Meet Judy And Jerry Purchell | husband and wife

We had the good fortune of connecting with Judy And Jerry Purchell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Judy and Jerry, what do you attribute your success to?
We have a loyal following because people think of us as their friends. We talk with the people as if we’ve known them for years. They tell us their stories and we enjoy listening. I personally try on every spoon bracelet to help them find the one that fits best. Jerry has learned how to adjust almost every spoon ring “just a tad” until it is perfect. They enjoy coming to our booth and seeing us year after year. We don’t push a sale. We haven’t increased our prices in 10 years, in fact, we lowered them to help when the economy was bad. We cut up approximately 3000 pieces of silverware a year for the 6-10 shows that we do a year. It’s just my husband and I, both in our 70’s. We are happy with the little bit of profit that we make to pay for our vacations, and don’t want to expand our busines. Not a popular business model! We love to make custom jewelry out of a person’s family silverware. The younger generation doesn’t want it, but love to have a heritage bracelet or ring from grandma’s silverware.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Judy retired as an RN working 35 years at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital. Jerry retired from the US Postal Service as a Supervisor of Electronic Technicians. It is Jerry’s expertise in all things mechanical that enabled us to create our Spoon Jewelry busisness. Shortly after we married 50 years ago, and whilce both working full time, we built our geodesic dome house. We did all of the work except for concrete, drywall and roofing. We did the carpentry, electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, and painting in our spare time before going to our full time evening shift jobs. Since then we have built or remodeled 10 other houses as a hobby. We enjoy working together and the satisfaction of creating something.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Although we lived in Florida and now live in North Carolina, we have always enjoyed vacationing in Georgia. We especially like Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta. We traveled in our 5th wheel RV and stayed at Stone Mountain and would take day trips to the Atlanta History Museum, The Georga Aquarium and the Coca-cola factory. We always visit antique malls and auctions to look for silverware. A trip to Dahlonega to see the gold mine and Red Oak Lavendar Farm is very interesting. Our favorite trip was staying for the 4th of July at Stone Mountain. The laser show and fireworks are amazing!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would like to Shoutout to all that have trusted us with their family silverware to make heirloom jewelry. I think of how important it was for our mother’s and grandmothers to “pick out their silverware’ when they got married. It was a big deal for their generation. They wouldn’t want it to be sitting unused in a closet. We have found that the younger generation doesn’t want the silverware or china, but love having jewelry made from it.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpoonThings

Image Credits
Judy Purchell