June 19, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the “grind” mindset has often been glamorized in recent years. Steve Trice, the founder of Jasco Products, shares why serving his employees has been far more rewarding than chasing the dollar.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. That's our Americanstories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. And now we bring you
(00:30):
another story from Steve Trice, and he's the founder of
a leading electronics company called Jasco Products, who tells us
the story of his marriage and in light of an
upbringing of many divorces and alcoholism. Here's Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
When Nan and I talked about getting married when we
were twenty three twenty four years old, told her at
one point, I said, you don't want to marry me.
I don't think you like it. And she said, what
do you mean I want to marry you? And I said, well,
(01:13):
I get up and go to work at seven o'clock
in the morning and I get home at eleven o'clock
at night. Because I had been trained up by my
daddy and I learned how to be. I wasn't an alcoholic,
but I was a workholic. You know. I was getting
my value out of my job. And she said, I
(01:34):
thought very naively at the time, Steve, that's enough for me,
that that's okay, that'll be great. I said, oh okay.
So we went ahead and got married, and a year
later we had our first child. It wasn't that literal.
I wasn't eleven o'clock every night. And then we had
(01:57):
our second child pretty quick after that. At that point,
I was off Target stores in Minneapolis. I'd leave Minneapolis.
I'd go to Hong Kong, fly back to Tokyo, come
back home, get back on the airplane, and go to Minneapolis.
It was just constant. And one day Nan said, Steve,
(02:21):
Tomorrow Saturday, I've accepted a part time job. I'm going
to be working at a gift shop. I said, oh,
that's neat. Who's going to take care of the kids.
And she said, Steve, I've been taking care of the
kids for the last few years. It's your problem. You
(02:43):
figure it out. The previous Saturday was the last Saturday
that I ever worked. I never worked another Saturday. I
had always worked on Saturday. So I started becoming a
little bit better, and then we had a significant problem
months later, and she said, Steve, this thing of you
(03:04):
being gone all the time, it's not working, And I said,
but wait a minute. Do you remember what she said
back before we got married, that you know, seven to
eleven If that was fine, that was all you needed.
She said, guess what, I've changed the rules. I'm not
going to work anymore. And I said, oh. And after
(03:28):
being raised in the family that I was raised in,
I was scared to death that I was going to
lose my family and I would on that day. And
I look back, Did I know the Lord Jesus Christ? No?
Can I look back and see his hand on my
life all the way through my life? And that day
(03:52):
I knew that I didn't want to lose my family,
and I knew that I was getting ready to. And
I went to my dad next day and I said, Dad,
I'm not working after six o'clock anymore. So now I'm
Monday through Friday early in the morning till six o'clock.
And it got better and better and better and better.
(04:12):
And I worked out of workaholism and learned it and
learned to take care of my family, to be a
boy Scout leader, to go on camp house with my kids,
to go to the lake and spend weekends and water
ski and all those things, and just loved being a
(04:33):
family man. We had a fight one day. I remember
exactly where it was, right outside of our master bathroom,
in our bedroom. We had had an argument and with
my background and my mentality, and I was fed up
(04:58):
and I said, Honey, I'm out of here. She kind
of took about two steps forward and stood right in
front of me, and she looked up at me and
she said, Steve, you might be able to walk out
that door, but I just want you to know I can't.
(05:20):
She said. I said till death do us part. And
I believe it, and I'm committed to it. And you
got to do what you got to do. But what
I hope you'll do is stand here with me and
we'll work it out together. I can't say enough about
(05:41):
how my bride has helped me in my life. My bride,
Anne and I have now been married for forty eight
almost forty nine years. Our marriage is growing, Our marriage
is getting better every day. We pray together. We asked
the Lord to grow marriage. Our sons have been married
(06:02):
nineteen and twenty years. We pray for them that the
Lord will teach our sons how to love their wives,
their wives how to love and respect their husband, that
they'll teach our sons and their wives how to train
up their children and the way that they should go.
Our oldest grandchild is thirteen, and we pray for her husband.
(06:25):
She didn't have a husband yet she will someday maybe.
And we pray for our little eleven and ten year old.
Three little guys, We pray for their wives. We pray
for their children, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren, and
that they will grow up as God's disciples following him.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And great job as always to Alex and special thanks
to Steve Trace. We're sharing that story and it's a
humbling story. But that's a lot of guys and frankly
a lot of women too. We have our problems that
we bring to any marriage and workaholism. Well, in the end,
that was Steve's getting his identity through work and having
a wife who loved him enough to bring him out
(07:06):
of that. As he put it, I worked out of
being a workaholic. Steve Trice's story, his brides, his family
here on our American story. Folks, I you love the
(07:31):
great American stories we tell and love America like we do.
We're asking you to become a part of the Our
American Stories family. If you agree that America is a
good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly
gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast
becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to Our American
Stories dot com now and go to the donate button
(07:52):
and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's
Our American Stories dot com.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. That's our Americanstories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. And now we bring you
(00:30):
another story from Steve Trice, and he's the founder of
a leading electronics company called Jasco Products, who tells us
the story of his marriage and in light of an
upbringing of many divorces and alcoholism. Here's Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
When Nan and I talked about getting married when we
were twenty three twenty four years old, told her at
one point, I said, you don't want to marry me.
I don't think you like it. And she said, what
do you mean I want to marry you? And I said, well,
(01:13):
I get up and go to work at seven o'clock
in the morning and I get home at eleven o'clock
at night. Because I had been trained up by my
daddy and I learned how to be. I wasn't an alcoholic,
but I was a workholic. You know. I was getting
my value out of my job. And she said, I
(01:34):
thought very naively at the time, Steve, that's enough for me,
that that's okay, that'll be great. I said, oh okay.
So we went ahead and got married, and a year
later we had our first child. It wasn't that literal.
I wasn't eleven o'clock every night. And then we had
(01:57):
our second child pretty quick after that. At that point,
I was off Target stores in Minneapolis. I'd leave Minneapolis.
I'd go to Hong Kong, fly back to Tokyo, come
back home, get back on the airplane, and go to Minneapolis.
It was just constant. And one day Nan said, Steve,
(02:21):
Tomorrow Saturday, I've accepted a part time job. I'm going
to be working at a gift shop. I said, oh,
that's neat. Who's going to take care of the kids.
And she said, Steve, I've been taking care of the
kids for the last few years. It's your problem. You
(02:43):
figure it out. The previous Saturday was the last Saturday
that I ever worked. I never worked another Saturday. I
had always worked on Saturday. So I started becoming a
little bit better, and then we had a significant problem
months later, and she said, Steve, this thing of you
(03:04):
being gone all the time, it's not working, And I said,
but wait a minute. Do you remember what she said
back before we got married, that you know, seven to
eleven If that was fine, that was all you needed.
She said, guess what, I've changed the rules. I'm not
going to work anymore. And I said, oh. And after
(03:28):
being raised in the family that I was raised in,
I was scared to death that I was going to
lose my family and I would on that day. And
I look back, Did I know the Lord Jesus Christ? No?
Can I look back and see his hand on my
life all the way through my life? And that day
(03:52):
I knew that I didn't want to lose my family,
and I knew that I was getting ready to. And
I went to my dad next day and I said, Dad,
I'm not working after six o'clock anymore. So now I'm
Monday through Friday early in the morning till six o'clock.
And it got better and better and better and better.
(04:12):
And I worked out of workaholism and learned it and
learned to take care of my family, to be a
boy Scout leader, to go on camp house with my kids,
to go to the lake and spend weekends and water
ski and all those things, and just loved being a
(04:33):
family man. We had a fight one day. I remember
exactly where it was, right outside of our master bathroom,
in our bedroom. We had had an argument and with
my background and my mentality, and I was fed up
(04:58):
and I said, Honey, I'm out of here. She kind
of took about two steps forward and stood right in
front of me, and she looked up at me and
she said, Steve, you might be able to walk out
that door, but I just want you to know I can't.
(05:20):
She said. I said till death do us part. And
I believe it, and I'm committed to it. And you
got to do what you got to do. But what
I hope you'll do is stand here with me and
we'll work it out together. I can't say enough about
(05:41):
how my bride has helped me in my life. My bride,
Anne and I have now been married for forty eight
almost forty nine years. Our marriage is growing, Our marriage
is getting better every day. We pray together. We asked
the Lord to grow marriage. Our sons have been married
(06:02):
nineteen and twenty years. We pray for them that the
Lord will teach our sons how to love their wives,
their wives how to love and respect their husband, that
they'll teach our sons and their wives how to train
up their children and the way that they should go.
Our oldest grandchild is thirteen, and we pray for her husband.
(06:25):
She didn't have a husband yet she will someday maybe.
And we pray for our little eleven and ten year old.
Three little guys, We pray for their wives. We pray
for their children, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren, and
that they will grow up as God's disciples following him.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And great job as always to Alex and special thanks
to Steve Trace. We're sharing that story and it's a
humbling story. But that's a lot of guys and frankly
a lot of women too. We have our problems that
we bring to any marriage and workaholism. Well, in the end,
that was Steve's getting his identity through work and having
a wife who loved him enough to bring him out
(07:06):
of that. As he put it, I worked out of
being a workaholic. Steve Trice's story, his brides, his family
here on our American story. Folks, I you love the
(07:31):
great American stories we tell and love America like we do.
We're asking you to become a part of the Our
American Stories family. If you agree that America is a
good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly
gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast
becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to Our American
Stories dot com now and go to the donate button
(07:52):
and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's
Our American Stories dot com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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