Bob Lee: RV Industry Pioneer and Company He Built
*Originally
written and printed in FMC magazine, this article doesn’t scratch the surface
of the contributions of Bob Lee to the RV industry. It is however, a small
means of saying “thank you” to Terry and Bob for the wonderful Country Coach
experiences I have enjoyed. My favorite life lesson from Bob was first heard at
a plant wide meeting. He talked of growing up on a farm in southern Oregon, and
how when they planted seed they would just hang the empty gunny sacks over the
fence poles at the end of the rows and how over the years there got to be a lot
of gunny sacks on their fence poles. He said they got so used to those gunny
sacks they never even noticed them. But none the less they were eyesores. He
encouraged me (us) to go back to our departments and look for our gunny sacks, to
remove those things and to strive for excellence in everything we turned our
efforts too.” I never forgot and I think
of it yet today as I move through my professional and personal life.
The RV Industry has
had its share of ups and downs over the past several decades, and the same can
be said of RV pioneer Bob Lee of Junction City, Oregon. His tenacity and
perseverance over four decades of the RV industry’s cyclical highs and lows as
well as in his own adjustment to health issues which demanded he
downshift are commendable (and if you know Bob Lee, then you know slowing
down is not something he easily agreed to). Bob’s passion for the recreation
vehicle industry and his enjoyment of the Country Coach lifestyle are
unstoppable.
His is an inspiring story of the pursuit and achievement of the
American dream.
Bob was born in the Klamath Falls, Oregon
area in 1939 into a farming and logging family. After high school Bob joined
the U.S. Navy training as a jet mechanic. He left the service in 1962 and went
to work in the Los Angeles
area for North American Rockwell, where he was hired as an equipment buyer with
the Apollo space program. In 1968 he left the aerospace program and with two
friends started a camper manufacturing business in Oregon. “We left our families and took off
up I-5 having no idea where we were going to get off,” Bob reminisced. They
ended up in Junction City and began what would
become Monaco.
In 1972 Bob left Monaco
to start his own company. He went to work days for Kendall Ford as an RV
service manager and in the evenings he built camper canopies in a rented garage
with his partner Lowell Swartz. Eventually he built his first small motorhome which
sold for $10,500. He was on his way!
“Being a guy with a
little ingenuity, it wasn’t too hard,” Lee said about those formative years.
“It’s like building a house—once you learn how, it’s easy.” The business was
known as Country Camper back then, named after his daughter’s little Barbie
doll camper. The company incorporated in 1974. When the demand for slide-in
campers waned in the late 1970s, Bob says he decided he wanted “to be in the
high end of the RV market as that wasn’t as volatile.” In 1984 the company was
renamed Country Coach. It grew to span over 42 acres of industrial land turning
out hundreds of motorcoaches per year. “Building hundreds, not thousands per
year, allowed Country Coach to focus on the quality upon which the business had
been founded,” Bob noted. “I always told my employees, “Build it as if your own
mother will be driving it, and they did.”
 |
| Lees in 1984 |
Country Camper’s humble
beginnings of two employees building slide-in campers grew to a corporation encompassing
over eight city blocks in Junction
City, Oregon and employing
1500+ employees at Country Coach’s peak manufacturing years. Country Coach’s
product lines encompassed both front and side door entry diesel pusher
motorcoaches from 32’ in length to 45’, with up to 4 slide rooms. Country Coach
built at least twelve different Class A models (and even briefly a Class C Max), along
with the custom-tuned DynoMax chassis. Over his 40 year career, Bob Lee founded
a motorcoach company that became one of the industry’s premier manufacturers of
luxury diesel pusher motorcoaches.
“There were
definitely some challenges to overcome,” said Terry Lee. “When we had the gas
crunch in the late 70’s/early 80's, we also built trailers and park models too;
we even put our employees to work fabricating stove inserts.....anything to
survive the industry downturn.” Terry worked in the company and served as
corporate secretary and treasurer for the first 20 years of the company’s
history. The Lees, along with brothers Ron and Lenard in early years and in
later years, Bob and Terry’s daughters Kenda and Brenda, ran a family
operation.
For many years, Bob
and Terry logged 10,000 to 15,000 miles per year on their motorcoach, traveling
to industry shows and rallies, where they’d park beside Country Coach owners. “Motorcoachers
are the best source of information as to what is most important to have designed
into their home on wheels,” Bob always said. So he and Terry would listen,
gather ideas; and then take that input back to his Country Coach team. The next
model year debut usually found many of those motorcoachers’ suggestions
incorporated into the new coach designs.
Recognition of Bob’s
accomplishments came from many avenues. Country Coach was presented the Oregon
Governor’s Award for Corporate Excellence in 1984, the Private Industry
Council’s Outstanding Employer Award in 1987, the U.S. Senate Productivity
Award in 1988, Oregon’s
Private 150 Award in 1994, and by RVIA with a “Distinguished Service to the RV
Industry” award in 1995. He was later inducted into the RV/MH Heritage Hall of
Fame in 2000. Bob served this industry with gusto, holding positions of
leadership for nearly 30 years on the Commercial Council for Family Motor Coach
Association, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, and the Oregon Reinforced
Plastics Association. He also chaired the Annual RVIA Manufacturers Shows, held
each year in Los Angeles, CA
and Louisville, KY, for many years.
Bob was one to share
the credit with brother Ron Lee (VP of Engineering and Manufacturing for many
years), Ed Read (then VP of Production), as well as the entire engineering, design
and manufacturing team for the old world craftsmanship and significant product innovations
Country Coach brought to the industry. Those innovations included a coach
systems monitor with speech processor; air leveling for the motorcoach; HVAC
control technology; and hydronic heating coach systems, as well as introducing
code-compliant custom bus conversions built on a production line. Bob noted
that “although extremely proud to have had the opportunity to be a part of this
great industry’s evolution,” he and Terry “have treasured the many friendships
they have formed over the years.”
“More than just friends,” that's how
long-time Country Coach motorcoach owner Ted Wright described Bob and Terry Lee.
"In 1989 I retired and moved to Scottsdale, AZ and bought our first
Country Coach. That began a lifetime affinity for Country Coach. Back then Bob
Lee was known for his BBQ and he pulled a cooking trailer and hosted parties
for Country Coach owners. We traveled with Bob and Terry to several coach rallies
over the years and visited often in Junction City, OR. I’ve seen the
interaction between Bob and hundreds of his employees. On several occasions,
when I walked through the Country Coach plant, I was amazed that every employee
greeted him with so much respect and obvious admiration. I know it broke his
heart when the original Country Coach closed its doors in late 2009 (*see
author’s note below). His success as a leader in the motorcoach industry is
undisputed," Ted said.
Past Country Coach motorcoachers Jack and Jan Gossett share a similar story. "We have been friends of Bob and Terry
Lee for 30 years since we went to the factory in Junction City in the early
80’s to see how a Country Camper was built. We were sold and ordered one when
we got home. A few months later, we went to Oregon to pick up our new coach and
lo and behold, Bob was there to meet us with our new coach in front of the
airport door and we stepped into it and a wonderful life of RVing. When we
retired from our jobs in 1985, we went to work for Country Camper visiting
dealers and showing new product at RV shows across the good ole USA and even a
visit in Canada. We enjoyed our time with Bob and Terry over the years, parked
beside each other at motorhome shows, rafting the Willamette River with the
dealers, decorating coaches at a show or just sharing a glass of wine and tasty
salmon that Bob barbecued."
Another hat the Lees
wore was event planners. Bob and Terry enjoyed planning and presenting several
special adventure rally events like the Indy 500 rally and Albuquerque Balloon
Fiesta rally. Terry noted, “Bob and I would put together a high-end adventure
rally agenda for a smaller group of Country Coachers and we always had as much
fun as they did. It was a great way to deepen friendships while enjoying our
Country Coach motorcoaches.”
Bob also built a
high-end luxury RV resort in Indio,
California, Desert Shores
Motorcoach Resort. He later launched Oregon
Motorcoach Center,
a service and coach renovation facility in Eugene, Oregon,
with his daughter Brenda Lee and co-owner son-in-law Pat Mason. Bob and Terry
were and are avid Club supporters. Bob and
Terry were Founding Members of Country Coach Friends Inc. Club (a new chapter
of FMCA) which formed in 2011.
Bob was fond of
saying, “Country Coach was and is a family--the vendors with whom we did
business, the community where we live and built motorcoaches, the employees,
and the people who bought our coaches.” His pride in the Country Coach brand,
his lifelong interest in the industry’s growth and development, and his genuine
passion for people are all nearly tangible, and are among the reasons people
still constantly inquire about Bob and Terry Lee.
These days Bob and
Terry are enjoying a slower pace and quieter times with
their children and grandchildren. Industry pioneers, successful entrepreneurs,
and close friends to many Country Coach owners--the Lees have earned their
place in the hearts and memories of Country Coachers nationwide. Motorcoachers still gather at rallies and
talk about the friendliness of Bob and Terry when they'd join them at Club rallies or Family Motor
Coach Association rallies across the country through the years. Many still keep in contact with the Lees and visit whenever their travels bring them to Oregon. Country Coach
Friends truly are lifelong friends!
[*Bob Lee sold Country Coach to National RV Holdings, Inc
in November, 1996. He continued to serve as Chairman Emeritus in an advisory
capacity at Country Coach for several years. In November 2009 due to
unfortunate economic factors, the company was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and
closed its doors. Bob Lee opened Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene,
Oregon and it is still one of several wonderful service centers that visitors to Oregon have to choose from for their motorcoach care.. In January 2011, Country CoachCorporation (CCC), a service and parts facility, opened within buildings on a
portion of the original Country Coach campus in Junction City, Oregon.
CCC Owner Ron Lee (Bob Lee’s brother) plans to build motorcoaches in the
future. Bob and Terry Lee are not involved in Country Coach Corporation.]
