Happy St. Patrick's Day

We're often asked about the origin of our little leprechaun. In 1969, my wife and I were on vacation in Florida and sent a St. Patrick's Day card featuring a leprechaun to her folks in Philadelphia. When we arrived back in Indianapolis, the exact card was in our mailbox.

At first we thought her folks had sent the card back to us that we had sent to them. It was the identical card but it was addressed, signed and postmarked in Philadelphia the very same day that we had mailed their card from Florida.

We'd been looking for a cartoon type character for our new residential carpet cleaning business and this seemed to be a good omen. A commercial artist sketched a leprechaun, we liked it and named him "Jimmie" after Elizabeth's father. Jimmie's been mighty good to us all these years.

Tomorrow is a special day, not just for the Irish, but for all of us at Bane-Clene. Elizabeth's father, who passed away in 1986, was our home-grown Leprechaun. Jimmie attended conventions and other events dressed in his high hat and green suit. We miss him.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.