In honour of Father’s Day coming this Sunday we at St. Amand Auto & Truck Repair Inc. thought we would do a tribute to the men behind the desk for the past 3 generations. These men have contributed in not only starting the business but are responsible for continuing to grow the business today.
Now for a bit of a history lesson, let’s take you back to the year of 1970, Leo St. Amand opened St. Amand Auto & Truck Repair Inc. doors for the first time and since that day the business has remained in the St Amand family. Bob St. Amand Sr. was the next to have a hand in growing the family business and after the passing of “Papa” as he was affectionately known, Bob St. Amand Jr. and his wife Heather took up ranks in 2012. Since 2012, Bob has continued to involve his family in his passion with the hiring of his son, Brent in 2013.
We caught up with Bob St. Amand Jr recently to ask him a few questions about his involvement over the years.
- How does it feel to have taken over your family business and to be able to share it with the next generation?
Bob Jr: It feels really good to have taken the business over, there is definitely a sense of pride to keep the business going. After Papa passed away it wasn’t planned to take it over but after my uncle offered it to me it just made sense and to keep it in the family. I truly believe in tradition and honouring my past family members. It’s important that we can provide this opportunity for the younger generation to come in and be able to be a part of our history. We all share the same values and respect for the company from my grandfather all the way to Brent.
- To what do you attribute your success?
Bob Jr: A lot of hard work and dedication! There is a sense of not wanting to be a failure because of all of the history and my family. My role models (grandfather and father) definitely helped to shape my work ethic and I hope to keep it going.
- What is your favorite memory of your father?
Bob Jr: I think just that my father always allowed us to be whatever we wanted to be, not what he wanted us to be. He never put any pressure on us and let us make our own decisions and mistake. But was always there for us.
Brent: One of my favourite memories comes from my dad coaching me in hockey. Lots of my childhood always involved hockey and it was nice to be able to share that with him. Our teams had a lot of success over the years and to have him coaching and be part of it was awesome to experience and not something everyone to gets to enjoy.
We’d like to end it with this quote:
“Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad” –Anne Geddes
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!
The St. Amand Family
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