I received a wonderful surprise telephone call earlier this month from the always gracious Mary Bowman, 90, the widow of the recently departed Charlie Bowman, who was the long-time business partner of Orville Redenbacher.
The Bowmans, who began to spend more and more time in recent years semi-retired in Holland, Mich., had been married for an amazing 64 years prior to Charlie's passing at age 89, last April.
Mary called me after reading one of my recent columns mentioning a book to be published by Redenbacher's family in the future detailing the "Popcorn King" and his fascinating life.
"I hope you make sure Orville's family doesn't forget to include Charlie in regards to how all this started," Mary said.
"After all, Orville was really always more of the frontman for the company. But I was at Charlie's side, from the beginning, back in the early 1950s planting popcorn by hand in test fields in Homestead, Fla."
Bowman and Redenbacher formed a partnership in 1951 to buy the George E. Chester and Son Hybrid Seed Corn Company in Boone Grove. The name was later changed to Chester Inc., and the popcorn portion was spun off as the Orville Redenbacher brand now known worldwide.
Born in Lowell, Charlie graduated from Purdue University in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in agriculture education.
Orville, who also graduated from Purdue University, but much earlier in 1928, died in 1995 at age 88.
Mary told me how Florida became an "accidental test field location" for hybrid popcorn.
"The original plan was to test out our popcorn hybrid seeds in Cuba, since this was about the time right before Fidel Castro came into power when he changed everything," Mary said.
"Charlie was always told Florida would never do for testing out popcorn fields, because of the soil and climate. But Charlie took a chance and threw some seed in a ditch and was very pleased with the results. But it's a long seven-year process."
I received similar phone calls from readers directing me to farmer Kent Parker, of Lowell, who was also at Charlie and Orville's side while the two developed all of today's famed "gourmet popping corn" hybrids.
In a 1988 interview with my then-newspaper, The Vidette-Messenger, Charlie explained the popcorn development process and partnership.
"Many times, we did not agree," Bowman told reporter Joan Marie Funk. "But we always found a middle ground. We had no one to look to except ourselves because no one was doing what we were doing with popcorn seed. Orville was creative and never quit once he got going on something. With my background and popcorn know-how, I was able to carry out his ideas."
At the time of the interview, Bowman was excited about the new 24-hour Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn Plant Factory Division on U.S. 30 in Valparaiso, and recognized what he deemed to be "new frontiers for better and more convenient popcorn snack opportunities."
"You've got to go for convenience," Bowman said in 1988.
"Popcorn's biggest competitor is ready-to-eat snacks like potato chips and pretzels. We haven't yet learned how to successfully package ready-to-eat popcorn, but that day is coming."
I was remiss in not asking Mary a question I've been longing to have answered for quite some time.
For years, I've heard about a gold, shiny mounted "award statuette" likeness of Orville Redenbacher which was once a fixture years ago at Valparaiso annual Popcorn Festival.
It was called an Orvie, the Popcorn Festival's version of the Oscar, Emmy, Tony ... take your pick.
Apparently, two dozen of these golden wonders were handed out to VIPs and sponsors during the first three years of the Popcorn Festival from 1979 to 1981.
Glennas Kueck, who's was the longtime executive director for the festival for 15 years, hadn't even heard of the award until recently, when she was contacted by an award statue collector from California.
"I get this telephone call and this man starts describing this strange award statue he wants to add to his collection," Kueck said.
"Apparently, another guy on the West Coast had one of these on display and was offering to sell it, so this collector called us to ask about its authenticity."
After a little investigative work, Kueck discovered the origin of the award is from two men who were among the recipients. Charlie Bowman and Valparaiso real estate agent John Schnurlein are both said to have Orvie awards among their mementos.
"I've actually never even seen one of these things myself," Kueck told me.
"But from what I'm told, what once was golden is now green."
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.
Today's Celebrity Birthdays
Actress Carol Channing is 89. Baseball legend Ernie "Mr. Cub" Banks is 79. Actor Stuart Margolin ("The Rockford Files") is 70. Actress Jessica Walter ("Arrested Development") and Congressman Richard Gephardt are 69. Actor Glynn Turman ("The Wire," "A Different World") is 64. Baseball star Nolan Ryan is 63. Singer Harry Wayne Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band is 59. Singer Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols is 54. Actor Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace," "Murder One") and actress Kelly Lynch are 51. Singer-guitarist Lloyd Cole is 49. Actor John Dye ("Touched by an Angel") is 47. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman of Slayer is 46. Bassist Al Jaworski of Jesus Jones is 44. Actress Minnie Driver is 40. Actress Portia de Rossi ("Arrested Development," "Ally McBeal") is 37. Actress Kerry Washington ("Ray") is 33. Singer Justin Timberlake is 29. Journalist Andrew Giuliani (son of Rudy Giuliani) is 25.
