opened quietly in the summer of 2021, and last year, he held the first ever Memorial Day service there and served as master of ceremonies and keynote speaker.

In 2024, he had plans to add a winding sidewalk in the east part of the park and landscaping with benches so that visitors can walk through and then find a nice spot to take a break. A limestone lighted sign with an American flag letting travelers know that the park is just two blocks west.

“We have people, even now, from all over the United States that are coming in there. We have a guest register book, and you would just be amazed at the people and where they come from that have somehow learned about the park and stopped there,” Raymon said.

Since his passing, tributes from friends and fellow members of the local business community have poured in steadily. One of them, Thompson True Value Owner Dave Thompson, commented on Raymon’s business acumen and unrivaled love of the country he served.

“Larry Raymon was a special and very astute individual. This served him well in many areas, but particularly when he took a business in decline and made it one of the premium manufacturing operations in existence today. Larry’s dedication to the town of Albion will leave a lasting, positive effect, not only on the community, but on his employees as well,” Thompson said. “Larry was a true patriot. His love of this country was ever present. This is expressed with the monument and the park he created in Albion. His willingness to share his time and talent with others has been an inspiration to all who knew him. He was a founding father of MEDIC (the Marshalltown Economic Development Impact Committee). His active involvement in this committee led to numerous positive outcomes which continue to serve Marshalltown and the surrounding areas. Larry’s love of his family was very evident whenever he spoke of them. Through the years, Larry Raymon was my advisor on many levels, but mostly he was my mentor and my friend.”

Terry Buzbee, the retired president of Fisher Controls, got to know Raymon through their involvement with the Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s during a “difficult time” in the city’s history.

“His commitment to Marshalltown was an expression of giving back to the community after his business success that was beyond anything I could imagine. Any initiative that needed a boost gained Larry’s support and commitment,” Buzbee said. “His thoughtful leadership was a significant voice in today’s Oktemberfest, and he was a driver of economic development during most of those times.”

He added that Raymon “taught him the meaning” of giving back to the Marshalltown community and was effusive in his praise of the way his friend ran his operation.

“The management principles he employed were also amazing as he refused to increase prices to his customers, therefore driving amazing company productivity,” Buzbee said. “Again, lessons I tried to duplicate at Fisher but to far less success than Larry. (He was an) incredible man that I really appreciated as a mentor. His impact is deep on the Marshalltown community.”

Paul Gregoire, another former Emerson/Fisher executive, said Raymon was not only a strong business connection but a “sounding board” whenever he had an idea he needed to share.

“The influence of both Larry and his wife Joynell affected the lives of my wife Karn and I tremendously. We were always proud to call them good friends. I always looked to Larry as a mentor, someone whose opinion I greatly valued,” Gregoire said. “He was a stalwart business man and had incredible political savvy that he constantly used to navigate the difficulties of owning a successful small company. He was a true servant leader — that is, he was never afraid to do whatever he asked of others. He cared about our veteran population more than anyone I ever met and always put his money where mouth was when there was a community need. To say Larry Raymond was a hero of mine would be an understatement. We will miss him greatly.”

RACOM President Mike Miller came to know Raymon and his wife Joynell through his parents’ close friendship with the couple and recounted one particularly humorous display of Larry’s patriotism, the firing of his Civil War era cannon on the Fourth of July.

“These displays were awesome and continued until he accidentally shot a cannonball through another neighbor’s roof. As a testament to his ability to build and maintain relationships, they still even spoke to each other afterwards!” Miller said.

He also recalled his father’s conversations with Larry about their work: the late Gregg MIller launched RACOM in 1972, and Raymon acquired the struggling Donco in 1979. As Mike Miller grew older and eventually took over the family business, he came to look up to Raymon even more.

“I remember and respect Larry for his love of Central Iowa and always trying to make our area a better place to live and work. He and my father were founding members of the MEDIC (Marshall Economic Impact Development Committee) organization. That economic development mission lives on to this day through the work done by the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce,” Miller said. “He was a respected and honored business leader in Iowa, growing and running the Raymon Company after he acquired it and moved manufacturing from Hardin to Marshall County. His investment into the Albion community, both from business and quality of life perspectives, was impressive. His entrepreneurial spirit, business sense and ‘Let’s get it done right now’ attitude were things I always admired about Larry and leaned on in times of need.”

Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer described Raymon as a doer who was always quick to see the bigger picture.

“Larry was one of the rare take-action kind of men who did not stand idly by and wonder when someone else would do something. He just went ahead and did it,” Greer said. “Did the area need to work on getting more economic development in the area? He formed MEDIC and served as its first president. Had politics failed to solve enough problems? He ran for office. Was Rotary providing enough service above self? He earned Marshalltown’s Rotary’s top award for volunteer service. Could the River’s Edge Trail be improved and could veterans be honored more? Joynell and Larry built the Veterans Memorial Park in Albion, serving as a convenient trailhead for the 34-mile linear park. He was that kind of guy.”