I am going to start with Nevada at the age of 13. I was second oldest of 8 children. Dad and I went to Battle Mountain to farm a section of land 32 miles south of Battle Mountain. Battle Mountain is a town in Nevada and is located in Lander County along Interstate 50.
Dad’s goal was to develop this section of land and homestead it. The rest of my family stayed behind and my oldest brother came after school was out. My oldest brother and I worked that land until Dad returned from moving the family to Battle Mountain. A ninth child was born there. My Mom was a monarch and a strong pioneer that kept the family together. Her dreams were never in Nevada!
The land was raw land and totally undeveloped. No tool had ever touched that dirt. We stayed in a small camper trailer, built an outhouse, had a propane tank for the trailer, a diesel tank for the tractor and dug a water well for irrigation. We built fences, removed rocks from part of the land and laid sections of plastic pipe for irrigation. With equipment we bought on credit, we leveled the land, plowed furrows, planted wheat and irrigated the crops. We worked from sunup to sundown six days a week. We reserved Sunday to attend Mass in town, bought our supplies and food and the rest of the day was our time.
The saying is that the first homesteaders fail to succeed, the second homesteaders usually broke even and the third homesteaders make a profit. The third homesteaders were successful.
We were always at the mercy of the weather. With the weather came a hard winter and in the spring we experienced a flood at the farm that leveled the crops and flooded our land. The summers were very hot, dry and many dust devils. In Battle Mountain, where we lived and went to school, we also experienced a flood that flooded our house.
God controls the weather! WERE WE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE? We later sold the equipment, left that land and moved back to Pampa, Texas. God closed that door!
I became a man in Nevada and learned if you want anything in life you have to work for it. I learned that life can be hard, but it can also be challenging as well as rewarding. I learned that God never leaves us. I also learned that it might not have been God’s Will for us to develop that land. I now call it Dad’s impossible dream.
In Pampa, Dad worked as an independent accountant and many of us went to college through our own means. I worked every summer at any job I could find. I did farming, concrete work, worked in the oil field, worked construction and pipeline work. I saved enough money for one year of college. I went to Texas Tech in Lubbock. The rest of the funds came from student loans of which I paid back over 10 years.
After college I moved to Kermit, Texas and started a Mac Tools business selling hand tools. I was able to get an SBA loan through a bank in Andrews, Texas. That business had a very hard start up since that product had not had a distributor in that area for many years. I did well and an opportunity came up for a distributor in Midland, Texas. I sold that distributorship and moved to Midland.
In Midland, my business quickly grew. I operated there for 12 years. At one time I was the top distributor in the nation. I finished in the top 10 percent many years in a row. Mac Tools wanted me to work for them and after many years, I agreed and sold my business and became a District Manager over a very large territory. They moved me to Lubbock and my territory was the Panhandle of Texas to El Paso, Texas. That large territory was later divided and I had a choice to relocate to Hawaii, Las Vegas, Nevada or Tulsa, Oklahoma. We moved to Broken Arrow. The corporate world wasn’t for me and I was terminated. They totally controlled you!
Unemployed and married in Broken Arrow, we had to make money to survive. My stepson, stepdaughter and daughter were in the Broken Arrow area at that time. At different times each of them lived with us to get established.
My wife, Shirley and I had some money in savings. We needed to start somewhere so we looked at a few businesses for sale but failed to reach a solid deal for us. Looking at other opportunities, we decided on Kwik Industries out of Dallas. We met with the CEO and we were able to negotiate a deal to put a lube and repair shop in Tulsa. With very limited funds, we signed a contract and built the building to meet our requirements here in Oklahoma.
We formed a corporation and drove to Oklahoma City to finalize the paperwork. No attorneys were involved to save us money.
The project took 7 months to completely build because they were so far behind. We were out of money after giving most of our money to Kwik Industries. With very little money left we looked at opportunities here that didn’t require money. We were able to deliver phone books until that means exhausted.
All money was halved with Shirley’s son so he could survive since we talked him into moving to Broken Arrow.
With little money coming in we decided to start a lawn and landscaping business. We got a name “Turf Team” and registered it with the city. The equipment was financed with credit cards. We put together flyers and flooded Broken Arrow door to door near where we lived until the business started to come in.
We built that business up to pay all our debts and after seven months I sold the business, equipment and accounts and we opened Kwik Kar Service Center.
Kwik Kar was a huge challenge. Opening with not a favorite product line in Tulsa and a company that was not known in Oklahoma was a slow beginning. We struggled with learning the system, employees, building the confidence of our customers and marketing.
Over time we built this store to be the top lube and repair shop in Tulsa. On a daily basis we moved more cars through that business than any shop of that nature in the Tulsa area. We were always busy. One Saturday we serviced 126 cars.
One of the colleges asked me if I would like to be on the advisory board with others who own shops of that nature. I accepted the offer. Another college offered courses in Business Management. In one session they illustrated two companies in Tulsa. One was poorly managed and operated and the other was one of the best managed and operated shop in Tulsa. We were that shop per a student who attended the course and was working for us.
After 10 years in business a man come to the shop and wanted to buy the business. We were making good money and I refused the offer. During our 23rd year in July, God sent five prospects to buy us out. The first week we had two prospects and the next week we had three prospects. I knew God was closing our doors and we had to get out. I chose the third prospect. I asked him why he wanted to buy Kwik Kar and he said he used to sit across the street from us and watched us operate. He met our conditions and price and we wrote the contract. He never asked for the Profit and Loss Statement and the Balance Sheet until the day we closed. We sold in July 2018.
The company that purchased our company sent people to our shop to see our operation. I was told that on paper our shop was in the top three percent of all their shops in their region.
After we sold, my wife wanted to purchase a company where she and her daughter could operate. We chose a cosmetic company that was for sale. I attempted to purchase the company, but God closed that door. I looked at other businesses, but God closed all doors.
In December 2018, I had a major stroke. The following year God closed the door to our cabin that set on 18 acres. We later found a beautiful lake house and agreed on the price and the contract would be signed the next morning. God closed that contract.
Today at 78 years of age, I am waiting for another door to open again and a new path in life. It is in God’s hands now and not mine!
Pursue your dreams, if you fail God will close that door and open another door for you. Hard work never hurts anyone. If you want something in your life, you have to work for it. You must keep God in everything you do.
I give God credit for everything that has happened in my life. He has opened or closed every door in my life. He has always been there for me, and He has always respected my free will. In the end it will be God’s Permitting Will or God’s Divine Will.
I could always turn to God and He had a solution, some I never dreamed of as an option. He cares and loves us beyond measure.
We need to love one another as God loves us and treat people with respect and dignity. We need to spend quality time with God every day and always be open to God’s love and words.
Read the Bible, pray the rosary, and pray and pray and pray.
God Bless You all!
Dale
Copyright © 2026 Marsha Luke – Rights for non-commercial reproduction granted: May be copied in its entirety, but neither retyped nor edited.