Get to know me! I'm Neal Goulet, the founder of Stay Apparel Co.
Sara and I at Go Green in the City in York.
Sara and I at Go Green in the City in York.
In a 1989 “Saturday Night Live” sketch, Jon Lovitz played himself as an over-the-top self-help guru with a simple bit of advice.
“I’m having lunch in the Russian Tea Room with the most beautiful woman in the world, Paulina (Porizkova),” he said. “Well, we can’t all be me. But if you’d like to fulfill your dreams like I did, then I have one piece of advice for you:
“Get to know me!”
Well, I’m sitting alone at the banquette in our Hershey home, and while you should have modest expectations, I invite you to learn a little bit about me. Stay isn’t about me, but it is my heart and soul. In my desire to build a brand that connects with people, I ask your indulgence.
I grew up in Lisbon, Maine, the youngest of five children. My four grandparents hailed from Quebec, Canada, and emigrated to the Lewiston-Auburn area. My father (and brother) made kitchen cabinets; my mother retired from L.L. Bean.
I was born on July 2, arguably the real Independence Day. I’ve always loved America, but not in the jingoistic, flag-waving way. More in the, “She’s a big girl and can take constructive criticism” way. I’m a big believer in the “to form a more perfect union” part of the Constitution.
Each of my parents and three of my siblings delivered newspapers as children. I delivered the Lewiston Evening Journal and Lewiston Daily Sun newspapers for a total of five years. I still have a zippered bag that the newspaper company gave carriers one Christmas. It inspired Stay’s Ben’s Bolt zip bag.
Lewiston was home to a minor professional hockey team, the Maine Nordiques, that played in the old North American Hockey League. The first hockey game I ever saw pitted the Nordiques against the Johnstown (Pa.) Jets, the team that inspired the film classic, “Slap Shot,” starring Paul Newman.
In high school, I bagged groceries at Bonneau’s supermarket in Lewiston. One Saturday, Paul Newman came into the store. He walked right past me, but only afterward did I think how cool it would have been to say, “You think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?”
Stephen King went to my high school. My indulgent mother once drove me to the public television station in Lewiston when King was making a live in-studio appearance. He signed an autograph for me that I no longer have.
Right after the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team won the gold medal in 1980, I started writing letters to the players, asking for their autographs. It took me nearly 40 years, but I got all of them, plus coaches Herb Brooks and Craig Patrick.
I went to journalism school at the University of Missouri. I worked for an afternoon newspaper in Sedalia, Mo., and then moved to Pennsylvania to be a business writer at the York Daily Record.
Thirty years ago, it was common when I left messages for people as a reporter that the person taking the message would say, “Goulet, like Robert Goulet?” I interviewed Robert Goulet when I was a reporter in Sedalia. We both had blue eyes and loved the Boston Red Sox.
It was in the Daily Record newsroom where I met my future wife, Sara, who was working for an ad agency in the city. While we were talking in a windowed office, a nosy colleague sent me a private message on our computer system: “Marry her,” he wrote. Three years later, I did.
My step-daughter, Susanna, is a graphic designer in Philadelphia. She designed our Philly, Happy Valley and Ben’s Bolt tees. My son, Jack, is an aspiring rock musician. Susanna and Jack also are occasional Stay models.
I was at Fenway Park watching the Red Sox on my 21st and 40th birthdays. For the latter, Sara arranged to have it acknowledged on the video board.
I’ve worked in public relations since my newspaper days. It was while blogging for my business, Goulet Communications, that I occasionally wrote about my favorite U.S.-made products. That led me to trying a few of my own and, eventually, the launch of Stay in 2017.
Tug McGraw, who recorded the final out when the Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series in 1980, once spilled a beer on my leg. He was at a Harrisburg Senators game signing autographs on behalf of a client of mine.
R.E.M. is my all-time favorite band. I was a long-time member of R.E.M.’s fan club, and I can still remember the band’s mailing address in Athens, Ga. I met bassist Mike Mills in Harrisburg when he was playing with The Baseball Project.
I have donated more than 10 gallons of blood.
At bodily fluids, perhaps it’s time to stop. I’ve either told you just enough or maybe a little too much.
But you did get to know me!