Most Fallon residents are well acquainted with Tedford Tire, however, what most people don't know is that the company began as an oil company in 1947. Delivering gasoline and heating oil to customers in the Lahontan Valley, Ken Tedford Sr., quickly saw another opportunity and soon expanded their operation. Purchasing E.L Company Tire Shop in 1951, Tedford renamed the shop to Tedford Recapping and has been running strong for 74 years.
It is also not widely known that the mayor of the City of Fallon, Ken Tedford Jr., started sweeping out the shop when he was six years old. He and his three sisters all worked for their parents, first in the oil shop and then in the tire shop.
"Right from when they started the tire shop, Mom worked right out there with Dad. First they added new shops, then the new business office, and another new back office when I came home in 1978," said Tedford. "There were three desks in that back office, Mom's, Dad's, and mine. Now I sit at his desk. We worked together for over 20 years."
A great admirer of his mother, Tedford still carries a deep sense of appreciation for what she brought to the business that would be his legacy. "My parents met at the University of Nevada when they were in college and she was a very smart business-woman. Dad would giver her all the credit for where he got," said the Mayor. "My mom, Betty Kornmayer, came from a long-time Reno family, growing up in Washoe Valley. She ran the family business, Peterson Rock and Gravel, when her two brothers went off to war."
Recalling the story of his sister Brenda when she was first teaching school and his dad would tell her she had come home and work over Christmas break. "She would say, 'well I'm teaching now, dad' and he would say, 'it doesn't matter, we're busy.' and she would come to work."
Tedford says the family has always focused on customer service, a core trait instilled by his father. His sister Jani, the oldest, is a go-getter, according to Tedford. "We used to leave a heating oil truck at the house because people ran out at night, I remember many a Christmas Eve taking heating oil to someone who ran out. One time, Jani didn't have a ride to school, so she took one of the heating oil trucks to school."
Tedford has four children who have all done their time; sweeping the shop, working the counter throughout their youth, and returning from college during their summers to help out. Kenny is now a practicing attorney workin the District Attorney's office in Washoe County, Dillon is practicing law at a firm in Los Angeles, Darcie is teaching elementary school in Ft. Worth, Texas, and Alexandria is working on her master's degree in athletic leadership at Boise State.
Tedford Tire supports eleven employees, with Randy Sharp in his 25th year as manager. "He's been wonderful," said Tedford. "My dad always said to surround yourself with really good people, and that's what I've tried to do, it's the only way I can really run the City and the tire shop at the same time. I have really good help in the office and really good help at the shop."
Tedford always considered his dad a very good leader of people, who taught him at the highest level how to lead people in his own right. Tedford has always seen small businesses as the backbone of a community, and by extension - the county. "Small business is what drives this community, and we can't lose sight of that." He says the people who work in our small businesses are the volunteers, the coaches, the people who make quilts. And these are the people who become family.
"All these people who work for me become like family," he said. "You sit down and tell them, 'I'm going to take care of you' so you make decisions to make sure they're taken care of and that's important, you don't want to make a wrong decision and have to lay anyone off. It's very important."
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