The pumps may be gone. All of the equipment may be out of the garage. But after nearly six decades of business, plenty of memories linger around the old service station at the corner of Mission and Tomahawk.
And judging by the response we’ve gotten to the post announcing the closure, Roney’s service station is likely to be the subject of fond memories long after the building has been torn down.
I know I’ll always remember going into drop off my keys for an oil change and seeing a plaque for the “Jolly Times Outdoors Club” hanging above the east door to the shop. My grandfather was in the club with Buford Roney — and based on the stories we used to hear, “Jolly Times” was a fitting name indeed. (Members had to demonstrate “all requirements for Highest Standards in Outdoorishness, Fellowship, Card-playing and All-Around Commendable Traits and Abilities,” according to the membership certificate). I’d found my grandfather’s name on the plaque at Roney’s before. When he died in 2004, my grandfather’s Jolly Times plaque was one of the keepsakes I took from his house. It’s hanging upstairs in our house today.
It’s a shame I won’t get to see its partner when I go to Jiffy Lube.