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News: Co-owner of The Tedder Company dies at 57
2009-09-04 by admin
From the Daily News Journal
appeared online 9/4/09, in print 9/5/09
Co-owner of The Tedder Company dies at 57
A 40-year veteran of the heating and air industry died Thursday morning. Doug Tedder, co-owner of The Tedder Company, was 57
What began as a childhood part-time job grew into a full-time career for Tedder, as told by his son, Jay.
Tedder was first exposed to the business at age 13 when the family lived in Paragould, Ark., where his uncle had a heating and air company, Jay explained.
“Dad said he was glad about that because it got him out of picking cotton and other garden work,” Jay remembered with a smile. “That’s really how he got into the business — he just learned it from his uncle.”
Tedder and his wife moved to Rutherford County in the early 1970s, and he joined Roscoe Brown Heating and Cooling several years later, Jay continued.
Gary Brown, who owned the company at the time, remembered Tedder as “a valuable employee who was very respected by his co-workers.”
“He had great integrity and his morals were just impeccable beyond reproach,” he continued. “He always did a good job, you never had to worry about what he did, but you knew he was going to do it correctly.”
Tedder carried that mentality with him when he created Doug Tedder Heating & Air Conditioning in 1983, according to his son. It began as an out-of-truck operation, but has grown to include 14 full-time employees that service all of Rutherford County and the surrounding areas.
“He never had any business training, he just knew the industry,” Jay said. “He never really had a business motto or a mission statement. He would always tell me, ‘You want to do the best job that you can for a fair price.’ All he did was try to be honest with people, treat them fairly and do a good job. He felt like that would make them loyal customers, and it did, absolutely.”
As Tedder learned the industry from his uncle, he passed on the tradition to his son, who would later become his business partner.
“I can remember going to work with him, and he’d give me a two-by-four, a hand full of nails and a hammer,” he laughed. “It’s the only real job I’ve ever had.”
Tedder’s hard work ethic never failed him, not even after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in June.
“When he went in to have it removed, he was released from the ICU on a Thursday and back in the office on Friday,” Jay said. “He never missed a day of work until we took him back to the hospital the last time.”
Following his radiation and chemotherapy treatments, Tedder experienced a rare reaction that put him back into the hospital and later, caused his death.
Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Woodfin Memorial Chapel with Chuck Mullins and David Pullias officiating. Burial will follow in Dilton Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Woodfin Memorial Chapel.
“He was the picture of health before then,” Jay remembered. “None of us are promised a tomorrow; you just never know.”
Brown concluded Tedder’s death as “a great loss to the community and especially to his family because he was very much a family person.”
— Melinda Hudgins, 615-278-5131.