by PAUL RAYNER

For one of the Boissevain’s longest participating businessmen, the ties between business and community are cyclical.

George Dyck of Du-Rite Motors celebrated his 75th birthday on December 3. Having owned and operated the shop since 1959, he has seen a lot of changes and participated in more than a few. It is a long legacy, one that started with a summer job.

Dyck said he started with Eric Gowler, the local International Harvester dealer, in 1950. Although he began in one area, it was a move over that pointed to the future.

“I went in there to help in the office for the summer,” Dyck remembered, “but I hated it. I had to always be doing something, moving around. He said to me there was lots of work in the back shop, so I ended up doing garage work, and I was there for nine years.”

During that period, he spent five winters training in Winnipeg in mechanics becoming certified in 1956. Learning new things is an important part of any business; one Dyck put a high premium on.

“You never quit learning. I used to go to all of the courses. You have to keep up with the times.”

While at Gowler’s, he was promoted to shop foreman, spending seven of his nine years at that position. Coming at the tender age of 20, it may have been a bit of surprise to Dyck, but he felt Gowler saw something in him he never saw in himself.

“He saw that I was good at organizing,” Dyck explained, “that I was good with people. It was something I didn’t know myself, but he knew it was natural to me.”

By 1959, Dyck and Gowler employee Ed Franz took the plunge and moved on. They purchased Modern Motors, the Ford dealership in Boissevain. It was located on Stephen Street and the name was changed to Du-Rite Motors. The location, where Dyck said he lived upstairs for a time, would be Du-Rite’s for more than 30 years.

During his years as a Ford dealer, he certainly sold a lot of vehicles. He remembers Galaxies and F-150 trucks as the biggest over time. Prices changed from under $5,000 for a new car originally to many multiples of that.

“We had some tough years, some good years, just like any business.”

Changes continued in personnel as well. Franz bowed out in 1968 to move over to the Chrysler dealership, and Murn Johnson moved in the following year, staying for 20 years.

Products and services developed as well. Farm machinery was one addition, moving to different companies as mergers and takeovers were ongoing. Names like Minneapolis Moline and White were prominent, with the present Belarus equipment later added. However, trucking would be the big one.

Dyck said the start of the trucking end has many beginnings. For one, he was always interested in trucks and it was his background at Gowler's. But it was turning a negative into a positive that made it happen.

“In 1968, there was a lot of grain around, but no sales. The market was bad. I spent about two weeks in the Steinbach area and visited different people. They said if I could get the grain to them, they would take it. I got a truck and took the grain on trade and that’s how it got started.”

Dyck said he took the grain in return for machinery. For two years, they averaged about 1600 bushels a day using two trucks and trailers. By the time this was finished in 1971, Du-Rites would have a viable trucking business. It was about survival.

“If we didn’t do something,” he stated, “maybe we would have been out of business. If the farmers couldn’t sell, they couldn’t buy.”

The trucking took the name N.E.W.S. (north-east-west-south) Enterprises in 1985. They truck anywhere and everywhere.

“It is still strong, a multi-million dollar business. Trucking is really my hobby, I just love trucks.”

Another story of turning lemons to lemonade was the change in location. In 1992, the old Stephen Street location was wracked by an explosion. Instead of rebuilding where he was, Dyck put the insurance money into a new building out on #10 Highway. He said the 15 years in his present location have worked out very well, as the highway is the place to be.

Not all decisions were happy ones. Eight years ago, he found he had to abandon his Ford dealership. It was a difficult decision.

“It just wasn’t working financially,” Dyck explained. “There just was not enough in Boissevain. I tried to hang on, but it didn’t work. I had the dealership for 41 years. It was the hardest thing to do to discontinue. I tried three times to make that call to Ford. I kept hanging up. But it had to happen.”

What occurred with the dealership was a part of what Dyck believes is the importance of competition. While the Chrysler and GM dealerships were still around, it was viable. However, he could not survive as the last one.

“Once the others disappeared, unless someone definitely wanted a Ford, you would not see them. It is important to have competition. It brings people around.”

He moved into AutoValue all part sales, which has worked well. He now gets people with all makes of vehicles, he says, being sort of an auto “general store”.

As well as business, Dyck has believed in giving back to the community. He has long been involved in the Boissevain & District Chamber of Commerce, starting with his days with Gowler. He has served as president three years and been a part of every committee. As well, he was president of the Manitoba Chamber in 1984.

“The Chamber is very dear to me. You see communities that lose them, and they fall apart. It is the hub of many important committees.”

In part through this, he became a major participant in a part of Boissevain history. He was involved for the entire 30 years of the history of the Boissevain Turtle Derby, which put the community on the international map. He even remembers the meeting held prior to the inauguration in 1972, where the idea came forward. After the failure of another promotion, a group discussed possibilities, and Royden Whitfield suggested racing the ever-abundant turtle.

“He said it as a joke,” Dyck remembered, “and look what happened.”

When the Turtle Derby was discontinued, he moved on to the new Turtle Island Festival. It is all part of the debt he feels toward the community.

“I feel I owe the community something. The money for my family came from here. I honestly feel that way. I feel I owe the community, not the other way around.”

Dyck plans to continue with Du-Rites, even saying he has a few new business ideas up his sleeve. It still interests him and he feels he still has something to contribute.

“You always keep changing,” Dyck explained. “I was lucky in that I could see a need for something and then get into it. Like van rental. I started with one and now I have five. There was a need for it. I like looking ahead and doing things like that.”

“You have to have good staff and I have that,” he continued, “and your family has to be behind you, and I have had that. And this community has only given me good things.”