Sometimes Superheroes Wear Coveralls

Hi, I’m Marsha, the receptionist at Wareing Sturgis Ford. I just love this job. The phone rings all day long, and my group of friends keeps growing.

Future customers call looking for information about vehicles they’ve seen online. Current customers need to schedule routine maintenance or repairs. And I often send calls from all over the country to our Ford-branded Parts Department.

On frigid days, some calls start like this:

“Marsha, I live a thousand miles away and my mother in Sturgis just called to tell me her vehicle won’t start this morning.”

“Hi Marsha, I just got off work and my car won’t start. I think it’s the battery.”

Given our proximity to I-90, summer calls often sound like this:

“Hi Marsha, we’re traveling across the country on vacation and need a technician to look at something.”

“Hi Marsha, we see your dealership is on our travel route. Can your shop accommodate my motorhome?”

Customers are always grateful to see someone from the shop show up, sometimes right at their doorstep. Families traveling through often find a little oasis in our waiting area, complete with Matchbox Fords and Bronco coloring sheets.

These moments are special. We’ve made a lot of friends and become a small part of their stories.

But every now and then, a situation comes along where our superheroes jump into action and the capes start flying.

Last Friday was one of those moments.

Around 5:00 p.m., the phone rang.

“Marsha, I’m broke down across the street. I managed to coast off the interstate and made it near the Sinclair station. Do you guys have towing services?”

From his accent I could tell he was a long way from home — but not an unfamiliar place to me, since I’m originally from North Carolina.

Late Friday afternoons are busy in our service department, but I took his information to Cole, our Ford Mobile Service technician. I tried calling the stranded driver back but couldn’t get through. Since I could see the vehicle across the street, Cole headed over anyway.

Later I learned why the driver hadn’t answered.

Just before calling us, he had asked a driver from a local Sturgis company if he could tow him off the road. The driver checked with his boss and had just started the tow when Cole pulled up.

Turns out Sturgis is crawling with superheroes.

Not long after that, I saw our Mobile Service van towing an older pickup around to the shop. I had a warm feeling things were going to turn out just fine.

A little later, a young man and his chocolate lab walked through the front door.

He was from South Carolina, traveling through with a camper on his way to Montana, where he was beginning his fourth year working in engineering at Glacier National Park.

He was understandably bummed about his truck, but he was looking on the bright side.

“At least I bring my house with me, so I have a place to stay.”

Our service department used the plow truck to move his camper into our parking lot while his dog happily romped around our dog park.

Cole got to work diagnosing the problem and even offered to come in on Saturday to coordinate parts delivery and finish the repair.

That evening I told my husband about our stranded visitor — practically kinfolk, since my husband is also from South Carolina. We decided to take him to breakfast the next morning.

So while we were enjoying a little “old home week” at Uncle Louie’s, Cole and another technician were turning wrenches back at the shop.

By Saturday afternoon around 4:30, they had the truck repaired and our traveler back on the road.

I followed up with him Monday morning, and he was already back at Glacier getting the park ready for the season.

His message back to me said:

“Hi Marsha, everyone there was just so great! Thank y’all again for everything. I was actually glad to break down in Sturgis because I met some really great people.”

So yes, sometimes superheroes do wear coveralls.

Thanks for reading — and we hope to be part of your story one day too.

— Marsha