Selling the house on Union Street

One of the toughest things that I have ever had to do, NOTE I said one of the toughest, was to put the house up for sale, the other was selling the car wash's. There was so much enjoyment in the day by day progressive success, even with all the hard work that was necessary, you almost become addicted to whatever it takes to get to the ever elusive plateau that you have dreamed about over the years. However, with

a lifetime partner of 60 plus years steadfast beside me through thick and thin, who could go wrong.

Yes, we sold the house, bought a condo and to the delight of Goodwill in Marshall expanded their business about 100 % and narrowed our possession's to around 0. We kept the Van and Cadillac but only one could be in the garage, the other sets out. Had to keep the Van so Ardis could keep her flea market hobby in high gear, Incidentally, she has been actively involved in her hobby for nearly 35 years, she has made a small fortune over the years, she started at the Shipshewana Ind. flea market when it was just a pup, in fact it was an old run down shed that she had to start with, now, you wouldn't believe what it has grown into. Some Holiday's there are between 15.000 and 20.000 people come to shop.

As a rule she made the 70 mile trip down there without any mishaps, however, there were times when she wasn't so lucky, flat tires, dead batteries and deer slowed her down sometimes, in fact she hit two deer at the same time once , then an other time she was successful in missing a couple of deer but ended up out in a bean field through a ditch and back in the road really screwing up the under carriage of the Van, how in the world she ever made it the 50 miles to Shipshewana is more than my feeble brain can figure out. I always went down on Wed. to help her wrap up what was left, this of course was after I retired we usually would get home about 7:00 after eating usually in Sturgis Michigan or Howe Ind.

This year, 2002 she quit the long drive to Shipshewana and I'm sure she would say stopped to play the little flea jobs around Marshall and Tekonsha, however, it serves her purpose and keeps her busy most of the time.---------I guess we just realized this year that we are not getting any younger Amen!!

I will continue to add to this as my brain jumps into gear every now and then and connects to something I've missed. This date is: Saturday the 19 of Oct. 2002 9:25 pm MSU got tromped by Minnesota today. U of M won over Purdue. I know now that the Lions won their game with Chicago on Sunday (Oct. 20th 2002 ) by two points, good game. MSU has come up several times lately and I have failed to mention that in the 60's Mike Ballard and I along with a Canadian guide owned a fishing and hunting cabin in Canada, Ontario providence, It was located about 50 miles north of Sudbury in the Canadian wilderness, the only way in was by air from Sudbury at that time, our cabin was on a lake named Hassen, this was more of a hunting area rather than fishing. At that time we fished at a lake named Thor which actually was the head waters of the Vermillion River. I recall the first time we were invited to go there was in 1955. Virgil Schultz owned Schultz, Snyder and Steel lumber yard in Lansing and we purchased all of our lumber ( Sherer-Gillett Co.) from them, Mike Ballard and myself was known to be the most proficient hunters and fishermen in the county of Calhoun and we got to know Virgil Schultz very well indeed. If I recall correctly Virgil was an alumni of MSU, undoubtedly the reason Biggie Munn was always invited also, there was always ten or twelve big shots at the lodge Virgil had built on the shore of the lake so rather than disappoint any one we hobnailed it together Biggie was one heck of a nice fellow and always did his share of the work, I'm talking about washing dish's and cleaning up, however, there usually was a lady, the wife of the guide that Virgil kept up there all the time to take care of the place and have it ready for people coming at all times of the year. We made trips up there for at least 10 years The salesman that Virgil employed that sold our factory was a fellow named Colin Sturt , after Colin died our Sufari ended, then we stayed at a lodge on the other side of the lake that was built by several other friends of mine, I think my last trip up there was in the 70's some time, just before I retired from the company.

My Retirement

I better mention that I retired the 12th of November 1978 from my job at the company, I might mention here that I retired as plant manager of the environmental division of the Kysor Industrial Corporation. I had plenty of time to service the car washes and still hunt and fish and enjoy my retirement, still have plenty of time, now however, golf is my hobby, both in Michigan and Florida. I had 32 years work at SHERER, later Warren Sherer division of Kysor industrial corp. We have been a member of the Marshall Country Club for 27 years, I played golf with the members during that time until all my partners died off on me, however, I still play in Florida and still belong to the club here in Marshall.

I also better mention that in 1996 we bought a 35 ft. mobile home in Dade City, FL. that we make good use of every year for from 3 to 5 months. Plus it makes a fine place for the kids and grandkids to visit for a little vacation every year. This year 2002 we will be a little late going as Princess Smith AKA Karen is gettin hitched in Dec. Then watch out Curly Smith AKA Carol will be following the same path in the spring.

Hope to see one of the couple down with us this winter( At country-aire estates mobile home park at 38130 McDonald St. Dade City, FL. 33525 ) We are always happy to have any of the family come down. The park is mid way between most of the major attractions in Florida so it makes a good place to hang out.

Ardis and Frosty Boy

Ardis mentioned one day that she didn't have enough to do taking care of the two car washes during the day and wanted to start up the dairy bar. At the time we were renting the building to Madeleine Allen so we advised her that Ardis was going to start in the business and she would have to get out at the end of the season.

We spent another $20,000 or better buying new equipment and started it up in the spring of the following year, it prospered for two years until we sold the car wash on Michigan Ave. to a fellow by the name of Bill Crank, then his wife started operating the dairy bar for the time being, but rented it to Hank Cassen's girl friend after finding out that it was a tough row to hoe, the girl friend didn't do any better. Oh well so much for that. It was 1982 when we sold the Michigan Ave. wash to Crank, then in 1983 he bought the Venda across from the airport so we were out of the car wash business. Crank later sold both to Frank Boley the next year, so then it was Boley and us for the next 15 years and we couldn’t have had a better buyer.1982 was also the year that we bought a new 27 ft. motor home to travel the country with. We did just that for the next two years and then sold it. To much trouble finding a place to roost every night----- rather take the easy way to stay-----Motel.. The motor home was a Travel-air model.

Money Money Money

The money w as rolling in a lot of it to Security national bank, but a lot was going into our bank account also, Ardis had quit her job at Schuler’s a couple of years earlier to handle her vice presidents job at the car wash, now she had a double dose of car wash's, she took care of them during the day and I would take over at night, we were two busy people for twenty years,. however, we did manage to take a vacation every year, going to Europe and retracing a few of the places I was during the war, mostly however, laying on the beach at the Riviera in southern France, Monaco and Italy, plus we went on several cruises in the Caribbean to south America and most of the islands in that area, also Mexico, Canada and the USA. and Hawaii. I had known Bill Laughtenslager for several years so we hired him every time we went on vacation to take care of the wash's. Bill is still one of my best friends for the last couple of years we have been going turkey and deer hunting north to his cabin at Lovell's. Might mention here that Bill went on quite a few air trips with me for company. I might mention before going any farther that our time spent in Monaco was not very profitable, we decided to venture into Monte Carlo casino and limit our spending to $50.00 bucks apiece,---Brother, that was the fastest disappearing money we ever saw, never won a dime.

Bought Out Partner Plus Dairy Bar and Land

I better start catching up here before my mind starts dreaming again. My partner at the car wash on Michigan Ave. wanted out of our partnership, partly because he had to spend too much time there and also because his little son had some kind of terminal ailment that was getting worse fast, so what did we do, of course, we bought him out, not only that we bought the dairy bar and the land also. We were in debt clear up to our ears, all to Security National Bank in Battle creek. WOW.

Number Two Car Wash

Be that as it may, the car wash prospered for the next two years, however, we were always aware that somebody would think that we making too much money and decide to infringe on our prosperity and build one in town somewhere, so what was I to do?? You guessed it , find a location and build another car wash. This I wasted no time a doing. I found several fair locations but eventually settled on a plot of land ( across the highway from the airport ) with two and five eighth acres on it, actually, it was an old apple orchard, we had to remove near one hundred trees and level it off, so on august first 1967 we opened a five bay car wash. John Bedwell was contracted to build it. Now we had eight bays in two locations to manage and keep repaired. As a matter of record we paid $15.000 for the lot and for the equipment another $35.000 t o get it started The building itself cost about $ 40.000, then after two years operation we decided to make one bay into a automatic, another $18.000. However, this was the only automatic in town or within 35 miles of Marshall, the nearest being in Kalamazoo. It was busy--busy--busy. Costing an even one buck a wash.

Number One Car Wash

Getting back to the car wash business, the first thing I had to do was find a suitable location, this came about rather quickly, there was an empty lot on West Michigan Ave side of the then Dairy Queen I went to city hall and found out who owned it, made an appointment and talked to the man, he didn't want to sell it right away but when he found out what I wanted it for he got real interested and as it turned out he gave me a extra good deal if I would let him go into the business with me. This was not all bad because I had a full time job as well as Ardis, he could watch it during the day and I could take it at night.

The car wash eventually was started in the spring of 1964, it opened in august of the same year and at times there would a cop directing traffic at the site people went nuts over trying to get in especially in the winter when the roads were being salted, we were of course overjoyed when the salt trucks were on the move. I'm again getting ahead of the story, it seems you can’t build a car wash without money, good old Steve Smith again at Security National Battle Creek. I needn’t tell that Michigan National in Marshall turned me down again---------When Steve came over to see the house, and again we both were still working, also looked at the location where the car wash would be, we could have gotten $25,000 more without any problem.