January's Spotlight is on....

In honor of our 50+ years in business, the monthly flyer will feature a different member of the Galaxie team. We hope you get to know us better through these spotlight articles and understand that strong relationships have been vital to our success through out the past five decades.

​SAM FRENCH
Territory Sales Rep
7+ years at Galaxie

Well we made it! We survived 2022 and now it’s the beginning of another new year. It’s the beginning of new possibilities, of fresh ideas, of resolutions for improvement. A new year feels like a clean start. With each new year that we experience, it seems to always evoke the same feelings -  looking forward with bright eyes to the future and also a reflective somberness about the past from which we can learn and grow. I hope that 2023 is everything you want it to be and more.

To start this year off in the 50th/51st Anniversary Interview Project we are featuring Sam French. Sam is the third son of Nathan and Trudy. He has been around Galaxie since birth like all the boys, and like all the boys, he started coming into Galaxie after school as soon as he could drive to do things like deliveries and cleaning. He took welding courses at Cowley County Community College and developed a passion for it. He found a job where he could weld in the oil fields during the summer months and that turned into a full-time job after he graduated. In 2015, there was a position that needed filled at Galaxie so Sam decided to come back to the family business to help fill that need. At that time he worked in the copier service department and was really at the forefront of that department’s transition to networking and IT services. He also helped with furniture installations and learned the sales side of the business. After several years, the calling of the “patch” (aka oil field) pulled him back into that industry. Sam is an outdoorsy kind of guy so being outside and working with his hands was really where he felt at home. Fast forward to 2021 - Sam and his wife Caitlin are expecting their first baby. Caitlin has done sales for Galaxie for the past 12 years (see her interview here) and she needed someone to take over her territory so she could stay home with the baby. It made sense for Sam to do that and now they work together as a team. Sam does the outside sales and Caitlin does the designing aspect from their home office.

Looking back over the years, he commented on how it just seems to be busier than ever. Everyone is always on the move and also the scale of the jobs we do seem to be larger than before.  Some of the memorable times he remembers are the fun, themed corporate dinners- specifically the ones at Woolaroc and the Marland Mansion. He also mentioned enjoying the large furniture jobs in Topeka for the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. Those jobs included furniture lines that were more involved and technical so he enjoyed the challenge.
Sam is truly a people person and that is well-shown in his comments about what he enjoys the most about his job. Without hesitation, he said that he has enjoyed taking care of the same customers we have had for years. The people in his territory are “easy-going and easy to work with.” He enjoys visiting with his customers and seeing them on a regular basis.

With a little prodding from me (just a little) he reflected on what it means to work at the family business. After he considered the question, he said that it is a really neat thing to be part of a 3rd generation business. “Some people that I work with still remember working with Grandpa. They have been customers for a long time.”

One thing you quickly learn about Sam is that he cannot sit still, so he is a man of many hobbies. If he can do it outside then count him in. He loves to hike and backpack, ride his motorcycle on the plethora of Kansas backroads and explore the countryside, snowboard, and travel. Sam and Caitlin have been all over Asia and plan to do some more international traveling with their sweet little girl, Bronwyn.

I want to thank Sam for being a sport and letting me interview him despite the fact that he really really doesn’t like being in the spotlight. He is truly a team player and we are thrilled to have him on our team and in our family.

I hope you all have a great January and hold on to that fresh start feeling.

Until next month,
​
Lindsay French