CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QC Life) - If you think the lights of McAdenville are Gaston County’s only Christmas claim to fame, think again.
A Jewish man from Gastonia ran a company that once was the largest maker of Christmas ornaments in the world.
Good timing has always seemed to follow Marshall Rauch.
“I got a surprise phone call. One day that put me in the Christmas ornament business,” he said.
At 98 years old today, he has no problem remembering that phone call from the 1960′s. It was Bill Speigel on the other line, of the famous Speigel Catalog.
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“He sent me was a papier-mache hollow ball wrapped with a rayon thread red, and it had a little leaf on it. And I thought it was artificial fruit. And he said to me, ‘This will be the best selling Christmas ornament this year, if you can produce it,’” Rauch said.
Rauch’s company already made things like kite cord and looms. Some of his products were round. That’s why Speigel sought him out, to make what became called satin ornaments.
Rauch made them and they appeared in the catalog. He patented the design just at the time aluminum Christmas trees came out, which really set off the ornaments.
Then, the empire was born.
“They looked fantastic on the tree, especially when you put that wheel that made all the lights come on. Well, it was just unbelievable the first year,” Rauch said.
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Then Rauch added glass ornaments and honestly every other type you could imagine. At the peak of its success, the factory was making Christmas ornaments year-round, many of which are in the archives of the Gaston County Museum now.
One was produced for televangelist Jim Bakker. Rauch’s son Mark sold the Bakkers 100,000 at a $1.50 apiece. It sounded like a great deal until Rauch was watching TV one night.
“He said, ‘We’ll ship one out to everybody who sends us $25.’ I about fell out of the bed,” Rauch said.
Rauch’s friends would always ask how he felt as a Jewish man making a living off Christmas.
“I said, ‘Well, they were more Gentiles. Then there were all Jews. And that’s why I picked a Christmas ornament instead of a Hanukkah ornament,’” he said.
The family no longer owns the business after selling it in 1995. Still, so many memories remain.
“By the time we sold it, had a lot of fun, made it a lot of good friends, made some people some money, and it took care of our family wonderfully,” Rauch said.
Related: Find out what it’s like during Christmas time at the Billy Graham Library
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