The city of Sallisaw, Okla., is a little poorer today thanks to a set of old, creaky knees.
It was on those once-young knees that now 69-year-old Rex Haggard built a nice tire business. He turned the key one last time on Apr. 30, closing out a 37-year career selling, fixing, changing and rotating tires.
Sallisaw is not without other tire retailers. The city of just over 8,000 sits in Sequoyah County, hard by the Arkansas border, and serves as the county seat. It takes its name from a French phrase meaning “salt provisions,” and was the hometown of John Steinbeck’s fictional Joad family in The Grapes of Wrath.
It’s just that with Rex hanging it up, that city is now as dirt poor as the Joads.
Rex’s father, Ted, opened the business in Arkansas in 1960, and a few years later they relocated it to Sallisaw. In 1972, then 32-year-old Rex took over when his dad retired. In 1995, Rex expanded the original shop.
He told the local newspaper that he wasn’t happy about closing the doors. Business was good, and downturns in the economy – past and present – hadn’t hurt sales all that much.
What let him down were his knees. They got old and painful, making it nearly impossible for him to keep up the pace.
He tried to find someone to take over the well-established dealership, but could find no takers. No one, he told the paper, had the same dedication to the business he and his father shared.
As owner of the building, Rex has options. He may hand the keys to his wife, Brenda, and daughter, Deanna, who have developed a side business selling wrought iron and aluminum art pieces.
But he’s not sure, just yet. For now, Rex is going to prop up his legs, rest his knees and remember all of the great customers he’s served over the last four decades.
Good luck, Rex!
