Roger Richards spent 32 years running R & J Service in Seward with the philosophy that hard work, integrity and caring about his customers would make a difference.
By all accounts, they did.
Richards learned those qualities at an early age from his grandfather, Henry Richards, who owned a successful dairy near Elm Creek. He passed away when Roger Richards was young, but his business and life philosophy stuck with his grandson.
Before moving to Seward in 1987, Richards lived in Milford and worked in Lincoln, first at Montgomery Wards and then at General Tire.
He came to Seward to work for Dave Schliefert, who had a mechanics shop at Seventh and Main streets, and later for Brad June, who had a shop in a former Texaco station at Fourth and Main.
He eventually bought into June’s business, but the men had different philosophies and practices. Richards soon took full ownership of the business.
“I always wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to own my own business and I wanted a piece of the American pie,” he said.
Chuck Matzke at Jones Bank told Richards of some business issues that needed to be addressed.
“I was not going to give up,” Richards said. He got things straight with the bank.
“Things started going along pretty well,” he said.
A Lincoln car repair business had gone in across the street from the old Texaco station and soon left, Richards said, so he went back to see Matzke, who asked for a plan.
Richards and his former wife put a four-page plan together for Matzke and soon bought the garage at Fourth and Main streets and his R&J’s Service clients followed.
He put to work his business philosophy that included being honest, treating people fairly, working late if you had to get something done, and doing good work.
His insurance agent once told him that if he liked what he was doing, he would never “work” a day in his life.
“He was 100 percent right,” Richards said. “If I had a chance, I would do it all over again, if my body could take it. I loved figuring out why a car is not running right, or why it is not stopping right.”
The business grew and some of his early customers were still coming to Richards for car repairs after 30-plus years, right up until his retirement on Aug. 25. He values their trust and loyalty and can list several such families off the top of his head.
More than 20 years ago one of his regular clients, Harold Radford, brought his daughter in to have her car worked on.
Richards remembers the day. Brenda, who was divorced, had a white Dodge Intrepid.
“I could tell she was just very uncomfortable,” Richards said.
He and Brenda have been together for more than 20 years and married more than five years ago.
In 2022, at age 63, Richards woke with an “ungodly pain” in his chest.
After stopping to open the business and getting things going with his staff, he went to the clinic, then quickly to the emergency room.
It was a heart attack and he ended up having four stents placed in his heart.
Soon after he was diagnosed – atrial fibrillation (AFib), which is an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm, and thymus gland cancer.
The thymus gland is in the upper chest behind the breastbone and between the lungs. The rare cancer was treatable, and today Richards said he feels good.
His voice remains raspy from the surgery and treatment.
“I have always been raised in the faith,” Richards said.
God spoke to him three times through his health and he knew he needed to listen.
“I knew it was time to retire. It was harder than heck to put it up for sale,” he said.
Kendall Warnock who owns two A1 Automotive shops in Lincoln has purchased the business with plans to reopen in April.
Richards said Warnock is a good fit for that corner in Seward. He wanted the buyer to be someone he and others could trust, and he thinks Warnock has earned that as he built his business.
He said his customers can trust him to be honest with them, just like he was.
Now Richards’ two sons, Benjamin and Russell, are grown, as is Brenda’s son, Blake.
She retired a couple years ago and the Richardses enjoy spending time with Blake’s three children, Sterling, Oliver and Paisley.
“I am not giving up tinkering. I still have my cars to work on, and my wife’s car,” Richards said.
His cars include a couple of GTOs and an El Camino.
“Those are my first cars,” he said.
He remembers his father taking him to Kearney to buy the white 1968 Pontiac GTO convertible for $135 in 1976. His younger brother, then 11, went with him for the test drive.
“I had never driven something with that kind of power,” he said. They had to test it when they were out of their father’s earshot.
“Newer cars don’t excite me much anymore,” he said.
Richards is grateful for his business and the people who trusted him to care for their cars.
“I have enjoyed the ride, the whole journey,” Richards said.
