BOWLING GREEN — Phyllis Zollner has no intention of letting go of her father's legacy.
“He was a great visionary,” Zollner said of her father, Mike Zollner. “He grew up so poor that he could earn two dollars a nickel. He was willing to work hard to make a better life for his wife and family.”
Phyllis Zollner is revitalizing her family's self-storage and sign business on Route 220 near Bowling Green. But the Zollner family's business has many faces.
What started as a structure fire nearly 40 years ago was turned by Mike Zollner into a livelihood for four generations of his family.
“When my parents lived in Ridgely, West Virginia, they saw the old Circle Inn burn,” Phyllis said. “And when it was still smoking, his father went over there and bought it.”
In 1977, the inn was destroyed by a suspected kitchen fire. Mike Zollner salvaged used bricks and founded his first business, Foreign Auto Repair Shop.
Mike was an ironworker by trade and helped build the Alaska pipeline and Interstate 68, Phyllis said.
“I went up the highway from where he worked and passed George Washington's headquarters and saw his initials carved into a piece of steel,” she said.
Mike had no mechanical experience, but that didn't stop him.
“Anything he could do to make money for his family on the land, he would try to do it,” Phyllis said.
Mike's son, Kevin, worked in the family's shop repairing cars, and Mike's wife, Wanda, managed administrative operations. The business grew and Mike soon began purchasing vehicles and expanded his operations to include a used car dealership.
The auto sales and repair business flourished, but when Kevin took a job with CSX Railroad in the mid-1990s, Mike knew he had to adapt and turned the building into a self-storage and signage business.
“He made that sign himself with my brother Kevin,” Phyllis said. “And then again, he didn't know anything about it. He never put up a sign. Those beams are 10 feet off the ground. They're two-sided, and they touch each other. They are stacked on top of each other, two facing south and two facing north.”
“There was no place to start or stop,” Phyllis said. “He just had that drive. He had that spirit. He was an entrepreneur and he was never afraid of anything.”
Mike Zollner passed away in 2013. Now 78 years old, Wanda has little interest in continuing to fulfill the responsibilities that come with running a business.
“It's gotten to the point where she can't take it anymore,” Phyllis said. “She just didn't want to deal with it. So I said, 'Mom, let me help you. I'll take charge and help you grow and revitalize the business.'”
Although Phyllis lives in Florida, she vows to maintain what her father worked so hard to accomplish.
Four generations of the Zollner family, Wanda, her son Chris Cornwell, and granddaughter Victoria Cowell, recently gathered at the family business.
During her visit, Phyllis hired a roofer, handyman and painter to renovate the sign. After her 18 years at Goodyear Her Tire, she is confident in the next chapter for the Zollner family.
“I've been in sales, marketing, advertising and managing employees,” she said. “I know how to write a rental agreement and make it legal. I've never done it before because I don't live there.”
Kevin Zolner is the acting operations manager for this business. At Phyllis of Florida, we can process most transactions electronically.
“I want to revive (the business) and make my father proud,” Phyllis said. “I want to give the next generation a chance. It's in a prime location. If I fail with this, it will be my fault.”
Follow staff writer Heather Wolford on Twitter @heatherbwolford.
