612 N. Main
612 N. Main
Bruce Woodring
612 N. Main Welcomes Bruce Woodring to the turret!
From Shoe Shine Boy to the Number 1 Independent Auto Lessor in the Commonwealth, Bruce has an incredible story. He hits the highlights here. We talk about his beloved wife, cars, service as the ultimate board director, epic fishing trips, famous uncle Woody and much, much more.
I don't think I've laughed as much during any other interview. Simply put Bruce Woodring is one of my favorite people to talk to. He's a hero to many of us. It's my pleasure to offer this podcast for your enjoyment.
Find Bruce Woodring Auto here.
Hey guys, welcome to six 12 north Maine. If you're interested in learning more about the Henderson Evansville Owensboro area, we'll, you're in the right place. This is where you hear the story of us and amazing stories. They are to sit back and relax while we welcome our special guests to the turn. Welcome back to six 12 north main. This is Brant. We're glad to have you here. I'm in deterrent by myself today, but the phone I have, one of the most exceptional people I've ever met, certainly one of the most exceptional hinder Sony NS that I know I could talk to this guy all day long and you know what? He might be able to talk back to me all day long. Bruce Woodring is on the line today. Welcome Bruce to six 12 north Maine.
Speaker 2:Good morning,
Speaker 1:Bruce. You and I probably met in the hospital board room. I'm guessing. And you were probably talking to Dr. John Logan, and I'm going to get us there. We're probably either fish stories or something else going on, uh, in that environment. Would you think that might be a possible scenario
Speaker 2:With John Logan? It wouldn't be a, he's been a neighbor and friend for a lifetime, but I have taken him and some other buddies to Canada for 26 years in a row fishing. And, uh, the whole, uh, mission is try to make sure you catch a bigger fish and John Logan, we don't want him to win anytime, you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And, uh, um, I'm sure he gives that right back to you. I absolutely want to hear more about some of those fishing trips, but first we need to start with the first question we always ask. And Bruce Woodring, who are you?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you if there's ever anybody born in a business. Uh, I was born in 1936 and my dad was selling 36 Ford for a true Richards Ford dealer in Morgan hill when I was born. And, uh, he went from there into the dealership. Uh, my senior year in high school, uh, his dealership close to Christmas, December burned to the ground, or he was a Dodge and Plymouth dealer and mortgage, and it burnt with about 13 or 14 new cars. And, and at that time, he came to Henderson in, uh, 1955 and both the Lincoln mercury dealership on green street. And, uh, my last year in high school, he was already the Lincoln mercury dealer in Henderson. And we moved to Henderson in 1955 back on Elm street. And, uh, he had the car business here and I graduated high school. I joined the Navy for four years when I got back out of the Navy, I come back and work for him. And, uh, he went out of business about a year after I got out of the service. So Al Milpa Carla and east gate shopping center, Woodring far give me a lot free. We hung up a string of lights and I went back and borrowed$1,800 and built a little garage and an office building. And, uh, Woodring found my co-sign Malone and I had a car up there. My dad only$10,000. I bought seven one and two year old cars and still had money in the bank with$10,000, a one-year-old old car back then it was worth about$1,700. A two year old car was worth about 1400. And that's when I started in business east gate shopping center in 1960.
Speaker 1:Wow. So you were born into the industry and you just jumped right in. Do you remember the very first car you sold in that business?
Speaker 2:Let me tell you that I sold a brand new mercury comet on endeavors or Lincoln mercury dealer. And I sold it to a farmer out a union town, and this is a good story. I went to his house and he had a picket fence. I started opening that gate and here come a dog by me showing his teeth when he get up. And so I backed off and a little girl about 10, 11 years old, said, don't come in here. And Mr. Bella goodbye to you. I said, don't worry. I ain't coming in. So she got into the collar and she said, it's okay, come on in. I'm halfway between the gate and the front door. And that dog threw up little girl down and he hit me. I had a brand new suit. I bought it Robert Hall for$60. He took that left leg off at the knee. It was left by two stitches. I broke her last little screen and stepped out of the britches. I mean, he cut my, took my leg completely off at the knee on it, new shoes, clothes, and, uh,
Speaker 1:Well, that guy had to buy that car at that point. Right. As he's a seller, we'll know where he wrote the check out for
Speaker 2:The lawsuit or something. His insurance coming bought me a new suit though.
Speaker 1:Nice. Very good. So you've got your lot on, over on east gate and you're you're up and running. So did you work by yourself or did you have, uh, other folks working with you? How did that go?
Speaker 2:Just me right then. And about a year later, uh, Keith Ford hired me and Evansville, so I just went to work, set up Trillium for one year. And then, um, um, from there I went to, uh, uh, let's see, Q4, and then, uh, I opened up another lot again for about a year. And then I went to work for muni Ford, poorly. Walgreen is on second and green. Yeah. Uh, I was used car manager there for, for three years, I guess, something like that. And I went to work for 10 years. I was Cheryl's manager for the big eligible wheel. O'Daniel rains in Evansville. And I came to hen Henderson and I was general manager for Scott Mughal, Pontiac Buick and Henderson for 10 years in 1978, the year of Kentucky won at all on St. Louis, Mr. McGold. I bought the leasing part of the dealership and I started in a car Benish myself in 1978. And I've been doing it ever since, uh, for are different from other used car dealers. And you can't tell it by driving by my business, but I'm the, um, in fact, the state of Kentucky notified me a few months ago. Um, the largest independent lease company in Kentucky. Well, I'll show you this car that you go to, you go to a new dealership and, uh, there'll be happy Alicia, a new car. But if you ask them to, uh, Alicia water two year old car, they laugh at you. I've been doing it for 35 years and who can tell it, you drive by my place. I've got 475 cars out on two year lease right now. Holy
Speaker 1:Moly. Now what's the advantage to leasing a two year old car.
Speaker 2:Let's say you bought a$20,000 car tonight. You'd have to get$20,000 involved. Either. I, your savings, you check both, or you had to borrow the money. And in two years from now, you got a car where a 15,000. So you have to borrow, or you get$20,000 involved to get$5,000 worth of use out of that car. In the next two years, you lease a$20,000 car from me and you pay me$5,000 over the two year period, and then give it back to me. Same difference. You just don't have near as much money involved. You don't have to worry about trade in. Uh, at the end of two years, you've been leasing for another two years or you the buy it out for 15, or you can say that's been a good car, but let's do it again and take another one or something. Yeah. So folks like
Speaker 1:Me that like to drive a different car every couple of years, I mean, I would, I would drive a different car every year. If I could afford to do that, that might be a good option for them. And, and it's, uh, uh, a reasonable cashflow situation. Right,
Speaker 2:Right. And I finance these people myself. So, um, I'll have a lot of people that, that there are other creditors, um, uh, questionable and they couldn't borrow$20,000 if I call the bank. And, uh, I keep the title to the car and I'll take a chance on you. I, um, I don't let anybody talk about our Spanish or Mexican population around here. I'll have maybe 50 or 75 of them in leased cars. And they do what they say they're going to do. They pay on time. Some of them pay two months in advance, but the best customers, most current customers are really these Mexican people that work hard here in a trash plate and a lot of places, and they can't borrow money. Cause there there's questions on their citizenship and there's questions on their insurance. And they, uh, they liked dealing with me. Yes. Well having
Speaker 1:Faith in people and, and especially with this Hispanic population that is growing here in town, you know, they you're limited if you don't have transportation, right. You're limited where you can work, how much you can earn. So, uh, to help them, uh, to help anyone, not just a particular population, you're helping folks, uh, get a leg up in the world. And that's so appreciative. Are we appreciate
Speaker 2:They're my repeat business or the Spanish people's unreal. They'll, they'll come in the showroom and bring one and say, look, you have you bought from Mr. Woodring, he's a good guy. And I mean, they, they bring customers in over day. They're very loyal people. So
Speaker 1:In your career, you've sold Lincolns and Fords and Buicks and Pontiacs. Is there anything you haven't, uh, any major brands that you haven't sold?
Speaker 2:Uh, I've never had a Ferrari or Lamborghini. I don't think, but, uh, everything else. Yes. There's still
Speaker 1:Time. If you can give me a two year lease on Lamborghini, we're going to have to talk about that. I did buy a car from you. You probably don't remember. But when I first got to town in the early to mid nineties, I was a young man. I was single. I was making money for the first time in my life. And I bought a, uh, 1985 Porsche nine 44. That was absolutely beautiful, uh, from you. And it was one of my favorite cars and I kept it until the kids were too big to sit in those little tiny, well, they call them seats, but I'm not sure they're, there's kind of buckets in the back, but yeah, that was a great car at, do you have a favorite car that you've you've owned or driven in your life?
Speaker 2:I don't think anything, nothing beats a Lexis.
Speaker 1:Is that right? Smooth.
Speaker 2:I would take Alexis Ola, Mercedes or BMW. Anytime I sell them all. Uh, you sell a, got Alexis. You don't ever see him again. They, they, they give a little problems, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they drive forever, right? Like, uh, hundreds of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. My wife just passed away, but she, I bet she's had 40 Lexus RX, three fifties. She might, when she gets one humored to me, she might have a two days or two months we'll have it to, we sold it. But when I sell it, I had to bring her another one. That's all she would drive is a RX three 50 Lexis. Well,
Speaker 1:I'm glad that that, uh, the subject of your lovely wife came up, uh, what an amazing couple, you guys just kind of fit together. How did you guys meet?
Speaker 2:Well, you tell you it's very unique. She moved next door to me when she was three years old. So I started knowing her 80 years ago when she was three and I was four. She moved next door to me and, uh, lived there for a few months and then hooked up again at the third grade. And from the third grade to graduation, we were in the same classroom for 12 years. And she's a sweetheart, a nice person, a good French or everyday I didn't date her. She backed her. She dated one of my football buddies through high school and name followed him in college. But, uh, she was a wonderful person, uh, uh, on my little talk at her funeral. She, uh, she was a sweetheart for the FFI and she was homecoming queen. She was cheerleader all four years at school. She was very popular notch, beautiful little girl. And, uh, I knew what she was. We like to say, we grew up together since she was three years old. And I came back out four years in the Navy and she was still single boy. And I was ready to settle down. And I hooked up with her and dated her for a little less than a year and gotten married. And we were murdered for 62 years. We were both in a gateway and Evansville with the virus. And we were both very, very assertive. And I thought I'd be on that. And it's like, I just want to make it. But when they told me that she only had a few hours to live well, they were very nice. You, you came to visit people in the hospital there's far, but because I was a patient, they roll my bed up and putting on the elevator, took me up to her level, push my bed in her room and put her bedside beside. And I was able to hold her hands for the last four hours until she died. And so I think that was, that was a wonderful way to live and a 62 year merge. And we said our goodbyes and, and it is as good as it gets. What a fantastic story. It's a wonderful way to, to handle merge. And she was good to me. We were faithful to each other and we were so fortunate and good family, good car business, and just good friends, small community, lack of luck. you. I got so many good friends. Um, ed Brady called me this week. He's retiring and he's having a small or calmer party cause there's a few friends, but I was fortunately one of them in inviting because I started selling cars. They didn't, he was a senior in high school. And, uh, I've got some, I got some ed Brady stores sometime I can tell you the real farm too. Well,
Speaker 1:You know what? We may have to have both of y'all in the same room. At the same time I got to talk to ed. I got to talk to ed, uh, at one of our recent, uh, men's bourbon society meetings. And we sat next to each other and, and, uh, we were talking about what's he, what is he going to do after retirement? And he talked a little bit about fishing and I could kind of see this look in his eyes like, man, there's some mischief about the happen. Some stories are about to be told. I'm not sure what's going to go on, but uh, sure would like to be there when it does happen. I do want to tell, I do want to tell one story, uh, about your lovely wife that, uh, is personal to me. Uh, we're going to talk a little bit about your service to this community and you've been on, I don't know how many boards, uh, you know, you're, you've kind of been the model for the, uh, board of director, governor type position, uh, for as long as I've been here, but, uh, for that service you were awarded a few years ago, uh, the Kentucky hospital association, oh, I guess it's a trustee of the year award, right? You, uh, we, uh, we at the Methodist and the senior management, uh, arranged for you to accept that award in person at our annual meeting. And we wanted to surprise you by having your family there. So, uh, Robby brought your wife and it was my job to, uh, keep them, uh, uh, you know, somewhat hidden until then the award was announced. You didn't know this was happening. It was a surprise to you, I believe. And then your family was going to be, uh, ushered in. And, and it was my job to kind of keep them off to the side and out of your sight until that happened. Right. So Bruce asked me to do this. I was very honored. I had a chance to talk to your wife and Robbie and, uh, as we were being introduced and you were about to receive your award, uh, and you were about to have this big reveal. I stepped on our toe and near broke the thing. And I wasn't sure if she was going to be able to walk up and say hello to you. And, and, uh, you know, I thought, oh my gosh, I have just ruined Bruce. Woodring wonderful surprise and, and the day. And, uh, but always will she, she mustered the courage to, um, uh, carry on despite my extreme clumsiness and, and that's something that was so sweet and nice that she forgave me for that. Uh, but I'll never forget that day. You, you definitely deserve the award and she definitely deserved a better treatment, uh, for being there for you.
Speaker 2:Well, that was a big honor and a big surprise. And it was a certain surprise that my family was are y'all y'all done a good job hiding it.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, we, we needed to thank you for all that you have done for the hospital here. How many, do you have any idea how many years you served on the hospital board? I know you had multiple terms. I was
Speaker 2:A board of director member for 32 years, and I was chairman 12 or 13 years. And also never have mentioned it as chairman of the board of the foundation several times, maybe four or five years. Also some of the times I was chairman of both boards at same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, listen, running a hospital is not an easy thing to do. And having a hospital that had such a dedication to this community, uh, was special. It was a special place for a long time, still as a special place. It's a little different now, but, uh, you know, uh, folks like yourself and, uh, so many others that served, did a fantastic job of keeping that place, uh, up and running and doing the right thing for the right people. So, uh, let me just say thank you one more time for that.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you. We had, we had great people in Ron Chapman. Uh, I was, I was chairman of the board and we hired Bruce Begley. I was chairman of the board when number went down and wrote a check book, union county hospital, uh, that was a nice purchase. And, uh, I'll always, uh, the cycle that I was part of that I wanted to make sure my friends and union county had good medical care. And, uh, um, Ron Chapman, we made a deal and bought that hospital on rebound. W we had been trained about the forum and they went off and sold it to somebody else cause they was asking too much for it. And then that company had bought it. They, uh, didn't come up with the money. And so then they come back to us and come down to our price and we, uh, we bought a hospital and that was a wonderful thing we'd done for union county people.
Speaker 1:Do I remember that the, is that when you got the word that it was available again, that you guys just got in the car and drove down there and, and wrote them a check
Speaker 2:And that's exactly right. And, uh, the, uh, mentor straighter, this caught me at Ari hard. Uh, gosh, I'm lost for words or administrator retired down Morgan hill,
Speaker 1:Pat Donna. He was a pat down in Houston
Speaker 2:That was hard with this new company. So when we bought it, Ron Chapman says, let's just keep him on and see how he does. He does okay with[inaudible]. And so we, we got him with a deal when we, when we paid for it, he was already there to represent the company that didn't come up with the money. So pat was a good, very lucky choice.
Speaker 1:Imagine anybody else, uh, doing such a wonderful job as pat did over his career? That was, that was a great catch
Speaker 2:There. Very compassionate and Christian man, just a wonderful person.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Very cool. So, uh, what other community organizations have you been involved in over the years?
Speaker 2:I've been, I've been a member of the, uh, the Masonic lodge here, Elks and, um, lounge club all for 60 years. So I'm probably probably the oldest men are all three of those organizations here in Henderson. Number many people been around membership over 60 years, but, uh, uh, I've been active. I was active in lands club for years. I haven't been in the last few years, but, uh, uh, really the hard work. So really commitment has been mostly for the hospital and it was due to Ron Chapman, Ron chaplain, come to me and want to know if I would consider serving on the board. And I said, do you, uh, do you know what the public opinion is of used car salesman? And he kind of laughed. I said, you know, I've been a critical, my laugh, I'm a used car salesman. And I said, I don't know how many people think ought to be on board director of the hospital, but he had faced that man, I'll never will forget one, one eight year term. I had to roll off for a year. And the day I came back and a year, the same day I came back, they voted and elected me back the chairman of the board because they to come back on the board, I thought that was real honor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, well deserved as, as, as well, you know, here's what I remember you about being a, uh, director on that board. Uh, you were 100% supportive of the organization and the people involved, but you didn't let anything just squeaked by, uh, there was one particular meeting where you had a question for me about why does, uh, oh, I think it was why can't I bring my own medications in that I've already bought and paid for at the drug store and use them instead of receiving, uh, drugs from the pharmacy at the hospital. I was the director of the pharmacy at the time. So that was a, a reasonable question for me. And, and, uh, I think I kind of heartedly answered that question, uh, probably with a very short response of, oh, what's the safety issue, something along those lines. And, um, that was not going to cut it with Bruce Woodring you don't, uh, not pay attention and listen to the question and, uh, try to escape. Uh, uh, you made sure that I knew that it was a, uh, uh, more important question than my response had given. So you didn't let me off the hook at all. Uh, uh, and that was absolutely the right thing to do. So I sat there and, and sweated a bit as you, as you responded. And then I respond appropriately the second time around. So that was, uh, that was a great learning experience for me. But you were very kind, uh, after the question while you were kind of the whole time, but after the, after the question, uh, you know, it was not personal at all. And, and I've always appreciated that about you. You were going to look out for the organization and, uh, you were going to be sure that your responsibilities were performed in terms of governance. So thank you very much for
Speaker 2:That. Well, elbow and maintain, oh, you
Speaker 1:Weren't mean to me, you just made sure that I knew that it was an important question and it was, and I didn't treat it that way the first time around might be while I'm still not there. But, um, so you have served, uh, the hospital, you serve other organizations, you're still selling cars left and right. Um, so what do you do for fun, Bruce? Woodring I a doula? What do you do for fun?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you what, the, the last three months I had meant a lot of fun, but my daughter come to Florida and was my nurse 24, 24. Uh, when I came home from the hospital, uh, I couldn't walk. I was in a wheelchair for 30 days. Then I went to a Walker, then a cane, and now I'm on my own. I was out robbing. When you call earlier today, I was out with my son, buying some trucks from a construction company that had some trucks for sale, and we went and looked at them. Uh, I bought a car in Alabama yesterday on the internet. I bought, uh, seven cars and Louisville last week on internet. So, I mean, I still, I'm getting out now and working a little bit. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Going to Canada to go fishing.
Speaker 2:Oh, 26, 27 years ago. Uh, I've gone every year for 26 years last year. I didn't go with the guys, uh, or two years ago, I guess I was six, but, uh, we're we can't get the candidate to this year. So we've got reservations for the first time in Minnesota.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So when you say with the guys, you're not just talking about one or two people, you guys load up a couple of cars, right? And you drive how many hours to get to where you're going to jump on a plane and then get dropped off in the middle.
Speaker 2:We drive 1,180 miles to town in, uh, Canada. Then we get on an airplane and fly for one hour to a lake that has no roads to it as one set of cabins on it. And without exaggerating, we'll catch anywhere from 50 to a hundred each ever day. Wow. And it's a catch and release. We only keep two fish a day and that's for the that's for the guys to cook at noon. We go to a special place on this lake, and he's already there with a fish friend. It eat nothing better than fish fry out on the lake. And, uh, while we, uh, get done eating, we just get back in the boat. We'll fish. And again, we fish all day and sometimes at night after shop, or some of us go out and fish for an hour or two, uh, there is usually seven or eight of us and we take one of these 15 passenger van, take the back seat out for luggage. And we all, sometimes I'd drive the whole way. And sometimes, uh, uh, Jim, Jim Crafton and his son, James in course, years ago, his daddy, bud went with us, all three generations of the craftsman's. Uh, Bruce Edwin goes and, uh, well, there's four other guys
Speaker 1:That sounds like a pretty long, pretty long way. How long does it take you? Cause I imagine you drive the speed limit the whole way.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll drive, we'll drive about 750 800 miles the first day. And, um, we'll stop in, uh, in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and then cross over into Canada second day. And we usually get to the lake about two o'clock in the afternoon, on the second day. Wow. And what kind of fish are you catching? A, a real good eating.
Speaker 1:He's like a spoon for that or a,
Speaker 2:You could put it on a jig, a little weight and we drop her up and down and touch the bottom and then lift it up out on each two off the bottom. You see the shot off the bottom. And as long
Speaker 1:As John Logan doesn't catch the biggest fish, it's been a successful day. That sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2:Everybody wants to beat John
Speaker 1:And, uh, tell you what, uh, I used to have lunch with him almost every day at the hospital. And I can't tell you how many stories we heard about those fishing trips. It sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm sure you didn't laugh and tell him these stories, uh, along the way, as you were all packed in that van for hours and hours and hours,
Speaker 2:One time, I'll tell you about my speeding ticket in Wisconsin. Uh, I always try to break the ice. When a trooper comes to my door, you know, I've never been, our chief goes, I've always wrong. There's trooper pull me over and go into my window. And I said, sir, I said, I've been stopped many a time, but I said, I have no idea why you stopped me. He had, he said, how about 75 and a 35 zone? Okay, I'll take a ticket. He gave me a ticket and I took all, I'll say 20, 20 to 25 miles later, John Logan driving in the front seat with messaged. John, you're not going to believe this. I'll say another red light in my mirror. This crew pulled me over. And I said, sure. I said, I can't remember the last time I got a ticket for John Logan, but how about 20 minutes ago?
Speaker 1:That's great. I've heard that story before, but it makes me laugh every time I hear it. Oh, wonderful. Oh man.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah,
Speaker 1:He and knowledgeable that guy has read every book ever printed. I think he knows so much history,
Speaker 2:I guess, opposites attract each other. Cause I mean, John Logan has sold them smart and, and uh, initial contract board here. I barely got through 12 years of school. I publicated spills school, but uh, we hit it off your slack, we're brothers. And uh, in fact, uh, Monday, Monday, him and David Thompson, won't pick me up. We, uh, we go out to run for a couple of hours from the countryside, just killing time. And, uh, Monday they're going to come down and pick me up and we're going to draft up Mount Vernon, Indiana and look at a farm that I bought in Mount Vernon few years ago. And they've never seen that farm. So they're there. The two of them were going to pick me up and we're going to go to Mount Vernon, Indiana Monday.
Speaker 1:Well, that sounds like, uh, Dr. John he's, he's one of my favorite people. He was, um, uh, I don't know that he would say this about me, but he was certainly was one of my mentors. Uh, maybe I should say professional heroes. I always looked up to him. He, um, uh, an amazing hospital administrator and physician and, uh, I hope he's enjoying his retirement. Uh, but gosh, I miss working with him every day. Uh, now you didn't want, you didn't want to get called to his office either the phone rang and say, uh, Brent, this is a as John Logan, can you come up in my office? I said, yes, sir. And, uh, sweated the whole way up to that office because I knew that it was going to be an interesting conversation, but he was great to work with. It was always a good time.
Speaker 2:He's all, he's all about business. So, I mean, he's a, he's a good judge of character offline. Um, probably not. I think everybody's great and, or not. Well,
Speaker 1:I don't know about that. I mean, you're a pretty talented guy. So, you know, you have some amazing stories. I can't let you go without hearing about your uncle. Can you tell us, uh, why he, uh, he is so well known and so famous?
Speaker 2:Well, when, uh, when the world war two ended, uh, he was single and he came to live with it in the same room with me. I was about 10 years old and he came in or two and then had already started a car business. And he was going to sell cars for my dad, third Morgan sale. And when he took his duffel bag and unloaded it, he had a pair of Chrome air horns side beside her horns. He'd taken off the hood of general patents Cadillac. He was general patents chauffeur when they had the accident that eventually killed Patton Patton lived about 11 or 12 days before he died. But he was paralyzed from neck down from the accident. And it was twice, three times a week. Somebody had come into the dealership and all they want to do is talk about patent. And until he died years ago, everybody's still people kind of thing with patents and they want to hear about it and talk to him. Uh, he'd been on Philadelphia Hoon, lot of talk shows years ago. And, uh, I can tell you what happened. What's the deal is on those horns. This was a great story. He got a couple of minutes. He, uh, he had him stuck on an old car and then he'd take them off, sell that car and put them on another car. And yeah, by name of, um, uh, what was his name? We worked our body shop and, uh, RA, uh, my uncle, let him put them horns on his old car. Well, he saw in the newspaper, this was about two or three years after he was home or no patent museum in Fort Knox. So he called my friend and said, take him horns off your car. And you get them format more, take them and donate them to the museum. He lived in an apartment up over top of the Ford tractor dealership there in Morgan hill. He took those horns off, brought them up that tractor dealership burnt to the ground at night. Patton's horns burn up. So I have been up to the museum more than once the cars are, it has no horns on it. And I talked to the curator, I've got something I'm fixing the tank backs up to the museum, an old girlfriend, or my uncle come by here about a year ago and give me a photograph. And I've kind of actual photograph of him taking them horns off rec card Germany. I'm going to donate that picture to the museum out of sun, got up her with it. But, uh, he, uh, he tells you exactly how it happened that day. And,
Speaker 1:Uh, so did the male, is that right?
Speaker 2:No, they had, they had stopped for a railroad and the gate came down and a train went by and when the train passed, he opened up and they just started out. He said, I probably wasn't in high year, that back car standard shift on the column. And he said, I probably run about 35. And he was meeting them army truck six by they call it. And just, you got to this guy turn left right in front of him. And he hit him back in the dual wheels in the rear. It, the right front fender. Wouldn't a lot of damage to the car actually. But, uh, he saw the accident coming happening and the one scarred gentleman in the backseat with pat and saw sock, but pat was turned sideways talking to this general and didn't see the impact coming. And so the car had a divider glass behind the driver's seat for the four where you cut the, you know, put, put up promising glass. Pat never drove that glass up. It was down, but there was a frame up in the headliner of the truck of the car, where the Glasgow was up into that frame. When you clicked the class all the way up patents head hit that wooden molding and there's open his forehead up real good. He was bleeding real bad, but it snapped his neck and their spinal cord. And he was laying across this General's lap when Woody got back the door to check on him and, uh, and he said, Woody, I can't move my legs. And he was paralyzed from the neck down at that point. And he's the only one that wouldn't, the other guy didn't have a scratch. And all pat Ned was just, uh, a cut across his forehead and he was bleeding pretty good. But when he, when he hit that with his head, he had broke his spinal cord and he lived about 12 or 13 days. In fact, miss patent had done flew over and she was with him for it, but he never held any drivers. She made sure that new drivers feel responsible and approve how much he approved them. My uncle, when she flew into Germany to visit my uncle again, sent her, sent him with picking her up to airport. So he still had faith in my uncle.
Speaker 1:Wow. What an interesting life he must have had. It would have been great to talk to him. I would have loved to hear those stories about the real patent. Uh, you know, is he this legendary, um, a man's man that that was such a critical thinker, uh, with some flaws obviously, but, uh, man, the right place at the right time in history for this gallery,
Speaker 2:He was a big show off and would he just fitted perfect. What he said that, uh, that he would be coming up on a convoy and uh, slow him down and pat and told him to punish them and send you'd pull them her horn wide open, pulled out and passionately. The convo it stop when it's all heard those horns and he'd go across German home, front yards, wide old pass the whole convoy running across everybody's front yard. You get in front of the convoy patent loved that he was a big show off and really fit right in with him.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's fantastic. That's fantastic. Listen, you have so many great stories. And you told me that you have some on tape. Are you going to ever do anything with all those stories?
Speaker 2:Uh, here's our some way I've got, uh, I've got 20 some odd stores and they're all on video, separate videos on my app. Those are a way for me to transfer them to you. Oh, sure. Yeah, of course. Well, I'll get, I'll get my daughter before she leaves for Florida. She's going to go to Florida Sunday and I'll figure out some way to get them to you and then you can set her. Cause it's going to take a there anywhere from a minute to five minutes long and there's 22 or 23 of them. Um, I, uh, I've listened to a lot of them the other day. And uh, there's probably some things now that we would call racist, uh, that we certainly wouldn't think so back then. But, uh, one of them was I'm talking about, um, uh, when I was, when I was just a kid, I took a hammer and saw and made me a box and I went to the streets and Shaun shoes when the soldiers came Breckenridge and uh, two little black boys and blood is a man. We were friends and we all three shine shoes, the streets and Morgan field sat beside. I didn't, I didn't know. There was a difference between these boys and me. I didn't back then. We were all buddies, you know? And, uh, today, if I talk about Shannon shoes, not these little boys going better than man getting bigger tips or something, somebody would call it racist. I don't know. Uh, I'd love to know where these two guys are. Now. When I used to shine shoes on the street, my dad never told me to go to work and I've always worked. I always wanted to work. I'd pay 10 cents and get on a bus and ride up to camp Breckenridge and sell newspapers. I remember selling Chicago Sunday, Piper on Saturday afternoon. Uh, I'd have the Sunday paper on Saturday afternoon that sell them on getting land for the soldiers, standing in land to the mess hall. They just grabbed me. It was back on neck and just put me in line with them, even though we will Chrome tray and they'd fill me up with food. I'd sit in the park bench and galley. And he was a soldier when I was 10 years old. I had a big time, but I was independent on, on ride a bus out the camp records and back back to Morgan. So by myself, I'm about 10 years old, soul newspaper shine shoes always worked, always, always had money in my pocket and you're still
Speaker 1:Working today. That's amazing. You certainly have that work ethic that was instilled at an early age. I'm sure, but nobody ever had to tell you to go to work. That's just awesome. And uh, you know, we appreciate you so much and, and uh, I could talk to you forever and I look forward to those videos coming. Uh, but we D we have to have you back sometime soon, and we want to hear some more amazing stories. And we want to hear, uh, more stories about how, uh, Dr. John Logan didn't catch the biggest fish that's for sure. So, uh, Bruce would ring thank you for all that you do for this community. Uh, thank you for being just an awesome person and, uh, uh, we appreciate you being here on six 12 north main street today.
Speaker 2:Thank you. This community has been very good to me. Wonderful people, and I love them all.
Speaker 1:All right, Mr. Woodring. Thank you so much. Uh, God called you, Mr. Woodring. You told me not to do that. The first time we met
Speaker 2:Mr. Woodgrain was my granddaddy. Yeah. Yeah. You said I'm Bruce.
Speaker 1:Hey, that was great, man. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today,
Speaker 2:But I'll get that to you and you listen to it before you play on friend, buddy. There's a couple of, no, that probably just for your ears, you know, different things are private, but, uh, I'll it to you and you judge, you judge what you're going to do with it. Okay.
Speaker 1:Hey, I really, I really thank you very much. Thanks. Have a good day. Goodbye.