138 -John Deere Supplement to Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 5,1985 From a Two-Car Garage to a Full Service Operation It’s been a long, hard climb for the Walters, who have established a very active and successful John Deere dealership in Union County, Pa. What started out as a two person, two-car garage operation in Vicksburg, off of Route 45, has turned out to be a full-service dealership, which caters to cash crop farmers, dairy farmers, commercial businesses and homeowners alike. Harold Walter, president and owner of the company, and his wife Lydia, office manager, worked diligently into the night back in 1969, with Lydia running parts after coming home from a full time factory job, and Harold doing his own mechanical and road service work. Between the two of them they got the pendulum swinging. In 1970 their son, Robert F., came into the business and helped out where he was needed. Even today that’s the name of the game at Walter’s Sales and Service. Everybody pitches in. Not long after, Mrs. Walter and her son started working full time. In 1971 a new building was erected across the street from their residence and two-car garage business. Until 1975 the staff Partnership Serves Dairy and Orchard F armers Ralph H. Fitz and James N. Stoneham are preparing for their big anniversary sale scheduled for the first week of March, when they’ll offer discounts on all parts and hardware in their Waynesboro, Pa. implement shop. The partners go way back, back to March 1,1961, when they started their own business. Today they sell alot of new and used John Deere farm implements predominately to dairy farmers and orchard growers. They work in two expansive buildings on a fairly small tract of land, employing four other people. Jim Stoneham said that they don’t care to be on a larger lot because “the old stuff has a ten dency to pile up.” Instead, the Fitz & Stoneham business just keeps right on moving. Located just six miles off of 1-81 in a rural setting, Fitz & Stoneham offers new John Deere agricultural machines, and new John Deere lawn equipment and compact tractors, as well as smaller con sumer products. They can ac comodate you in their service area, too, working out of two spacious shop and service areas. See Fitz & Stoneham Feb. 25 for their Farming Frontier open house celebration, complete with John Deere films and a noontime lun cheon. And don’t forget their spectacular we£k-long an niversary special. worked in that 40 by 50-foot space. The addition, which was 60 by 50 feet, gave the Walters some leg room and in 1979 they built an 80 by 50-foot area for shop and service space. Today there are three other Walter family members involved in the business, as well as four other employees. They are: Robert’s wife, Linda, who started in 1976, and their two sons, Shawn F. (who is now a fulltime employee) and Bradley F. Walter; mechanics Roy Sassaman and Gary Fairchilds; Roger Lohr, who helps out in all departments; and parts person, Merlin Brown. Join the Walters in February at their Farming Frontier Day and let them show you a complete line of new and used John Deere ag equipment and consumer products, including chainsaws, riding tractors and mowers. ON OUR L ON YOUR M Walter's Sales and Service, Inc. to a full-size parts and equipment The Long Green Line ' > ractor r/ . of Mifflinburg has grown from a two-car garage facility service center. om line
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