Growing up in Tooele, Utah, Jerry A. Edwards had little inclination that he’d spend nearly seven decades of his professional life in the RV industry. His dad was a deep shaft miner, and most of his days were spent hanging around the jobsite. It wasn’t until he was 15 that he landed a job sweeping factory floors at VistaLiner, a truck camper manufacturer that brought him across state lines to Idaho.
Within six months, he’d engineered a new method to build cabinets for the campers. VistaLiner’s owner then put him in the metal shop, where he thrived. By age 18, he was the plant supervisor for a new company, Freeway Campers, and in the early 1960s he moved to Oregon, where he became the manager for Aloha Trailers. He was only 21 when he launched his own service and repair shop, Vetro. “I’m not sure I even stepped inside an RV until I worked at VistaLiner,” says Edwards, who, at 82 years old, is still working. “But for not having planned it, I couldn’t have landed in a better industry.”
Photo Credit: Roadmaster
Amidst the gas crisis of the 1970s, as many RV manufacturers struggled to keep their doors open, Edwards saw an opportunity. He purchased and sold repossessed RVs, scaling his business despite the headwinds of the marketplace. “You had to be a very good salesman to sell a 6-mpg motorhome when gas was rationed,” he recalls.
Edwards’ niche would ultimately be aftermarket accessories, a speciality that would lead to his next and most prolific enterprise: a company we know today as Roadmaster, Inc. Shortly after Edwards founded Roadmaster in Vancouver, Washington, he released a product that revolutionized flat towing. The Stowmaster Tow Bar, which debuted in 1984, was the world’s first self-aligning tow bar.
Photo Credit: Roadmaster
That product was the foundation of a business that, more than 40 years on, is still the leader in flat-towing products. But Edwards knows the industry is changing, that younger travelers seek out smaller rigs that don’t require tow bars. Even at age 82, he’s ready to meet that challenge. “Our roots are innovation and the ability to create things from scratch,” he says. “We’ll create products for the changing demographic and continue the Roadmaster legacy.”
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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