Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana How many of us grew up with gas in our blood?

I was wondering how many of us have our roots in gas and oil? I grew up next to a gas station that my grand dad owned and my dad and uncle worked there for him when they were younger. It is where I grew up until I went into the service. The house on the right was my home. You can hardly see him but my uncle is next to the Gilbert Barker pump.

Ahhhh, the good old days.

Not me Les. Sawdust. Dad was a carpenter by trade.
Great picture of your family heritage there!! Thanks for sharing!!

We were dairy farmers on my side, but my wife's family was into petro from 30's to 50's. This photo shows her grandfather & uncle on the left, daisy the cow, and Purvis brothers on the right. This was in Mars, PA. about 1931. Purvis Brothers is still in operation there and the three big tanks are still there, but buildings have been built around them.

I didn't grow up around the gas station business, but have a couple associations from the past. My great Uncle Leslie Sheffer owned a Leonard gas station in Rollin, Michigan. My Dad remembers helping out around the station as a kid when he stayed with his cousins. My Dad also worked at a Sinclair station in his high school days.

My maternal grandparents and great-grandparents both had multiple pumps on their farms, which I remember from early on. As a kid I thought it was like having a gas station at home, lol. Unfortunately I did not collect old gas items when they were alive, and I know I missed out on saving a lot of cans and the like. I remember seeing lots of Gulf and Mobil products in the shops.

The only pumps on the farms in my memory were late 70's stainless steel pumps, but looking at family photos I see there were older ones previous to them. In this photo behind my Uncle Neal is a M&S 70, not sure what model is dispensing diesel as I'm not super knowledgeable on pumps. (Kind of looks like a Bennett?) I sure wish the older pumps were saved, especially since the M&S pump was Mobil branded. Most farmers are savers/re-users, but my Grandpas were really into digging holes and burying stuff that was deemed of no use. Hard telling, but I would guess the two pumps in this photo are still rusting away 8 feet under.

After my Grandpa died in 2001 my Uncle did find a Tok 39 short in one of the barns, which my great Uncle let him have. I have no idea how it didn't meet the fate of being buried or scrapped. I just recalled as well that both of my Grandpa's brothers worked in the oil fields for Marathon. I know they spent a lot of time in Kuwait in the 1960's exploring and drilling...I guess I have more gas/oil in the blood than I thought!
Darin

Factory's a little gas stations and some shoes. My entire family on my dads side except for my dad and great grandfather worked in Fisher Body and Oldsmobile starting in 1940's till my Grampa retired in 1985. My dad as a kid for a couple summers worked at the gulf station next door to him, he would sweep the lots and shop. my other great grandpa worked in a shoe shop in Lansing for 65 years no doubt he saw some cool shoe advertising.

I grew up riding with my grandpa on his gas truck in the late 50's. He owned the Union 76 bulk plant in Lynden WA. My parents bought a Union 76 station in Sumas WA in 1964. My grandpa is in the truck on the left. My grandpa had a 1956 Ford gas truck when I was riding with him.

Started in a wrecking yard at 12 years old taking off tires and pulling batteries in 1950, The boss bought a Standard station worked there in high school. Worked for him for 6 years. Went to work in a small machine shop doing repairs for 16 years. Went to work for Husky refining in 1973 and later in 1984 when it became Frontier again. Worked as a machinist pump mechanic for them. Retired after 30 years in 2003. Mitch

Started in 1968 as a driver for a jobber, coming off the truck to dispatch in 1989, retiring in 2012 after 44 years with the same company but with ownership & company name changes.


Dave

Started cleaning restrooms and sweeping floors after school at a local Sinclair station when I was 10. A couple years later moved across town and worked at a Phillips 66 station graduating to washing cars and pumping gas. In my last four years of high school I worked at my wife's uncles Texaco station. At 14 I would run the station by myself from 6-10PM and close it down 2-3 times a week and on a couple of Sundays each month would run it alone from 7AM to 6PM closing time.

Picture is from 1965 - note the trapzoid rotating Texaco sign in the window reflection - that was installed that year and replaced the old 6' round sign.

The good looking kid on the left in the front row is yours truly - and yes, at 14 I was still the one tasked with keeping the restrooms clean - low man on the totem pole.

My grandfather had a country store, and I have the original contracts he signed with Standard Oil in 1934, to sell their gasoline and products. Thus, my love of all things Standard Oil.

I did as I was always into toy trucks . Meanwhile , I had cousins who built "Moonshine " runners and one cousin who became a famous race car driver .

I mean being 21 I technically did not grow up with it, BUT I have always been into old things for a long time. The gas and oil hobby for me started when I was 13. So these are pictures of my great, great uncles Champlin station. He owned and operated it up until the mid 1980's. I hope to be the proud owner of this station someday. It is really in great shape. And what is even better is that it is the next building over across the street from my dad's Splichal Hardware building. Someday it'll happen, we will own buildings side by side!

That is one sweet building, hope you get it.