Labor Day: Gaston's ice cream man, Tony's owner Louis Coletta

Louis Coletta was born with an ice cream scoop in his hand. He started working with his dad on an ice cream truck at age 4, establishing his destiny.

“I was born dipping ice cream,” Coletta said. “I didn’t know there was anything else in the world.”

When Coletta was old enough to start his own career, he did. After a stint in the Army he came home and started working for Burlington Industries.

“I worked there in their heyday,” Coletta said. He went on to work for BVD in Kings Mountain and Clear Knit. In 1973 he got a call from his dad asking him to come back to the ice cream business.

“I knew something was bad wrong,” he said. It was. His dad was sick. He died three years later and Coletta became the head of Tony’s Ice Cream.

“I have been here ever since,” he said. “Nothing is thicker than blood.”

Even at age 4 when Coletta would don an apron and hat made by his mother he knew that ice cream was his passion.

He hires teens every summer to give them a chance to not only join the ice cream family but to also allow them to test their enthusiasm for the job.

His advice to young employees is that life changes as it goes along.

“You have to try different things,” he said. “Stick with what you have a passion for. If it is not your passion it is not the end. It is a stepping stone to something else. Everyday I tell my employees that it is another day in paradise.”

You can reach Luann Laubscher at 704-869-1828.