Part 1 with Dale Widmer of Petro's

Dale Widmer (0:05)

I think, Stefan, the biggest thing I learned was, I almost felt like my friends had stood still. So it really inspired me to perhaps not stand still, to not, you know, just do the norm.

Paul (0:32)

From the IT Company, it's Made Right Here, the stories of East Tennessee founders, creators, and builders. From the idea behind it, to the impact it had on the community, their employees, and their personal lives, we're taking you behind the scenes of the movements they built. Hey, it's Paul. Welcome to the Made Right Here podcast. Today's episode is super cool for two reasons. Number one, we've got a guest host. It's Stefan Wilson from Alevia Technologies.

And our guest, for the second reason, our guest is Dale Widmer, which is from Petro's, a local icon, restaurant chain, been around here since the 1982 World's Fair. You're gonna love this episode, a lot of cool stuff.

Fun to have a guest host, and hoping to have more of that in the future. Listen in.

Stefan Wilson (1:22)

My name is Stefan Wilson, I'm not Paul Sponsia. I am here today with Mr. Dale Widmer with Petro's.

When Paul, I met with Paul, Dale, I don't know if I told you this story or not, but I met with Paul and told him how cool this idea was, this Made Right Here podcast. And he goes, hey, you want a guest host? And I was like, yeah, absolutely.

And he says, well, do you have somebody you'd like to interview? And I said, Dale Widmer. That was the first name out of my mouth, was like, I would love to interview Dale for this podcast because I think it, the Petro story, what I know of the Petro story, and hopefully I'll learn more today of you and the family and just starting with the World's Fair. I just think that's amazing. So let's kick it off. Tell us about Dale. Where did you grow up? Tell me about kind of your formative years. I understand you were in Gatlinburg.

Dale Widmer (2:22)

I moved to Gatlinburg, Stefan, when I was 12 years old, into my fifth grade. My father worked for the park service in the younger years, so I lived all over the country. Came here from Wyoming, grew up in Gatlinburg.

Elementary school, went to elementary school there, and then when high school came, he decided to go to Sevier County High School in Sevierville, so I then did my high school years there. And then went to the University of Tennessee after that, and Knoxville, started there with a business degree.

Actually, I take that back, I started out in engineering, and then after a year, because I was good in math and science, but then those two together with chemistry and calculus really wasn't, speaking to me, so after a year I went into business administration, marketing, that type of thing. But then, I took a turn and decided that I always wanted to go away to school, into Colorado, which is where my parents were from, and I spent a lot of time there, so I moved to Colorado, and after my freshman year in college, went to be a ski bum, basically. Worked at a ski resort, taught skiing, all that. I was like, I haven't skied all my life, so did that for, took a semester off, and then went to Colorado State University, which was really a pivotal point for my studies, because I really focused, since I was a little behind at that point, went straight through school, finished school well, and ended up at the business and marketing degree.

Stefan Wilson (3:52)

That's awesome.

Now, back up just a little bit for me. So you actually studied abroad in high school, is that right, in South Africa?

Dale Widmer (4:00)

Tell me about that.

Stefan Wilson (4:01)

Tell me about the decision to do that. And I'm very curious, how old were you at that point? Were you 17, 18?

Dale Widmer (4:07)

I was a junior in high school, so I was 17 years old. And so we had had exchange students visit our school from different countries from time to time, and they would stay with a host family for a year.

So that just sounded very intriguing and appealing. So I applied for that scholarship and was awarded that in the country. I asked me where I wanted to go. I said, northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere, it didn't matter. So ended up South Africa. So they wanted me to start in the beginning of their school year, which was in January. So I ended up leaving halfway through my junior year of high school. Took a full year, lived with family overseas, called a mom and dad. I had four brothers over there and went to school, did all the traveling and all that. And basically it was a member of their family for a year.