Local Franchise Celebrates Founder’s Life And 20 Years

KingwoodNow.com:

If you have ever read an issue of Coffee News while you wait for a meal at a restaurant, you have Jean Daum to thank for providing you with this source of quirky entertainment and local advertising.

Jean’s story is not unlike many of the stories Coffee News has shared with readers on its pages in the last 20 years. She was a struggling single mother of three who, in 1988, turned a simple idea into a million-dollar franchise. Her idea? To give people like us something other than the sugar packets to read while we sit in the restaurant, and to provide small and medium-sized businesses a local and affordable place to advertise during a time of recession in the ‘80’s.

Entrepreneurial blood always ran through Jean’s veins. She had opened a dance school in Montreal and written a book about dancing by the time she was 21. Before launching Coffee News, she had published two community newspapers in Winnipeg. Both failed. Never a quitter, she was third-time lucky with Coffee News. She maintained her company headquarters in East Selkirk, a small town outside of Winnipeg, and continued to put her energy into the publication until cancer felled her in July 2007. She was 56.

Jean was a resilient, fun-loving, kind and gentle person who was humble about her achievements, say her children. “She took joy from other people’s success more than her own,” says daughter Candice. And, she was one of those special people “who made the best out of every situation thrown at her. She could find the good in anything.”

Image from Coffee News of Texas.

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