51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Morrow Meadows

History

History

In 1964, three brothers and their boss took a leap of faith and founded 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Corporation.  Jim Morrow, an electrical engineer, left Barth-Morrow Electric to become President of the new company.  Bob Meadows, who at the time was a field superintendent for Barth-Morrow, was put in charge of the field.  Estimating was entrusted to Bill and Jack Meadows. They all invested $10,000 and with the grand sum of $40,000, MMC was capitalized as a corporation.  Their father, Claude Meadows, encouraged his sons to start their own business and loaned them their investment money.  All three of the Meadows boys were veterans.  Bill and Jack were in WWII (Bill was a POW in Germany) and Bob had served in Korea and they had returned to civilian life and immediately joined the apprenticeship program and became union electricians.  Claude’s dream for his sons was that they have their own business, and he was delighted that they were opening their own shop.

After a year, Jack Meadows left to start his own electrical contracting company in Mammoth Lakes and Claude Meadows purchased his shares.  Bob Meadows was elected President in 1968 and his love of the field and philosophy of putting the field first guided his success. Jim Morrow continued to act as a consultant until his passing in 1981.  Bill Meadows retired in 1978 but remained a stockholder until his death in 1996.  In 1993 Bob Meadows appointed Karen Price as President, Rob Meadows as Executive Vice President and Cathleen Vick to the Board of Directors.

Bob Meadows passed away in 2011.  In the last weeks of his life, there were two pieces of paper that Bob repeatedly showed to visitors with pride.  One was his honorable discharge papers from the Air Force and the other was a certificate showing he was a 55-year member of the IBEW.  Upon Bob’s death, Betty Meadows was elected Chairman of the Board.  Her support and advice for Bob and her family were an important part of the success of the company.  We lost Betty in 2016 and the company’s ownership passed to Cathy, Karen and Rob.

Sadly, we lost Karen in 2017.  Karen was a pioneer in the industry, not only as a president who carried the company successfully into the 21st century, but as a respected female leader in a conventionally male-dominated field.

Rob and Cathy continue the family owned legacy today with members of their family and other second and third generation employees proudly working side by side.    We are grateful to all the families that have made us the company we are today and are excited about the company our current families will build into the future.