By Bill Rautenstrauch

Observer Staff Writer

As success stories go, the one about Graffunder Safe Company is a little bit ironic.

It’s a business founded on mankind’s dark nature.

Ralph Graffunder, who operates the La Grande business with his father, Ulrich, sees the irony as clearly as anyone.

"Things are going well for us," he said. "But it’s kind of a sad state when people have to think more and more about personal and home security. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact of life."

Ulrich Graffunder, who immigrated as a young man to the United States from Germany, learned the safe-building trade in San Francisco.

Eventually, he went into business for himself, teaching his son the trade as he did.

Graffunder Safe moved to Elgin from San Francisco in the early 1980s.

"The business isn’t dependent on location, and we wanted to live in a small town. We really like this area," said Ralph.

The father and son team worked in a small shop in that town for 11 years, manufacturing fire- and burglar-proof safes.

In 1993, when they moved their business to the Union County Industrial Park at the county airport, they were turning out 120 safes a year. They also were making vaults and specialized doors.

By that time, they had built a reputation respected throughout the industry. Using a factory-direct approach, they were marketing their products coast to coast.

"Ours is quite a wide territory," Ralph Graffunder said.

At the industrial park, they moved into a 4,100-square-foot building, an improvement over the 2,500-square-foot shop in Elgin.

Later, 2,000 square feet were added to the Graffunder building for the finish department. Also, a show room and business office was opened in downtown La Grande.

The Graffunders expanded their business to include electronic security consulting. They hired two employees and added products to their line.

One such product, featured on a recent Fox Channel 12 news segment, is the modular vault, otherwise known as a "safe room."

Built mainly for residences, the vaults provide people with a safe haven against catastrophic weather or home invasion.

"In the old days, people would pile into the root cellar in times of danger. Now they use safe rooms," Ralph said.

The units, featuring modular steel and concrete panels, are custom built. The panels are shipped to the site, and assembled there by Graffunder employees.

"We haven’t had too much call for them locally, but they are popular in the larger cities back east," Ralph said.

He added, "Sometimes they are very simple, just an empty room. But we do get orders for special ventilation and heating systems and water. We even get orders for bullet-proofing."

Graffunder manufactures vault doors that have a wide range of security applications. A special kind of door can be added to a modular vault to turn the vault into a so-called "panic room."

"The difference is that the door can’t be opened from the outside," Ralph said.

Today, Graffunder Safe Company employs five full time workers. The business looks forward to more expansion in the near future.

"We hope to add another manufacturing building late this spring or early this summer," Ralph said.