After 37 years of service at distributor Kelly-Goodwin Company, Keijo Hyvonenhas retired. Hyvonen joined the company in 1974 after having been a wood flooring installer. Soon afterward, he moved to Vancouver, Wash., and opened a Kelly-Goodwin branch there. Eventually he returned to the company's Seattle branch and was named chief operating officer. Hyvonen was also involved with the NWFA since the association's beginning in 1985, serving on the association's first board of directors and also serving as Convention Committee chairman.
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Keijo Hyvonen at the 1991 NWFA convention in Reno during the Jail & Bail fundraiser.
After 37 years of service at distributor Kelly-Goodwin Company, Keijo Hyvonenhas retired. Hyvonen joined the company in 1974 after having been a wood flooring installer. Soon afterward, he moved to Vancouver, Wash., and opened a Kelly-Goodwin branch there. Eventually he returned to the company's Seattle branch and was named chief operating officer. Hyvonen was also involved with the NWFA since the association's beginning in 1985, serving on the association's first board of directors and also serving as Convention Committee chairman.
"Keijo is on a very short list of the most consummate employees I have ever managed in my business career," said John R. Pankratz, president of Kelly-Goodwin Company. "He is a born leader. Kelly-Goodwin and all of its employees are much better because of Keijo being one of us. He was extremely caring to both the staff and each of our customers."
In retirement, Hyvonen will stay active in his three passions: boating, fishing and traveling. "It is time to step into a new phase of my life-journey and begin a retirement lifestyle," he said.
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