{"id":2152,"date":"2016-08-25T12:07:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T16:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=2152"},"modified":"2016-08-25T12:07:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T16:07:16","slug":"get-know-dave-van-cleef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/mandarin\/get-know-dave-van-cleef\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know \u2026 Dave Van Cleef"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eleanor Ruffes<\/em>
\nmail@floridanewsline.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

David Van Cleef, painter and owner of The Van Cleef Company, has lived in Mandarin for 20 years with Linda, \u201cthe love of his life.\u201d His father was movie actor Lee Van Cleef, who played the bad guy in westerns in the 1960s such as \u201cThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,\u201d \u201cThe Good, The Bad, and The Ugly\u201d and \u201cFor a Few Dollars More.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: You come from an exceptional set of parents. What of their accomplishments are you most proud of?<\/span><\/p>\n

Mother was retired with the US Forest Service; she worked at the main office on campus at University of Georgia. She was pretty cool actually. If I\u2019m not mistaken, she told me that she was the first lady ever elected national secretary of the year. This is what I remember growing up. In the \u201860s they first started that. Man, that lady could type! Later she was a librarian in Madison, Ohio and then a pet sitter. She\u2019s always worked. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dad was a movie actor [Lee Van Cleef] known for roles in spaghetti westerns. I\u2019m very proud of who my dad was and what he accomplished. But I\u2019m no more proud than anyone else is of their dad. But I do have an advantage over other people because sometimes I flip the TV on and get to be like \u201cHey Dad!\u201d even though he\u2019s gone. I\u2019m just proud as a peacock of both of them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: You have been painting on and off for over 35 years. What do you love most about the job?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the customers. Especially in Mandarin \u2014 a lot of them are just cool. They\u2019re easy to talk to. They\u2019re honest. They look you in the eye. They tell you like it is. It\u2019s easy to work for them and that makes my job easier. If I do my job right and keep the job clean, they\u2019re happy. Currently, 100 percent of my business is referrals, I don\u2019t advertise. My business is all about relationships and that\u2019s why I will never stop working. I love it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Can you recall a specific moment when you could see and feel the support of this community around you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. I like to say that the gal that cuts my hair was like a spider web. I walked into a hair place one day, I had gotten off work early, and we got to talking. One thing led to another and the lady that owns the place asked me to do a job for her. It all spiderwebbed from there. That one little haircut ended up turning into five customers at least; and they are now good friends of mine. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: You have lived all over the country, from the East to West Coast and in between. You began painting exclusively in 1981, when you moved to Jacksonville. What were you up to before that time?<\/span><\/p>\n

In California, I helped a Swedish man start an industrial chemical company and I was the operations manager. I would also paint apartments with my friend on the side. That was when I started painting residential units. Then, on my way back East, I took an odd job on the Mississippi River. A lot of people don\u2019t know this about me, but I worked on a push boat moving chemical and gasoline barges. It was definitely an experience. I worked on the boats with true Cajuns. I had to pay real close attention to the language because it\u2019s like broken French. But they are the most wonderful people; if they liked you they\u2019d do anything in the world for you. That was a real different job. Six hours on, six hours off. Every day, seven days a week. Then they moved me to the operations side where I was like a dispatcher. After that, I moved here to Jacksonville to be closer to my brother.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Lastly, what advice can you give people about hiring a professional painter?<\/span><\/p>\n

Check referrals. Knowing they\u2019ve got people that they\u2019ve worked for that are happy and are going to call them back is important. Also, that person is going to be in your house near your family and all your things. You want to know you can trust them. Liking the person helps. Check that they\u2019re insured, although most of us are. Be wary of the person that asks for money up front; I don\u2019t like that. Halfway through the job is understandable but 95 percent of the time I tell customers to pay me when I\u2019m done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy Eleanor Ruffes<\/em><\/p>\n

Dave Van Cleef<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eleanor Ruffes mail@floridanewsline.com David Van Cleef, painter and owner of The Van Cleef Company, has lived in Mandarin for 20 years with Linda, \u201cthe love of his life.\u201d His father was movie actor Lee Van Cleef, who played the bad guy in westerns in the 1960s such as \u201cThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10],"class_list":{"0":"post-2152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mandarin","8":"tag-get-to-know"},"yoast_head":"\nGet to Know \u2026 Dave Van Cleef - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mandarin NewsLineBy Eleanor Ruffes mail@floridanewsline.com David Van Cleef, painter and owner of The Van Cleef Company, has lived in Mandarin for 20 years with Linda,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/mandarin\/get-know-dave-van-cleef\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get to Know \u2026 Dave Van Cleef - 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