Biography

Joseph Sunnen was born in the coal mining town of Thayer, Illinois

Thayer, Illinois

Thayer is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 750 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Thayer is located at ....

. He left school in the 7th grade to help on the family farm. At age 17 he purchased a Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 mine

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 with family savings, however this failed and his brother Gus offered him employment in his automobile garage in Mexico, Missouri

Mexico, Missouri

Mexico is a city in Audrain County, Missouri, United States. The population was 11,543 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Audrain County. The Mexico Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Audrain County...

.http://www.ja.org/nested/stlouis/Sunnen.pdf

In 1923, at age 21, Sunnen applied for his first of nearly 100 patents, a valve lifter tool, marking the beginnings of Sunnen Company. However that same year he was nearly killed in a work explosion which burnt most of his body, and spent a year recovering. He returned to his brother's garage for employment and while in Mexico, Missouri, met and married Miss Cornelia Miller.http://www.ja.org/nested/stlouis/Sunnen.pdf They moved to St. Louis to pursue Sunnen's manufacturing ambitions in 1924. There Sunnen converted a 1916 Hupmobile

Hupmobile

The Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1940 by the Hupp Motor Company, which was located at 345 Bellevue Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Its first car, the Model 20, was introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in February 1909...

 into a camper and set out on the road to sell 500 of his new valve lifter tools. They sold two or three tools a day until they reached Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 39,309 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County, it is located...

 where a large distributor of shop tools bought his remaining stock and placed an order for 1,000 additional tools. Following the trip Sunnen returned home to build his manufacturing business around the auto engine rebuilding trade.http://www.manufacturingcenter.com/metlfax/archives/0701/0701lct.asp The Sunnen Company grew to become a renowned global manufacturer of precision honing devices, and holds a position of global prominence to this day.

In 1946 Joseph Sunnen made a generous donation to the Ozarks YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

, and subsequently formed the Sunnen Foundation

Sunnen Foundation

The Sunnen Foundation is a charitable foundation which was established by machinery manufacturer Joseph Sunnen in 1953. The foundation is managed by a board of trustees made up of Sunnen family members and company employees. Michael Haughey is president and Matt Kreider is chairman of Sunnen...

 for further charitable projects. Sunnen's children and grandchildren continue to use the Sunnen Foundation as a vehicle for charity, with a particular emphasis on First Amendment rights, reproductive rights

Reproductive rights

Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...

and youth services.