We regret to tell you that Bashaw Life Center in Midlothian will be closing its doors on June 30, 2017. Ed and Mique Bashaw, our sponsors, mentors and friends, moved from Rochester, NY to Virginia in 1980. Dick met Ed in February 1981, liked what Ed told him, and immediately scheduled a meeting with friends. The one hour meeting lasted for three hours and was so successful that we immediately sponsored that evening under Ed and Mique and became managers our first month. And so their success continued and our success began. As Mique said, “Our business really took off when we moved to Virginia and made that our home.” Ed will always be remembered for two simple and highly successful business-building techniques: First, he would stop strangers on the street, in a store, in an airport or anywhere and ask them “Do you like your job, and do you make as much money as you would like to make?” or “Do you know anyone who is interested in their health?” Second, Ed always carried bottles of TeiFu Oil and Peppermint Oil in his pockets, and offered them to everyone he met, explaining their benefits to relieve a headache or muscle pain within seconds and stop a cough or soothe a scratchy throat or stuffy nose just as quickly. Ed never met a stranger; to him everyone was a potential friend or business contact.

After Ed passed in 1996, Mique continued to make Virginia her home and made her youngest son Kirk her business partner. Kirk lives in the Rochester area, which made it inconvenient for him to physically support the business in Virginia. After Mique’s fall and injury on NSP’s 2014 Danube River Cruise, Mique began to realize her need and desire to move back home where three of her four children still live. She is enjoying her life in Rochester with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It was in 1996, after Ed’s death, that Nature’s Sunshine began presenting the Ed Bashaw Spirit of Sharing Award each year at convention. Winning this award is an honor cherished by recipients and desired by everyone.

A sadness to all who knew Ed and know Mique is that the name Bashaw will no longer be associated in their business’ name. Kirk has just opened an office near his home where he can stock inventory and do consultations. Kirk has chosen to rename the business “the Natural-Path.” Old habits are hard to break, so all those who knew Ed and Mique will probably always think of the business as ‘Bashaw Life Center’, regardless of what its name may be. Looking forward, we are happy that Kirk will now be able to utilize the knowledge and credentials he has attained to keep the business growing in his new office under its new name. We wish Kirk all the best in his new venture. This will be an exciting time of growth for him.