From 1990 to 1992, Duane served a mission for his church in Brainerd, Minnesota. He wore a necktie every day for those two years and in the early 90’s the styles were very limited.
One of his fellow missionaries, David Reese Zollinger, shared his frustration with the lack of options. They knew they weren’t the only ones who felt this way, so they saw an opportunity to start a business.
David and Duane decided together that they would return home, find work on an Alaskan ship for the summer, bring back their savings, and purchase a tie manufacturing machine. The plan was perfect. All they needed was a company name. They came up with a long list of possibilities, but eventually settled on the name Eldon Reese: Duane’s middle name plus David’s middle name.
They both returned home in the winter of 1992, David to Utah and Duane to Oregon. They never went to Alaska, never pooled their savings to buy the machine, never started Eldon Reese, but they remained close friends. When Duane and his wife, Wendy, welcomed their first son, they gave him the middle name Reese, in honor of Duane’s missionary companion. Their second son bears Duane’s middle name, Eldon. These are family names that will live on forever.
Now, 30 years after meeting and becoming friends, David has a landscape design company in Seattle, Adobe Landscaping Co., while Duane has spent the last few years working on his Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). When Duane needed to pick a name for his new business, it occurred to him that he had picked the perfect one 30 years ago. After much thought and consideration, he chose to return to that original name, not as a tie company, but as Eldon Reese Advisory Group
