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farm on Palms Road in Smiths Creek.
"My parents were the hardest-working people
in the world and they gave us everything that they could, especially
their love and the faith I still have today,"
Angelo said.
"At the time, we didn't know we were poor. Like I said, we
had plenty to eat
from the farm. My dad was an orphan in Italy and came to this country
by boat. I guess you could say I got my work ethic from my dad and
my faith from mother.
"I've got nothing against education. In
fact, I'm all for it. But school was hard
for me. Let's be honest: It's like that for some people. I left
the old Beach School just after I went into the seventh grade with
Mrs. Reed from Emmett. She was a good teacher, but I had my dreams
to follow. "I guess I was never really a kid except for a few
baseball games I played. My dad wanted me to stay in school. But
I wanted to work and help him on the farm after my brothers went
into service." Angelo was pulling weeds in a bean field when
he told his father he wanted to drive a gravel truck like the ones
that passed their farm.
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By the time he was 13, he was working two jobs and bought his first
five-yard Chevrolet truck. He worked on a dairy farm during the
day and then hitch hiked to a
drive-in restaurant in Marysville where he worked a night shift.
By the time he was 15, he was hauling milk for a Marysville dairy.
Torello Trucking was up and running.
So, why, when most people Angelo's age are beginning to consider
retirement, does this remarkable man build a 200-acre golf course?
"First, I saw it as a business opportunity. And had the township
board not turned me down three years ago, there probably would have
been a new mobile home park here. My son, Mark, suggested the golf
course. (But) a lot
of people said a golf course wouldn't work here." That's all
Angelo needed to hear. Self-made people are like that. The challenge
is what makes them great.
"I don't know how old you have to be to retire," Angelo
said. "Come to think of it, I'm really just getting started."
As I was about to leave, I stopped several strangers to see if they
saw the golf course and Angelo Torello as I had. Sam Mazzola of
Armada said, "I love this place. None of the big-name
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courses up north can offer more challenges or golfing experiences
than they have right here." Bob Randall of Clinton Township
said, "The course is friendly and so is Mr. Torello."
Is the course for sale?
"You bet it is, I'm a businessman," Angelo said with a
smile. He's a self-made businessman who built a golf course right
out in front of his own home.
So, does he play much golf?
"I don't have too much time for golf, not with my schedule,"
he said. "We are about to build a banquet center on top of
our split-log club house."
It's hard to believe anyone could have ever questioned Angelo's
honest determination and his will to succeed.
Thanks for the golf cart ride, John Nolan. You were right. Sometimes,
we just don't know the story, do we?
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