John Houser Of Baltimore, Md.
Growing up the son of a sprinkler-fitter, you learn a lot of things. But mostly, the value of hard work, John Houser tells us.
“You work. You don’t complain, you don’t take days off,” he says. “If you are sick enough, take a day off, but make sure you come back immediately.”
He grew up surrounded by a big, tight-knit family. Grandparents, an aunt and an uncle all lived within a couple of blocks. He remembers regular trips out to Baltimore County to visit his cousins.
Houser didn’t realize it at the time, but he thinks his parents did a pretty good job with him.
“There comes a point where … it was even before I had a kid, you realize they did a damn good job, and they actually did care more than you ever, ever realized, and that’s a powerful thing when you realize that,” he says.