By Colleen M. Farrell,

It started out – like all good ideas, some might say – as a dream.The vision was so clear in George St. George’s mind he couldn’t get back to sleep. He couldn’t even stop when his wife, Peggy, asked what he was doing up in the middle of the night.“It shot me right out of bed, and the cell phone was sitting right in front of my face – the image of it,” he said.

That was a few months ago. Since then, the Greece man has joined the likes of famous inventors Thomas Edison and Charles Kettering – the guy who came up with freon and the first electric starter for cars – in getting a patent. His is for the Stick It Buddy, manufactured right in his Mount Read Boulevard home.

The device, about the size of a cell phone, allows hands-free cell phone use while driving. A holder with Velcro wraps around the seatbelt. Slap another piece of Velcro (it comes with it) on the back of the phone, and stick it to the holder. It’s adjustable, so you can slide it near the driver’s ear or on your lap.

The device stays attached to the seatbelt and the phone pops right off. But you might need some reminding it’s there.

“You get out of your truck and say, ‘Where’s the cell phone?’” Peggy St. George said, chuckling.

And at $7.95, it’s a lot cheaper than a ticket, St. George said.

He has passed it out to family and friends and hopes it helps them stay safer on the roads. He’s found other uses for it, too, like attaching it to a backpack or purse strap to keep the phone handy.

St. George, 65, has racked his brain trying to figure out where the idea came from. Perhaps his driving-based occupations – he used to drive tractor trailers and is now a self-employed plasterer – planted the seed. 

But once the idea came to mind, St. George worked at perfecting it, trying out different materials until he got it just right. Then, he applied for a patent, which he received last November. Now, he’s focusing on selling his device through word-of-mouth advertising and is developing a Web site for it.

Long before he started American Plaster and Drywall, St. George was an amateur magician and balloon artist, did some carpentry and was even a professional clown on the side. He tinkered with inventions but never got anything patented. Married for three years, St. George considers his wife part muse, part good-luck charm.

“Since I met her, all kinds of good things have happened,” he said.

He encourages anybody – no matter the age – to keep working at his or her goal. He himself might have more inventions to come.

“It makes you feel like there’s so much to be invented out there,” St. George said. 

He’s certainly in good company, besides Edison and Kettering and all the other inventors. Paul McCartney supposedly came up with the melody for “Yesterday,” the most covered song in history, in his sleep.

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