Gene Anderson opened Anderson Lock in a corner of his parents’ hardware store. Before long, his parents, Andy and Ella, were working for him at a new location. Then his brother, Norman, joined the company. Gene’s daughter, Cortney Wascher, now has majority ownership, and her husband, Devin, is Door Division Manager. Gene’s wife, Teresa, and younger daughter, Britt Ganan, have also worked at the company on a part time basis.
Mike Didier was one of the first non-family employees, and a few years after he was hired, his brothers John and Jim became Anderson Lock locksmiths. Last year, Jim’s son, Thomas, a Maine West High school student, started working here part time. Other family connections include Jeffery Glaister’s two brothers-in-law: Jeff Parcell and Erik Larsen; and brothers-in-law Dave Grothe and David Corey; aunt and nephew, Laura Miller and Ryan Paczkowskyj; brothers Todd and Brian Paluch; mother and son Brenda and Jeff Asta, who were joined this summer by college student daughter / sister, Jenna; fathers and sons, Gary and Matthew Ipsen; Jim and (summer staff member) Jimmy Walsh; Tim and (summer staff) Steven Bronsteader; and mother Allison Martinec and (summer staff) daughter, Alexandra Courtney. And, Rose Umana is related to Sam Sannasardo!
The family-like atmosphere was especially evident a week or so ago when a summer storm knocked out the electric power throughout the area.
When the computers came back on, Cortney sent out an email, which read, in part: “I am so proud of our team. The power outage we experienced today would have paralyzed many companies, but not ours. Our employees worked as best they could (for many hours in the dark) to get techs dispatched and customers’ needs met. Our team switched our phones to our Schaumburg location and ran generators to power up servers, some emergency lighting, various computers, and a couple of key machines. We had people running to get more gas and more power cords to keep our building running and others helping to troubleshoot generator problems and all here to help our customers. We were open for business all day.
This was really an example of Anderson Lock at its best. Thank you to everyone who helped! Your dedication is inspiring!”