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Sleep-mask maker not a snoozer

Durangoan Tom Russin is man of multiple careers

When he moved his manufacturing business to Durango from Tucson, Ariz., last year, Tom Russin was able to install the operation in his home in the shadow of Raider Ridge.

There’s no noise, smoke, dust or heavy traffic involved.

Russin is owner of Mindfold, one of several makers of sleep or travel masks that shut out light to create a sense of calm. The masks are used by air travelers, migraine headache sufferers, people engaged in meditation or biofeedback and instructors of sighted people who work with the blind to demonstrate the reality of sightlessness.

Russin came by the rights to Mindfold more than 20 years ago when he wrote off a debt owed him by a person who had bought the name and a prototype sleep mask from visionary artist Alex Grey. Grey, whose art incorporates mystical or spiritual themes, wanted a mask to create solitude for meditation.

“My wife questioned my sanity, but I saw the potential of the mask,” Russin said. “But I wanted to redesign it.”

The search for the right materials – a soft foam for the eye pieces, a flexible plastic for the backing and the right glue – at $120 a gallon – to join the two pieces took him three years.

The foam can be cleaned, allowing users to wipe off any build-up of sweat or makeup.

Mask production came after Russin had tested many other fields such as the military and school teaching.

Russin, 86, was drafted near the end of World War II and served 18 months in occupied Japan. When he was discharged, Russin joined the U.S. Marine Corps and remained for one enlistment, then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.

When he was discharged 16 years later, he enrolled at the University of Arizona to earn undergraduate and master’s degrees in education.

Next came a career of 20 years as a sixth-grade teacher.

Russin could be considered an overachiever. But he knew when to call it quits.

“At age 70, I was thinking about getting a law degree,” Russin said. “But then I thought ‘Why kill myself?’”

As producer of the Mindfold sleep masks, Russin buys material – plastic, foam, straps and the cellophane wrapper – from different sources.

“We sell all over the world, including Russia and China,” Russin said. “It’s by word of mouth because we haven’t advertised for 10 to 15 years.”

He brings workers into his home to assemble the masks – glue foam to plastic backing, connect the head strap and slip the product in a cellophane package. They throw in a pair of free earplugs.

Russin sometimes joins in assembling the masks, which are found in Durango at The UPS Store in Bodo Industrial Park.

He sends the finished product to Arizona where he has a sales and distribution center.

Russin is always on the go. He remains active by dancing Zumba five days a week at the Durango Community Recreation Center. He also takes a yoga class at the La Plata County Senior Center and from a yoga instructor who is just establishing her business.

daler@durangoherald.com



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