Page 17 - BWA FEB 2013

February 2013 | Business World Magazine | 17
Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We may not be able to prepare the future for our chil-
dren, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.” And no doubt, it doesn’t
take a doctorate in philosophy to understand a fundamental truth, that the counsel, the
mentoring, the encouragement one receives in youth can make all the difference as to
how one matures, and goes on to meet the changes and challenges of life. This simple
principle is at the heart of an organization that has grown to become one of America’s
most respected senior care providers; an achievement that reflects what can result when
corporate values are aligned with well nurtured family values.
Robert Harold Hurlbut enjoyed a life unlike
any of his peers. This is largely credited to
his parents, Harold and Martha, who owned
and operated a senior care facility where they
took a hands-on approach to every detail.
Though Harold worked at Delco during the
day, he devoted hours every night to main-
tenance needs. Meanwhile, Martha, tended
to laundry, cleaning and cooked three meals
a day, seven days a week, for twenty years. In
fact, the parents were so diligent in their du-
ties one might get the notion that there was
little time to focus on young Robert Hurlbut
but that wasn’t the case. He had other, sur-
rogate parents of sorts, in the form of senior
residents who devoted measurable attention
to him. He benefitted from their help with
homework, their advice and stories that they
shared. They were his teachers, his friends
and in every sense, an extension of his family.
This history is fondly recalled today by
Robert W. Hurlbut (Robert Harold Hurl-
but’s son) who represents the third genera-
tion of leadership from a family who has pro-