The conclusion of 'two men and a lily'
De Vries was just 23 years old when Hueblein flew to Netherlands and hired him. De Vries' family had been in the tulip farming side for some time. Within a month, Heublein assigned De Vries with the task of developing a program for the force and cut flower industry. Behind the scene, Hueblein, with money in his pocket from increased stock price of Milridge, was in a tight lipped, private discussion with Kirsch about the purchase of Sun Valley when he sent three of his people down to 'check out' Sun Valley's operation and come back with a report, De Vries and two others. Kirsch provided the three with a lodge where they could pool their thoughts and draft their report in private. The first night, Kirsch asked one of the guys to join his family for dinner. The next day, he asked another one, until all three had spent the entire evening with Kirsch and family together. What they didn't realize is that Kirsch was conducting an interview privately with each. A few days after the three had returned and turned in their report, Kirsch told Heublein he wanted De Vries to manage Sun Valley after the purchase was finalized. Well, that fit right into Hueblein's private master plan and Sun Valley became part of Milridge with De Vries as manager.
Under the management of De Vries, with Kirsch in the background, Sun Valley operated above board and was profitable (1983/4 to 1987). When Milridge was forced into chaper 11, (reorganization), due to accounting irregularities, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of Sun Valley to a Venture Capitol Group. Although De Vries and Sun Valley were profitable, the venture capital group was not and it filed for bankruptcy as well.. De Vries, arranged to buy Sun Valley out of bankruptcy and has operated the company profitably, even grew the company substantially and is now called the Sun Valley Group. Along with the purchase of Sun Valley, De Vries got the patent to Star Gazer and it resides in the corporate headquarters in Arcata, CA, on the same property where it was first discovered.
