Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510060011
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"If you've got a toothache or a cough or a cold, that'll help cure it," Hartman said. "But don't overdo it, now. Don't take a big swallow. Just drink it slow."
He leaned back in his desk chair and laughed at the grimace on his visitor's face.
All right, so it sounds a bit, well, distasteful. But don't discount its effectiveness: Hartman, who will turn 95 Sunday, has been downing the concoction every morning for years, and he swears by it.
He still goes to his office at Lee Hartman & Sons Sound Equipment Inc. at least once a week, and he spends the rest of his time tending the garden at his Salem home.
Years ago, Hartman left the day-to-day operations of the electronics business to his sons, Lee Jr. and Bob, and, now, to his grandsons, Rob, Steve and Tom. A fourth grandson, Ben, is an investment representative with Edward D. Jones & Co. But Hartman still keeps track of goings-on at the office. "I still come in whenever I feel like it," he said. "They haven't gotten rid of me yet."
Hartman grew up in a community called Medley, near what is now the intersection of Cove and Peters Creek roads. His career in sales began when he was 21 and took a delivery job with W.G. Jones, a Roanoke confectionery company. He later became a salesman on the downtown Roanoke route.
In 1936, after taking a class in electronics, he started Lee Hartman Sound Equipment in his garage. He sold and repaired small radios and record players, and then moved on to installing sound systems for auditoriums and stadiums.
In the early 1960s, the name of the business was changed to Lee Hartman & Sons Sound Equipment, and in 1963, the company was incorporated.
Hartman also founded radio station WLRJ-FM, a big band and easy listening station. He sold it in 1972, and new owner Aylett Coleman changed its call letters to WXLK-FM - known as K92 - and its format to top-40.
Today, both retail sales and sound system installations - the backbones of the business in the early years - take a back seat to the company's wholesale business, said Lee Jr. Most of the people running Roanoke's other electronics and sound suppliers are too young to know much about the company's early years, when Lee Sr. was turning a home-based business into one of the area's largest electronics companies.
But there are still a few folks around who recall Hartman's way with customers and his business sense.
"He's one of the finest and most honest fellows I've ever dealt with," said J.C. Hager, who met Hartman in the 1940s. Hager, who serviced radios and public address systems, would drive all the way from Princeton, W. Va., to buy parts from Hartman's garage shop.
Glen Richie, a neighbor of Hartman and his wife, Cathleen, also has known Hartman since World War II when they used to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning, fixing radios in that old garage.
Today, both Hartman and Richie are mostly retired. Hartman sells home-grown vegetables instead of radios, and his store is the back of his truck, but Richie said one thing hasn't changed.
"He's got it in his bones, selling, and he can't get it out," Richie said.
Memo: NOTE: Also ran in October 31, 1995 Current.