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Then in 1976, after four years on Lake Rose, the family up and moved to Detroit, a totally different world. The move was related to Stan’s job with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

***

When first married, Stan quit school and took a job selling restaurant equipment, and he was successful at that job for eight years.

“Then Kentucky Fried Chicken called me for some equipment and there was a synergism with them,” said Stan. “They said they wanted me to work for them. They were corporate and were just getting franchises going. I became the manager of eight or nine of them -- this was in 1969 -- and it grew to 32.”

“Jayne and I hosted Colonel Sanders in the ‘70’s when he was in the Twin Cities as Grand Marshal for the Winter Carnival,” said Stan. “For two or three years I did local commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken. People on the street would recognize me and say, ‘Hey, you’re the chicken man.’”

“Then Kentucky Fried Chicken wanted me to manage 70 restaurants in Detroit, which I did, but Detroit was another world,” he said. “There were bars on windows and guards at doors and theft issues. One time I was out of my office and when they couldn’t find me, actually looked for me in the dumpster. We had three little girls to worry about so I quit and we moved back to Minnesota in 1979.”

Never one to let grass grow under his feet, Stan got a job with Artsign Materials as vice president and general manager, then went to T. Check Systems, where he was president of a company responsible for the transfer of funds to truckers on the road.

***

If every job is also a book in the life of Stan Hamerski, then every story in the book has a subplot.

“All this time in the corporate world, Jayne and I were buying and selling land,” he said. “I’d go to the office every day with two briefcases, one nice and new and one old beat-up thing with my real estate stuff in it, and that was my favorite one. That’s what I really wanted to do.

“You see, for 13 years I trained unemployed and underemployed people how to market themselves and do what they really wanted to do, so then I decided to take my own advice.”

In other words, Stan put away his nice brief case and kept the beat-up one.

“In 1984 we bought Schneider’s Shore, 15 acres on Lake Bavaria here in Carver County,” he said. “We turned it into five large lots and called the development Seasons on Lake Bavaria. Schneiders had run it as a park and campground since the 1920’s, I think. We kept it that way for a while, and that summer as I was repairing picnic tables, I got a call from Tracy Swanson -- once the mayor of Chaska and then Carver County Commissioner -- who told me the Metropolitan Council wanted to put a big landfill not far from Schneider’s Shore. Well, we fought that and won.”

Stan continued with the subplots. “Actually, we bought that property through Al Klingelhutz, the agent for Schneiders. I remember filling up at a gas station in Chanhassen and asking who’s the best real estate agent around here and they pointed to Al’s office so I became Al’s partner.

“I joined Al and kept the name he had, Klingelhutz-Craven. Al knew all the farmers and they came to him to list parts of their property, the ravines and the hills and bluffs that weren’t good for farming but good for houses. Al could sit and talk for hours with people.

“Then I met another fellow named Fred Plocher. Fred had contacted me about being an agent for Realty World Streeter Andrus. This was exciting for me. However, being an agent was of no interest to me. I wanted some ownership. I wanted to be his businss partner. There was a fit and I became Fred’s partner. This was in 1987. To this day, Fred is a dear friend and partner.”

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