April 9 will always be a special day for John Fuhrer and his family, including wife Maria and children Mathew, Jennifer and Simon. It marks the day John became proud owner of the former Ken’s Central Service.
Although John has run a highly successful mechanic business, J.F. Electronics, for 15 years, he has been able to trade in his downtown rental for his own building – an endeavour two years in the making.
John is no stranger to mechanics – he has been in the industry for 35 years, including 20 at Emo Sales and six months with Fred Klug’s Westend Motors.
It was after that he went into business for himself.
John will bring his two mechanics with him to the new location – Manuel Henzmann and Daniel Gerber. Chris Shine, a previous mechanic for Ken’s Central, will be joining the team as well.
John and Maria have plans to do some painting, adding shelves and some other touch ups.
The name of the business will remain J.F. Electronics. Full auto mechanics, safety checks and air conditioning for all size vehicles will be offered.
John is the fifth owner of the historic location.
The first mechanic was Tom Judson, when the garage was built in 66/67. I was fortunate to have Gary Judson share some history of the garage with me. He remembers New Wood being the company that built it. This was a group of local men, Dennis DeGagne, Clarence Ducharme, and the Schulzki brothers.
At that time, it was called Phillips 66, and was leased from Phillips 66. I spoke to Gary Barker, who worked for Judson in 1963/64.
He remembers Tom selling gas to many truckers, one in particular being Larry Strachan (the Strachan brothers) back when gas was 35 cents a gallon.
Gary was a Class A mechanic, and he recalls being extremely busy in the two stall garage.
It was a successful run business, but the wrench was to be passed again – this time to Bill Johnson, who leased the garage from 1969/1971. The garage was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and he recalls paying Phillips 66 one and a half cents for every gallon of gas he sold. Bill recalls some of the men he employed, including Brian McCormick, who began his apprenticeship there, Tom and Cliff Mccormick, Randy Haney, Tom Beck, and Mike Clark. Bill also sold RUPP brand snowmobiles while there – he recalls selling about a dozen machines.
Bill spoke fondly of his years spent at the garage, as did Randy Haney.
They were busy with gas sales and mechanics work. They were a good team, and the memories still bring smiles to their faces.
In 1971, the wrench was passed again. Bill sold his business part to Mike Armstrong, and he leased it for one to two years.
Bill remembers at one time Mike Labbe managing the garage and Clarence Ducharme purchasing the business, which was three properties in all. His son Mark ran the garage. Clarence had the gas pumps removed, following environmental regulations, then he built an insurance office where the Circle D Restaurant is today.
Bill remembered Ducharme selling a piece of property to Grandville Dyson and Dyson having a video rental place operating for a period of time.
In 1988 Ed Mose became owner of the garage, calling it Ed’s Central Service. Ed also operated it as a highly efficient service station.
Ed’s brother Les recalls Ed enjoying his garage and serving the community for about 10 years. But the time came to sell, so Ed made the decision to pass the wrench to Ken Badiuk.
Ken has ran an efficient service station for 28 years, with his last day as owner being April 8.
Chris Shine was employed by Ken for 20 years. Although Chris is a quiet person, he shared with me that he’s enjoyed his years with Ken and is looking forward to his new employment with J.F. Electronics.
Chris wishes Ken all the best in his retirement as does all of Ken’s dedicated customers, family and friends across the district.
John and Maria shared with me that because of the Covid-19 virus, they are not able to have a grand opening at this time. However they are looking forward to meeting new people and continuing their service to customers.
They are ecstatic to bring this new venture to all!
The rural communities and entire district wish you, your family plus your dedicated employees all the best as you take up the wrench in this historic site.
