When Anthony Chmielowiec came to the United States in the 1910, he most likely knew that there would be hard work and uncertain times involved as he eventually pursued the American dream of becoming a successful business owner. 

And even when he didn’t know something, he suspended and pushed beyond any potential self-doubt, as was the case when offered his first managerial job.

“And this is probably the best part of our history. He came over from Poland and he settled in Buffalo and didn’t really have a job. And he saw an ad in a local paper for a painting foreman, and he had no experience whatsoever,” his great-great-grandson Jack Jr. said during an interview with The Batavian. “But he went and told them he had experience. He was hired as the painting foreman, and he watched the other painters. He learned by watching the other painters. It was the beginning of our history.”