The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 552 A portrait of Cleo M. Furry appears in this publication. CLEO M. FURRY. Cleo M. Furry is today a successful wholesale fruit merchant of Yakima, but there were times in his career when the clouds seemed to have no silver lining, when hardships and privations confronted him on every hand and it was with the greatest difficulty that he earned enough to provide the barest living for himself and his wife. With stout heart and unfaltering courage, however, he pressed on and ultimately gained a footing in the business world. Since that time he has advanced step by step until his orderly progression has at length brought him to a position of leadership among the successful fruit merchants of the Yakima valley. Mr. Furry was born in Ceresco, Nebraska, on the 23d of June, 1880, a son of Hiram B. and Delcenia (Smith) Furry, both of whom were natives of Iowa and at an early day became residents of Nebraska. The father was a well known horseman and farmer but has now passed away. The mother, however, is still living. Cleo M. Furry, reared in the usual manner of the farm-bred boy, acquired a public school education and when his textbooks were put aside began farm work in the employ of others. In fact his labor in that connection enabled him to a considerable extent to pay the expenses of his school course. He afterwards became assistant telegrapher for the Burlington Railroad Company and at a later period was engaged in flour milling. He became a night miller at Harvard, Nebraska, and subsequently turned his attention to cabinet work in connection with an incubator factory. After leaving that position he served as a steam engineer and later he resumed the occupation of farming, which he followed for a year. He then came to Washington, settling in Klickitat county in 1902 and there securing a homestead claim. He proved up on that property and ultimately sold it, removing to the Wenatchee valley of Washington in 1907. There he became bookkeeper for the Wenatchee Valley Fruit Growers' Association and was advanced to the position of assistant general manager. On the 1st of June, 1914, he came to Yakima as a representative of the Northwestern Fruit Exchange of Seattle and in January, 1916, he organized the Growers' Service Company, which was incorporated on the 13th of that month, with W. N. Irish as the president, Alfred H. Henry as vice-president and Cleo M. Furry as secretary, treasurer and general manager. Mr. Henry sold his interest in the business in 1917 and Mr. Furry then became vice-president and general manager, while Harry Irish is treasurer and assistant secretary. In 1916 a building was erected, seventy by one hundred feet, and they have frostproof storage for thirty carloads of fruit. They are conducting an extensive business as fruit packers, shippers and buyers. During 1917 they purchased a warehouse at Selah that is fifty by one hundred feet and one story in height. It is frostproof and has a capacity of twenty-five cars. At Henryboro, Washington, they built a warehouse one story and basement in height and fifty by one hundred feet. This is also frostproof and has a storage capacity of fifty cars. At Zillah, Washington, they built another warehouse similar to that at Henryboro, and in 1917 they handled about five hundred and fifty carloads of fruit in all. It was in that year that they built the warehouse at Taylor, Washington, a structure fifty by one hundred feet and one story in height. Here they have a packing and assembling house with capacity for thirty cars. Their apples are handled under the "Skookum" brand, with individual brands of "Pom-Pom" and "Potlatch," and their pears and other fruits are handled under the name of "Gro-S-Co." Their products are marketed all over the world and their apples are sold by and through the Northwestern Fruit Exchange of Seattle. In 1917 their sales showed an increase of three hundred per cent tonnage over the sales of 1916. Their plants are all modern in construction and equipment and they have over two thousand five hundred acres under signed contract for the fruit raised thereon. The business has now reached extensive and gratifying proportions and Mr. Furry has won a position among the foremost wholesale fruit men of Washington. All clays in his career, however, have not been equally bright, for at times he has seen gathering the storm clouds which have threatened defeat. However, he has managed to turn defeat into victory and promised failures into success. He was married when he was quite young and he and his wife have worked together. While they were homesteading in Klickitat county they lost every cent which they had. Instead of progressing, that district went back. A sawmill in which Mr. Furry was employed was burned and they saw months with hardly enough to eat. Moreover, Mr. Furry became ill with rheumatism, from which he suffered for two years. The second baby was born while he and his wife were alone in a little log cabin. Mr. Furry cut wood, which he traded to the settlers for barely enough upon which to subsist. He could earn only fifty cents per day. Their place was situated seventy-five miles from Yakima. He heard about the advantages of the Yakima valley and tried to make the trip with old horses and a worn-out wagon, but the roads were impassable and after two weeks in the mountains he was obliged to give it up and return. Later Mr. Furry made the trip on foot all the way and he was so weak that it was four days before he reached his destination. He did not have a cent, and after looking for work for days he got a job at picking apples. In this way he earned four dollars, which he sent to his wife. He could get no more work, so that he returned and lived all winter on fifteen dollars. Then in the spring he sold the homestead for enough to get to the Yakima valley. That move was the turning point in his career and gradually he has progressed step by step, each forward step bringing him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. Undaunted courage, pluck, energy and honesty-these have been the salient features in the winning of his present-day prosperity. He has made his way in the world unaided from the age of thirteen years and his life record should indeed inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished through individual effort. It was in 1901 that Mr. Furry was married to Miss Tima Moore, of Harvard, Nebraska, and to them have been born three children: Melvin Hiram, fifteen years of age; William Allan, aged eleven; and Cleo M,, a lad of ten. Mr. Furry is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, loyally following its teachings. He belongs to Yakima Lodge No. 24, F. & A. M.; Yakima Chapter, No. 21, R. A. M.; Yakima Commandery No. 13, K. T., of which he is past eminent commander for the year 1917-18; the Yakima Lodge of Perfection; the Rose Croix Chapter; the Yakima Council of Kadosh; and Tacoma Consistory, No. 3, S. P. R. S. He is also identified with Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His membership relations extend to the Modern Woodmen of America, the Yeomen, the Yakima Commercial Club, the Yakima Gun Club and the Automobile Club of Western Washington. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he and his wife attend the Christian church. Throughout his career he has held to certain high standards which have made him a man whom to know is to respect and honor and the most envious can not grudge him his success, so honorably has it been won and so worthily used. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.