After more than half a century, Wayne Kelly passes down family business

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After 53 years, Wayne Kelly finally decided enough was enough.

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So he retired.

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The 73-year-old from Mitchell was, along with his late brother Doug, second-generation owners of Frank Kelly & Sons Garage Ltd. in Mitchell’s east end. Now after working diligently behind the scenes, he’s turned the business over to his oldest son, Wade, whose initial goal is to improve and guide the business until it reaches the century mark.

“That’s the game plan. It would be neat to put on a sign, wouldn’t it? One hundred years,” Wade said Oct. 1 during his dad’s final day. “That would be very cool.”

On his last official day, Wayne wasn’t getting down and dirty pulling wrenches or jumping into a tow truck to haul back a wounded transport but, unsurprising to anyone who knows him well, he did have some opinions on the ways of the world both locally and globally. And he reflected fondly on a career he doesn’t regret.

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“We worked hard — we worked big hours — but we had fun,” he said with a wide smile. “When you rebuild engines, you turned it into a game . . . see how fast you could rebuild an engine and not make mistakes and make it a good one. You could tell when you had a good rebuild because, as soon as you went to start it up . . .  boom, that thing hit and it was right there.”

He giggled at the fond memory, but he knew the time was now — actually, it was three years earlier when he initially had visions of stepping away.

Kelly said back in the day they’d routinely work until 11 p.m. at night because there were good customers who needed their trucks running for work the next day. Couple that with tow calls from the OPP at all hours of the night, it left little time for anything else.

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His dad Frank initially was partners in a garage on Ontario Street in Stratford before finding the building at their current location next to the Hammond Plaza with the Shell gas pumps and McDonald’s restaurant. Two original bays in the current building were a car wash at one time, and a body shop previously owned by Wilf Parent and Bob Powell, before Frank bought the Supertest station in the early 1960s. Additional bays were added and business followed.

Wayne, the oldest of three boys, along with Doug and Bill, said it was a natural fit to join in since he was a “carburetor head” who loved tinkering with cars and machinery.

The company invested in heavy towing and was generally acknowledged as a leader in the industry, especially in this area. Wayne said when factories started closing, and some customers built their own shops to repair their own equipment, their business dropped off. Factor in the current trade war with the United States, and business just isn’t what it once was.

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At their peak, there were 14 employees, including truck drivers, Wayne said, but it’s down to five today. He’s proud of the fact he’s never had to lay anyone off during his involvement with the business.

“It’s not a big deal, but it is for me,” he said.

“Mitchell’s been good to me,” he continued. “We had a really, really good business for a long time.”

Since the area is so agriculturally based, Kelly said it should continue, but the trucking and transportation industry has changed tremendously over the years.

“My old man always said you’ll always have a job. . . .  As long as you can wrench, you won’t have to worry,” he said.

Wade, 39, who recalls sweeping the floors at seven years old, is confident he’ll streamline things and bring it into the digital age with social media and a new website that will both help retain and attract new customers.

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“I went on my first tow call with dad when I was like 10 or 11,” he said. “I’ve always been part of the garage. I’m pretty confident I can bring business back here. The older generation when word of mouth works is slowly fading away and now it’s my generation where you have to have a social media profile and a presence. It’s no one’s fault — it just needs to be brought up to modern times.”

Wade said he’s fortunate to have the foundation with which to carry forward.

“The overhead’s really low so there’s not a lot of pressure. This is a big opportunity not a burden whatsoever,” he said. “Dad couldn’t have left anything in better shape, honestly.”

A model train collector, Wayne said he was looking forward to an extended vacation with a friend through parts of the U.S. to railway museums and other railway-related stops.

“I’ve been blessed. I’m healthy. I have a little jingle in my pocket. I’m not a wealthy man but I ain’t suffering, so what more can you want?” he said.

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