Bertha

In Brogan world, we tend to name our vehicles.  Don’t ask me why because I don’t know.

The first Explorer I had when the kids were younger was named Tessie, as in Tessie The Truck.  

On a recent outing to Treasure Island, Mama Bear along with Molly and cousin Krispie, named Mama Bear’s SUV “Ron.”  I’m guessing there is a story behind that, but I sort of don’t want to know what it is.  

The most beloved of the vehicles in our family was Bertha.  She was a tan Ford Taurus that got handed down from Captain’s grampa and gramma, to his dad, to his brother, and finally to Molly.  Bertha was Molly’s first car after she got her license, and she formed an extremely strong emotional attachment to Bertha.  

Anyway, we’ll come back to that.  

Some of you might not know that this spring I was elected the new president of the Pine Island FFA Alumni.  Spring and early summer happens to be our busiest time of the year including the Pine Island Cheese Fest where we sponsor a petting zoo in conjunction with the student chapter, and we have a float in the grand parade where we hand out string cheese.  As in just over 2000 stick of cheese each year.  

That’s a lot of cheese, pals of mine!  To offset the cost, we solicit donations from area businesses, and we have always had a good response to that.

This year, one of the donors was Steve Johnson of Zumbrota Ford.  You’ve seen or heard his commercials as a Dealer For The People.  When Steve contacted us about the donation, he asked that an alumni officer come to pick up the check personally at the dealership so they could take a photo for their Facebook page.

Being as I had the morning off for other reasons, I set up a time with Steve to get the check and take the picture.  When I arrived at Zumbrota Ford, I had a few moments to chat with Steve, and one question he asked was “Are you related to the Brogans in St. Charles.”  

This is a little different than the usual question of “Are you related to Brogan Heating and Air.”  The answer to both questions is yes, but the St. Charles connection is a direct family line from Captain to his grandparents while the Brogan Heating one is a more distant connection.

Anyway, he told me he started selling cars in St. Charles 40 years ago.  Turns out that Captain’s aunt Pat worked part-time there during college.  

Steve then went on to say that Grampa and Gramma Brogan were long-time, valued customers of his, and that he remembered selling them their last car.

A tan Ford Taurus.

Yep, he sold Bertha to Grampa and Gramma back in the day!  So of course, I had to tell him how useful Bertha had been in our family through four generations.  

That’s not the interesting part...or not the point I wanted to make.

Steve told me that when Grampa and Gramma wanted to buy Bertha, he had already moved his dealership to Zumbrota, but Grampa Brogan called him up and said they wanted a new car and he should come on down to see them.

Steve found a car--Bertha--and drove from Zumbrota to St. Charles right to Grampa and Gramma’s house, and they signed the paperwork at the kitchen table.  Steve then took the car that they were trading in and drove back to Zumbrota.  

More than that, he said Grampa would call every four to six to eight weeks after that saying that the car was making a funny noise and needed to be looked at.

Steve would take the time and drive down from Zumbrota to St. Charles right to Grampa and Gramma’s house, look at the car, and spend some time visiting with his long-time, loyal customers.

That’s customer service that I can applaud, so this is a shout out for Zumbrota Ford as a valuable asset to our community through excellent customer service as well as generous charitable contributions to local civic organizations.

Thank you Zumbrota Ford, not only for the donation, but for this little piece of Captain’s family history that we didn’t have before!

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