Reed and Donna Henschel, native Minnesotans living in Wyoming, had a friend, a pro wrestler who admired Reed's skill in woodworking.   The wrestler trained using Navy step-test exercises and wanted a custom-made stool that would be strong, light, and foldable, one he could carry along on airline flights.

Multi-talented Reed Henschel - also a poet, short story writer, sculptor, and plasterer - invented the requested stool and patented it in 1986.  In 1989, he and Donna launched Tower Stool Company around their Tower Stool, then created other products based on its lightweight and foldable design.

"That first stool was opened and closed and stepped on a thousand times," says Donna, and it worked perfectly.  Public demand and healthy sales of the five-pound, 12-inch high (when opened) Tower Stool opened their eyes to other creative ideas.

"We were at a meeting, the speaker was coming on stage, and two guys were carrying the lectern.  It was heavy and not very portable."  The Tabletop Lectern was born.  Like the stool and their other products, it's made of veneer layered hardwood (oak, birch, cherry, or hickory) with brass-plated steel hinges and fasteners.  The lectern weighs just eight pounds and is a mere three inches thick when folded.

Other products include a folding RV step, a tabletop that slides onto the Tower Stool to turn it into a table, a shooter's bench, and a sportsman's stool.  They also make a foldable wooden hideaway blind that camouflages hunters or wildlife photograpers without the rustling of a canvas blind.  It works so well, Donna says, that during field testing, Reed and a friend set one up in a field and then couldn't find it for quite some time.

The Henschels' newest venture, however, is pet caskets and urns.  Their daughter, a pet groomer, told them about the demand for such products among bereaved pet lovers, who often have to purchase caskets and urns intended for humans.  Market research showed that few companies manufacture pet caskets and urns - none of wood - or are located on the Great Plains. (click here for more)