Edgar Stroeher bought what is now Stroeher & Son in 1928, right before the Great Depression hit Fredericksburg, then the world.
Somehow, the company made it through. Almost 100 years after Edgar bought the company, six of his grandchildren and his daughter, Betty Olfers, crowded into a small office inside the shop on Thursday to talk about his legacy.
The first generation
Edgar, only 26 at the time, bought the company for $1,000. He partnered with A.W. Houy to run the business during the early days. Only three years after buying the company, the Great Depression came to Fredericksburg.
“Both of our independent banks here in Fredericksburg closed,” wrote Edgar in a written history of the business. “Many a night I went home and did not know how it could be possible to open the next morning.”
Betty said her dad told her stories about those difficult days.
“There was a run on the banks, now the money was gone and people couldn’t pay their fuel bill,” she said.
She said her father and the credit manager from Sinclair, Stroeher’s parent company at the time, sat down with their customers.
“They went into the farm and ranch homes, and this was done around a kitchen table,” Betty said. “Sinclair helped extend their credit.”
Sinclair and Stroeher gave the farmers around 18 months to pay their bills. All of the farmers paid back their credit before the extension ended.
The customer-focused model continued after Edgar.
The second-generation In 1954, Houy sold his remaining shares to Edgar’s son, Roy, and the company renamed to Stroeher & Son.
Each member of the family has memories of going out to someone’s farm to help fix a flat tire or a customer calling during a holiday for gas.
“We just try to take care of their needs,” Betty said.
“We just made friends easily and have such nice people for customers.”
Soon after Roy, Rudy Olfers, Betty’s husband, joined the business to handle the tire and accessories side. After losing their bookkeeper in 1968, Betty came on board.
Betty, the family’s matriarch, gently corrected the younger generation on dates and names associated with the business over the years while the family crowded into the office. She retired from the business in 2024 at the age of 90.
“We just got along. We got along so well,” Betty said of her time working with her brother, Roy, and husband, Rudy. “I looked forward to coming to work.”
“When our dad passed a few years ago, I was amazed at the number of people that came and they’d say, ‘[Roy] was one of the first friends we met here,” said Edward Stroeher, Roy’s son and now an owner of the business.
The third generation
The saying, “don’t work with your family,” doesn’t apply to the Stroeher and Olfers families.
The third generation owners: Edward Stroeher, Mark Stroeher, Jan Stroeher Engel, Susie Stroeher Smith, Cindy Olfers Clegg, Charles and Steve Olfers now help run things.
Edward, Charles and Steve oversee the day-today, while the other cousins step in when necessary.
“I think [Roy] and Betty and Rudy, as second-generation owners, and working together every day, I think they set the standard,” Jan said.
Susie added, “Not only in business but in everything. We always celebrated together, holidays were always together. That’s what we did.”
“We all worked here at some time,” Jan said.
The family compared the various jobs they had to do as kids working in the shop after school. They agreed chopping weeds was the worst.
One of the cousins piped up with “calendars.” The group laughed as Susie explained, “We had to hand deliver calendars to all the businesses in town.”
Edward recalled going into bars and domino halls on Main Street as little kids to give the owners oil calendars.
Betty complimented her sons and nephew saying, “They still do it like Rudy used to. [Customers] would come in and say, ‘Do I need a new set of tires?’ He would say no. They trusted him.’” Charles said a large reason why the businesses have been successful, Stroeher & Olfers is a five time Fredericksburg Standard Reader’s Choice Award winner, is the because they give back, something they learned from the older generations.
“Betty always said, ‘I tried to help everyone a little bit.’ That was our philosophy here. You can’t do everything, but you can help everyone a little bit,” Edward said.
In the final paragraph of Edgar’s history he hopes “that his children shall have a better opportunity for a brighter future than what I had to go through to build up this business in my lifetime, though I enjoyed every bit of it.”
Now, the brighter future realized, Edgar’s daughter and grandkids are enjoying their bit.
“It was never easy, but it was a good life,” Betty said.
Annie Bresee is a Report for America corps member who writes about agriculture, conservation, water and environmental issues for the Standard-Radio Post. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting bit. ly/donateFSRP.
Stroeher & Son and Stroeher & Olfers are located at 509 S. Adams St. They are open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday. The shop is closed on Sundays.
