In this Sept. 26, 2012 file photo, Tony Ketchum, the manager of I.P. Callison & Sons production facility in Chehalis, stands in the middle of the facility surrounded by large vats of mint extract.
In this Sept. 26, 2012 file photo, a worker at the I.P. Callison & Sons production facility in Chehalis stacks barrels of mint extract.
In this Sept. 26, 2012 file photo, workers at the I.P. Callison & Sons production facility in Chehalis move barrels of mint extract.
A longtime Chehalis business has received an honor for its dedication to doing business in the community it has called home for more than a century.
The Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce handed out its annual Business of the Year award at its annual banquet in front of more than 200 people at The Loft in Chehalis Friday evening, honoring I.P. Callison and Sons with the distinction.
Former Chehalis mayor Tony Ketchum, whom Chamber Executive Director Alicia Bull called “the local face of Callison’s,” turned the attention from the company’s involvement in putting Chehalis on the map for its products to the need to continue investing in where they are planted.
“There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child,” Ketchum said upon receiving the award. “Today, we are the village and the child is our community. We need to be inspired to volunteer and be active in our community.”
Bull said I.P. Callison and Sons was so recognized for being a constant donor to community events and organizations such as the Chehalis Food Bank, Music in the Park and the Visiting Nurses Foundation, among others.
The company has been a mainstay in Chehalis for 112 years. Callison, the man for whom the factory is named, arrived in Chehalis in 1900, but it wasn’t until 1903 until he got his start when a stranger asked him to supply two loads of cascara bark, which was used as a laxative for a drug manufacturer. The cascara tree, abundant around Chehalis, enabled Callison’s business to thrive.
The company added peppermint oil and spearmint into their offerings in the 1940s, and today they are known as a world leader in essential oils.
Oils from I.P. Callison and Sons are used to flavor toothpaste, chewing gum, candy and more.
The company also maintains a number of local connections, such as the Chehalis Mints candy made in Centralia by the Schofield family.
The Chamber bestowed its annual Evergreen Award to Connie Bode, manager at Columbia Bank, secretary of the Chehalis Foundation and recipient of The Chronicle’s 2014 Person of the Year. The award recognized Bode for all her work and dedication to improving the quality of life in Chehalis over a number of years.
Many members of Bode’s family were present, including her son, Dr. Bill Bode, who spoke about his mother’s tireless efforts to not only better her community and take time to care for her family and those she holds closest.
“It’s not measured by one spectacular effort,” Bode said. “It’s the little things that make differences in people’s lives, and it’s those that we need to remember.”
