Trey was the 3rd. Tres-3/Trey-III

Trey was.....Trey. How would you even describe someone that’s so indescribable.

Trey operated on Trey time, And the Trey way. Always...he was a late baby, In the middle of August, in the south...on a nice cool gentle day...Summetime, and the living was easy. Fish are jumpin, and Trey is born.

Ella Sang that song in 1968. Trey LOVED music.

August 17, 1968

Savannah, GA

His parents were High School sweethearts. Tommy was known for yanking boys out of Brendas car. According to Trey he yanked one boy out of the car so hard his shoes were still in the floorboard.

Tommy was in the army, mostly training, and hunting wild boar out of helicopters ... now these are all my memories of what Trey told me, so I could be way off... Brenda worked at the local news station, there’s a picture somewhere that I’ve seen - makes you understand why Tommy was yanking men out of the Car.

I’m telling you all of this because if you were to ask Trey who he was, he would start way back here. At the beginning.

Trey got his desire to do things ‘his way’ from his dad. Tommy built a boat, in his mother’s kitchen...Trey started demoing the kitchen 5 years before we started the renovation...

Treys sister Missy was born...and it all went downhill from there. Just kidding. Trey loved his sister. Basically I think she was his first friend, and best friend. They were brother, and sister. They were strocks...so loved so hard ya just can’t stand it. Trey would do ANYTHING for his sister, the same for her...but they would also say anything. (In the Strock instruction booklet I swear it says ‘activate, and STAND BACK’.). Oh mercy. These are passionate people...it didn’t matter who’s right, who’s wrong, or even if they agreed...one was always the devils advocate. It could be ANYTHING, education, or whether the sky was blue. They challenged each other...and the weird thing...they loved it. One second I’d be in the corner waving a white flag of surrender, and the next they’d be in the kitchen getting a little somethin to eat. Hard headed magnets. That’s the only way I can describe them.

Missy, a LOT like her Dad, with some Brenda sprinkles. Trey, more like his mom, with Tommy sprinkles. VERY similar cupcakes, they work well together, everything’s the same...just opposite. If that makes any sense.

Tommy eventually worked at Gulfstream in Savannah...and taught himself, with classes - construction, eventually Strock Enterprises - was born.

Concrete. They did a lot of concrete They is everybody. Working at home, building fiberglass forms, doing everything. The Strocks worked. Always.

One of Treys favorite memories was going to the hardware store with his dad downtown Savannah (it was where Paula Deans butter barn is now) they’d go in there get what they’d need on a Saturday...and then Tommy would always say let’s go get us a cinnamon roll...but instead he’d always say a ‘cement roll’. Trey always ALWAYS called them ‘cement rolls’. We would be at a bakery, or wherever and he’s order a cement roll. They’d look at him like WHAT? And he would just say ‘a cement roll....duh, cinnamon roll.’

Strock enterprises continued on, Tommy and Brenda making it work. Trey was off to school. I think he went to Mercer, that he hated. Then switched to Georgia southern in Statesboro.

Trey got all of his Business background from his grandfather Frank Joiner(Brenda) he spent summers with his grandparents in the mountains. Frank worked at C&S bank. Trey wanted to be a business man. He worked at Phar-Mor, opening stores-and at RPS(FedEx)he was a regional manager for the southeast. He loved that job, working with people, that bond. But, he also was never happy working ‘for the man’

Hurricane Hugo

It was disaster. Tommy got called to help in Charleston. He was living on peoples couch, or floor. And then T&B decided to move down to Charleston, johns island, missy rode horses.

All was well. Missy went off to school, USC. Trey was traveling a lot. He lived in Birmingham, AL. Chattanooga, TN. And drove everywhere. The strocks were building houses, had two spec homes going up....and the navy base closed. The economy went kaput. Trey could hear it in his moms voice over the phone.

He left the corporate world and came to work at Strock. Totally educated himself on the construction business. Figured out what needed to be done to make a profit...Tommy, Brenda, Trey (TBT) started transforming Strock from home builders to remodeling.

I met Trey during his last Build, the Fazenbakers (that’s spelled totally wrong) I remember there was a TON of drywall in the dumpster, and I asked him ‘isn’t this wasteful?’ He was pissed. Said they got charged by the sheet, and there were EASILY 5 sheets cut in half, but still perfectly useful in the trash. I also remember being told to walk around and pick up screws. (Because of tires, but also because Trey had a bag in the truck(his GMC he called the ‘grey ghost’)where he kept every single screw, nail, penny he found.

I still have a box in the garage that probably still contains a screw he picked up in 1969.

Anyhow, TBT transformed Strock. Trey poured everything into it. Joined builders organizations...And eventually Remodelers Advantage. Everything changed. Kinda.

Trey was a dreamer, always. He wanted to go bigger, better, farther, faster. The TB part of TBT was a little more hesitant. Someone had to stay on the ground.

Trey would get so frustrated - ‘I’m gonna quit, I’m going to FedEx and make more money’ he would get so discouraged...especially when a job that he thought ‘was a sure thing’ went nowhere. I can not tell you how many times we would be grilling dinner, and he would be so excited about a job he was working on the contract for, and then the next day when that contract fell through...it was all over.

Enter Sandler Sales Training. In Treys eyes it was every answer he needed. It was all he needed. In my eyes it was mega$$$$. I was against Sandler in every way you could possibly think of. Trey was brilliant in my mind. This was a waste of money. And I mean big money.

I was wrong. Remodelers Advantage, and Sandler helped Trey to grow as much as he wanted to. His confidence exploded. Everything professionally was clicking for him. He loved it.

For Trey everything was Family, and Work. Enjoy life? Yes that’s fine, can we work while there? Is there WiFi? Trey loved to Travel, always to the same places.


  • NYC

  • The Highlands

  • Orlando

NYC was vacation, except always working. Trey loved the museums, the art, Broadway. He found inspiration in EVERYTHING. He would always want to know ‘how can we bring this experience back to our clients?’ We could be on Broadway seeing ‘Hello Dolly’ and he’d ask that, little ol me would be like ‘ummmm I’m tearing apart their house...I ain’t singing. Or dancing’ he would get mad and say I just don’t get it. Trey was so connected to everything. Work was everything.

The highlands are the ONE place he would relax. They were his everything. Nice hotel, really good coffee - amazing food. And the Spa. I would save money all year so that we could go every year for his Birthday. Trey would spend the ENTIRE day at the Spa. he looked forward to it every year.

Orlando. Work. The only reason we went there is because of Sandler. And Trey loved EPCOT. Every year. It was fun, we had our little routine. Lunch in the Paris pavilion every time...he loved the Nicoise Salad. Every year. And dinner at The Palm. Trey would request the same waiter every year, and Tony would say ‘Mr Strock! your back’. Trey knew everything about tony, his grandkids, his wife’s name...it was like old friends.

Actually let me stop there. Trey loved people. He couldn’t remember anything about them. But he loved them. He would always look at me. ‘What’s that waiters name?’ We could be in timbucktwo and he ask me that. No other information. Just ‘that waiter’ and I would have to figure out which waiter, or whatever thing he was talking about. I always had to listen to whatever Trey was talking about, so that I could spit out words or anything to remind him what he was talking about.

Finishing his sentences was a daily thing. He hated it. But then as soon as I’d say alright, and just sit there quietly he would look at me-like ‘what was I about to say?’

Trey was work. Work was Trey. It was never really like that though. Work was never ‘work’ so it was just what it was. I feel like we always enjoyed life. I feel like without work, that’s when Trey would have been miserable.

Even during all of his treatments he wanted to work. I got him a laptop for home that was connected into the servers for work. I moved our accounting software to California, so that it could be online and secure so he could still see everything. Trey was always working. I’d bring all the checks home, with the bills - and he wanted to know what everything was. We talked about all of the jobs daily. That’s really most of what we talked about. He wanted to know everything. I started doing all of the payroll, April and I did the bills...but I never pushed anything through until I came home for lunch and we talked. I would do payroll, but still bring it home for him to see every other Wednesday(even though it never changed)after he said ‘okay’ I’d log in and transfer money.

That’s just how we did things. I always said it was Treys way or the Highway...but now today I still catch myself doing most everything a certain way. Just because that’s how it’s done.

Dont question things when they’re right. Even if they are so ‘Strocketized’ your head spins.

One thing I will never forget.

‘We use 30# felt paper not house wrap’

‘Why - that’s so much more expensive’

‘It’s the old way of doing it. It works. Look at a house wrapped in that plastic - you got rot, the plastic rips, just begging for problems. Felt. You don’t have to worry near as much. Costs more, but saves more’

Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.

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