During my career as a consultant, I have been able to form many new acquaintances and friendships. One of these relationships was with the son of one of the car wash industry’s legends, John Jurkens. Our professional relationship extended over a lengthy period of time and I came to know other members of the Jurkens family as well.
While I was doing work for one of the sons, Jeff, John passed away. My own father preceded John by about three months. Shortly thereafter, Sonny Fazio passed away. Age and death were silencing a great generation of the car washing family’s voices.
After the relaunch of Washideas.com in 2014, I had the privilege of giving a voice to John through his children, Jeff, Joel and Jill, to our listening audience. The respectful and meaningful way that the family spoke of this legend, showed that this family had car washing in it’s blood, through and through.
There were some particular recollections which these grown, now adult and successful in their own right, children shared with me during those interviews, which made John seem 10 feet tall. It seems he came from the same cut of cloth as other greats of his generation.
John opened 13 car washes in 13 years to start his career and then built the Octopus Car Wash network into a tour de force which left its mark on the industry. This interview shows that John was not only a great car washer but a great humanitarian as well, who enjoyed the respect of his family.
While it is not possible in a few lines to frame the extent to which John impacted his world around him, here are a few excerpts from that interview that demonstrate the stature of the man.
Perry: How did John get in the business?
Jeff: Ha, Ha. Reluctantly!
As I understand it, he was in the army air corp. He had done a stint in WWII as a B-17 bomber pilot. He went to art school. Then he was called up to Korea and while he was in that war, he and his friends were about to re-up and they came up with a get rich quick idea.
One guy was not going to re-up, they were going to pool their money and he was going to open a car wash and they were all going to get rich. They drew straws and my father got the short straw! He was the one that went out and started the business. Eventually , the others were bought out, as partners, and the rest is history.
He started in business in Rock Island, Ill. in 1954, and he didn’t know anything about the car wash business. There weren’t many car washes around to learn from. Certainly, no how to book.
In order to get started, he was so resourceful that he went to his high school shop teacher and talked him into making the equipment, such as it was in those days, into a class project.
Perry: What do you think his legacy is?
Jill: I had been on numerous ICA trips with him and I got to see, when we would all get together with owners of various car washes, we would be sitting in the bus talking and the respect he had garnered throughout the years was amazing for me to watch.
I know oftentimes, I would go into the back office at one of our locations he would be on the phone with a car wash owner. Helping them, discussing things.
It was important for him to share. That is what he really wanted to do. Not so much to grow his own business but he wanted to spread it out and help other business owners in anyway that he possibly could.
Jeff: What sticks out in my mind about my dad and is so memorable is that although he wasn’t aware of this, I used to listen to him on the phone, all the time.
Back in the day when he got into business, he would work all day, at the car wash, he would come home after fixing stuff at the car wash, and talk to operators all over the country, long distance and in those days long distance was long distance.
Most nights instead of watching TV, I was up under his chair listening to him.
He would be talking to operators all over the country, all the big names. Since the other guy was shouting as well, I could often hear that guy and that is how I learned about car washing. From my first years of awareness until I was learning by doing, I learned by listening to him on the phone.
The stories that they would exchange. I heard it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. It was great. It was really great.
Joel: He was a people person.
He wanted to see people excel and to give them an opportunity where other business were not going to be able to do that for them. Even though people did not have college degrees, did not mean that they did not have the drive to be successful. My Father opened the door and gave them a pathway and a map for how to acquire that success.
My father was a gambler. He hired a lot of people I don’t think the world would have given a second chance.
My father was the kind of guy where if there was a guy on the street corner and he needed a buck my father would give him five bucks and I think we live in a society now that is just a little bit colder than that. We don’t necessarily want to open up ourselves that much.
There again Perry, he lived in a time that that was acceptable. I remember days you could pick up hitchhikers. He would pick up hitchhikers but I don’t think he would do that anymore.
He lived in his time. He fought for his country in WWII and I think when he left this world, he thought it was worth fighting for and I think our country is still worth fighting for!