One Sunday more than two decades ago a family unfamiliar to me and my wife, Paula, happened to sit next to us on our favorite pew at what was then Quail Springs Church of Christ.
Paula introduced herself and learned this was Steve and Lisa Buck, who were visiting our church. Paula invited them to our small group meeting that night, which we called ‘Connections.’
Twenty-plus years later we have grown to be great friends with the Bucks.
Was it karma or divine coincidence?
I write that because of how I recently met another outstanding couple. Except this time it wasn’t in church; it was at The Joinery restaurant in Bricktown back in October on the occasion of the Sellout Crowd launch party. Sellout Crowd is a new online sports reporting service that launched September 1.
As I sat down at a table to consume some complementary food I carried from the buffet line, I found myself across from a couple who were unfamiliar to me. The couple introduced themselves as Mike and Tonia West.
And did they have a story of divine coincidence.
You see, Mike and Tonia were at the Sellout Crowd launch party at the invitation of sportswriter Berry Tramel, with whom they go to church at Antioch Community Church in Norman. Berry is a friend of mine and long-time colleague at The Oklahoman newspaper.
“We met Berry on our first Sunday at Antioch,” Mike told me as I sat across the table.
We chatted about Berry, their business and how they got to Oklahoma for a while before I jumped up to take some photos of the festivities. I never made it back to the table, but asked Berry later for their contact info so I could apologize for seemingly abandoning them mid-party.
Berry told me about meeting the Wests for the first time and the unique way they became owners of Oklahoma’s Keystone Labels.
“Our church has a reception type thing once a month, and we went to it one day and the Wests just sat down at our table.,” Berry said. “Mike’s a big newspaper man. They sat down and he recognized me.”
Another divine coincidence.
“We struck it off and became fast friends” Berry said. “He’s just got a heart of gold, always helping people. The one thing he likes most out of his business is when he’s able to help people; that’s what he does.”
Since that coincidental meeting, Berry and Mike have shared mission trips, both local and foreign, even traveling to Mexico together on a mission for their church.
Anyway, I called Mike up to apologize for not coming back to their table at the party, and he invited me down to tour the OKC label business that the Wests have owned since 2006.
A native of Fort Scott, Kan., Mike worked in the label business in that state before spotting a tiny classified ad in the back of an industry magazine that offered an Oklahoma City label business for sale. That was Keystone Labels.
Mike answered the ad through a surrogate and eventually purchased the business. Keystone Labels makes labels for scores of businesses with products like jars of barbecue sauce, pickles, honey and other food products, audio CDs and much, much more.
Since being owned by the Wests, Keystone Labels has become a true family business, with Tonia — a surgical nurse — working two days a week, their daughter Mikala holding down the office and nephew Chris McAllister operating one of two presses that run nonstop.
The rest of the operation’s seven employees have worked there for decades, some preceding West’s ownership. I got to watch both of the presses in action as thousands of labels were produced right in front of me while a half dozen other jobs waited for press time.
I could see that all of Keystone Labels’ employees took great pride in their work, from the graphic artists in the front to press operators Chris and Lenny, who has worked for Keystone for decades and “has never taken a day off,” Mike said.
Another long-time employee, Lonnie, handles many different tasks in the process, including turning graphic designs into press-ready plates.
Back in Fort Scott as a young man, Mike started out as a sports writer himself, making $1 an inch for his work. I said that seemed like a lot of money for those days.
“Well, considering I was only getting like 7 inches for my stories, it wasn’t a lot,” Mike said.
Mike’s dad was the high school football coach in Fort Scott, and today is retired and an active farmer in his 80s. One of his high school players was future Oklahoma State University football coach Charlie Weatherbie, a fact I learned from a Sellout Crowd article written by Tramel.
So, the visit to Keystone Labels was both informative and eye-opening for me. I saw how a small label business works and how it even has its own platemaking shop. Mike showed me the actual magazine and the four-line ad that he spotted advertising the business for sale.
I heard stories from Mike about the challenges the business has faced, including a wall being destroyed when a drunk driver drove through it in the middle of the night. I learned how Mike lives out his faith by providing support both to those he loves and those he’s never met. I learned of his daughter’s miraculous healing.
Since this is a personal blog, I’ve got a personal note to share.
I had intended to visit Keystone Labels two weeks ago, but had to make an emergency trip to Fort Smith, Ark., to deal with a challenging family situation. I texted a note of apology to Mike, begging off because my family was “enduring the week from heck.”
As I drove over to Fort Smith my phone dinged with a message.
It was from Mike, and it contained a prayer for my family and the situation we were facing.
“He has a heart for people that is rare,” Berry said. “You can say that about a lot of people, but he is in the upper 1 percent.”
I’m so glad that Mike and Tonia West sat at Berry’s table that day, and that I sat at Mike’s table at the launch party, and that Steve and Lisa Buck sat on our pew that Sunday more than two decades ago.
Divine coincidences all the way around.
Jim Stafford's BlogOKC 