Gone Fishin’, Not Forgotten
“The showroom just won’t be the same without Dave,” Frank Konigseder says. He’s reflecting on the impending retirement of the senior member of the Liberty Coach sales team, Dave Wishnoff, who’s calling it a career at the end of the year.
And what a career it’s been. Dave has worked for over 40 years in the RV business, starting in 1981 when he began selling Monaco motorhomes at a Chevy dealership in North Carolina. A few years later, the Florida native found his way to Buddy Gregg Motorhomes in Lakeland, where he got his first taste of Liberty Coach. It was a revelation.
“They’re the best motorhomes ever,” Dave says. “When you get a chance to sell a product like that – the best product on the market, something you can take real pride in selling – you really get to like what you’re doing.”
It also gave Dave a chance to work with what he calls the “dream team” of Prevost sales pros, whose members included Dave Wall, Robin King and Gary Patterson. When Buddy Gregg closed his Lakeland facility in 2002, Dave, Robin and Gary gravitated to Stuart where Liberty Coach had set up shop with Dave Wall heading up the sales team.
“I had pretty much decided to retire, but then Dave (Wall) got me to come visit the new dealership in Stuart, and, well, the rest is history,” Dave remembers, “The opportunity to sell Liberty Coach – and nothing but Liberty Coach – was just too good to pass up.”
Flash forward 21 years, and Dave is finally ready to retire for real. “It’s been a great run,” he says. “There’s a lot about the job I’ll miss. The product, of course – seeing all the new things Liberty brings to market year after year. And the customers – especially the customers. You become real friends with so many of them, and you can’t help but miss seeing them.”
But he won’t miss the day-to-day grind of working full-time. “Getting up early and shaving, waiting around the showroom to close up and drive home – you can have that. I’m ready to go fishing.”
He means that literally. An avid lifelong bass fisherman, Dave recently bought a lakefront house in Sebring, about two hours west of Stuart. While he and his fiancé have no plans to leave Stuart – he still loves the area and she’s raising her granddaughter here – Dave anticipates spending a lot of time on the bass boat. “Winter months are best for largemouth,” he says. “I’m ready for them.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: At the Liberty Coach Christmas party last Thursday, December 15th, the family took time to celebrate Dave’s retirement and give him a sendoff worthy of one of our most popular and successful team members. A few pix from the party are included here.
