VPI's Mom - Happy Mother's Day

On this Mother’s Day weekend, anyone out there spinning a VPI please take a moment to remember a very important person. Sheila Weisfeld the VPI Mom and first voice you heard for almost 35 year when anyone called to ask a question about VPI. Both Harry and Sheila started VPI. While Harry was making turntables on the factory floor, Sheila was selling and communicating with VPI dealers and customers in the front office. She was also a gatekeeper for the calls that came in for Harry. Sheila loved to talk on the phone, help customers, and most of all talk about her family (mainly me!)

Sheila wasn’t the most musical but she appreciated and loved music. Growing up she loved to sing but wasn’t the greatest and was put into the “listening corner”. For anyone who knew Sheila you knew she wasn’t one who would stay quite in the corner! If you played by the rules and were honest Sheila would give you the world. If you played games, were dishonest, or didn’t do “the right thing” than you were in for trouble!

Sheila managed the office, answered the phones, emails, and invoicing (also with help from her mom, Shirley who still answers the phones). She also used to love traveling and going to audio shows to see her friends in the industry. For a person in her 60s, when I went to the 2007 CES and THE Show with her I was exhausted from all the rooms she took me to. She wanted me to meet everyone in the industry especially her friends, which was almost everyone!

The Scout turntables were named after Sheila since she was very active in Girl Scouts and the development/growth of strong independent women. The original idea behind the Scout was to be practical and economical but still packed a punch and be something greater than expected. With that description, the Scout and now Prime Scout embodies those characteristics of my mom.