Ted Price and Bob Rodgers Biography
Ted Price was born in Portland, Oregon in 1923, and served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. After the war, he returned to school to earn a pharmacy degree and then became a sales representative for Pfizer Laboratories, a job that introduced him to physicians and pharmacists throughout Washington, including the town of Leavenworth.
Bob Rodgers was born in Seattle, Washington, also in 1923, and he served in the United States Army during World War II, then worked as a food and drug inspector for the state of Washington. While stationed in Bavaria, Germany, he became acquainted with the architecture, music and dress of that region, which would be influential when it came to the transformation of Leavenworth.
Ted and Bob became friends who enjoyed hiking, fishing and the outdoors in general. It was during their travels throughout the Northwest, that they became familiar with the Leavenworth area and decided to buy a failing restaurant, the Cole’s Corner Café, which would become the very successful Squirrel Tree restaurant. The Squirrel Tree would be the example for the transformation of Leavenworth that would come several years later.
Ted and Bob were not only friends and business partners, but also a couple, which the townspeople of Leavenworth were likely unaware of. Most people just assumed they were bachelors who happened to work together. They never revealed their relationship to the local community; they were “outed” by a 2003 Los Angeles Times story about the makeover of Leavenworth and the roles Ted and Bob played in bringing the town of Leavenworth back to life.
Ted and Bob would be the leaders in introducing many Bavarian projects, activities and events in the Leavenworth community, helping make it what it is today. Bob Rodgers died on March 27, 2014, and Ted Price died on February 19, 2015.