Jerry Edwards

Jerry Edwards has been in the industry since the ninth grade when he swept floors at a truck camper factory. When he noticed slow production causing delayed cabinet deliveries, he talked to the owner.

Edwards said, “I told him, ‘If you let me build the cabinets, you will never run out.’” So the owner hired Jerry, who recruited his high school wood shop teacher. “We built so many cabinets he made us stop,” Edwards said.

After working at and managing other truck camper factories, Edwards decided to start his own company with just $3,000 and his toolbox. In 1970, he opened Vetro RV and Repair in Portland, Oregon, and started Roadmaster Distributing Company. Edwards sold Roadmaster awnings for in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, often working long hours, seven days a week at his two companies.

Though he kept the company name, Edwards sold Roadmaster Distributing Company in 1980 when awning distribution became less popular. Vetro RV started making custom tow bars after customers asked how to tow a car behind an RV. But during a 1982 recession, Edwards sold Vetro RV too.

When Edwards was approached with a new tow bar idea, one his previous customers so desperately wanted, he bought the patent and started making StowMaster tow bars under the Roadmaster name.