The flat farmlands of Illinois were Jim Reeser’s home and workplace for 50 years. The seed planting farmer and father of four was usually found on a John Deere tractor or plow tending to his fields of corn and beans, a life he knew well and treasured as he and his wife Joyce raised their children in the same community where they had both grown up.

In the late 1980s, the farm business was no longer flourishing. Joyce and Jim both celebrated their 50th birthdays and sought greener pastures (literally) in Tennessee in 1994.

Jim’s brother-in-law had relocated to the Volunteer State to pursue a career in music a few years before. As his chart-climbing dreams shifted, he opened an auto body shop where one day a job request for a Porsche seat repair came through the doors. He beckoned Jim and a body shop employee, also named Jim, to try their hands at the project. The two Jims rose to the challenge, and a new chapter in both of their lives began.

Today, Cool Springs Upholstery has recovered everything from a 1940s Studebaker to Dolly’s country camper; from grandma’s 150-year old rocking chair to Michael W. Smith’s new couch.

In fact, the upholstery business led Jim Reeser to recover more than just furniture. He’s seen many of his employees through rehabilitation from alcoholism and incarceration, always the first to notice their potential and share his God-given gift of leading and encouraging others.

It’s said that Jim left one career of planting seeds for another. His 20+ year legacy of recovering furniture and helping his employees recover their own lives is carried on today by his youngest and oldest children, Amy Reeser Freese and Jeff Reeser, who joined the family business in 2009 and 2015, respectively. 

Jim and Joyce retired in 2016, making Jeff and Amy co-owners of Cool Springs Upholstery. Never ones to slow down for too long, the elder Reesers still assist from time to time and are so proud of the business their children have chosen to continue 26 years later.