The establishment of a small business that is passed on through generations of family members is a common fact of rural American life. Despite the onslaught of technology, and the reported migration back to cities, something special is going on in Columbia County, New York.
Many a rural town’s story can be traced through a handful of places. In New Lebanon,, Bud Godfroy’s auto repair is such a place. Bud Godfroy is one of those folks who are bucking –if not reversing-- the flight from rural America.
For nearly half of New Lebanon’s 200-year history, the filling station on Route 20 has been integral to the community --owned and operated by the same family for four generations. For the past 50 years, it has been part of Bud Godfroy's life.
Purchased by Bud’s grandfather and his father-in-law in 1925, and originally named Sycamore after the trees surrounding it, the “filling station” featured a soda fountain, and sold fuel, candy, cigars, and cigarettes. And, oh yes, they repaired cars.
Bud's grandparents Louis and Marie ran the business (by then called, Godfroy’s) with Marie’s father and supported their family of three boys . Once they were old enough, Bud's father and his two uncles worked there when needed.
Coming of age during World War II, the Godfroy boys joined the countless other young men who went off to fight. On his return, Bud’s dad worked at May’s Engineering in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a job which eventually led him to a life-changing happenstance. Bud’s Uncle George got a job at the school and pumped gas on weekends. Uncle Carl moved his new family from Chicago to join the Godfroy concern. Ownership passed from Bud's grandparents to his parents, to his aunt and uncle, and finally, to Bud.
Starting at about 13, Bud worked at the station cleaning bathrooms, filling the soda machine (which had replaced the soda fountain), sweeping floors and doing other maintenance. Like any kid, Bud has especially fond memories of his mischief making. “After burning the trash,” he recalled with a grin, “I’d take my bee-bee gun and use old cans and bottles for target practice.”
“I was,” Bud Godfroy says, "schooled into taking over the family business." After studying automotive technology at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY, he began full time in 1971.
Witness to the vast changes in automotive technology over the years, Bud says, "I discovered that cars are pretty much the same; the customers have changed, though. The who, what, when, where, why and how of each customer and their car are different today, and that intrigues me."
It has been important to Bud to be there for the people whether they live in the town or just pass through.
But it's not only as the owner and master mechanic of New Lebanon's history-laden service station that Bud Godfroy makes his mark. For nearly 50 years, Bud has served in the New Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department and 15 years with EMS, and is currently part of the Columbia County HAZMAT Team.
Bud's desire to help in the community is another family legacy: A young Army nurse was working at Pittsfield General Hospital (now Berkshire Medical Center), when an employee of a local engineering company –yes, May’s-- was brought in with severe burns accidentally caused by her own brother. That injured young man became Bud's father, and the nurse, his mother. The story is a family legend.
Ever conscious of the larger role that a member of a deeply rooted family member plays in a small town, Bud Godfroy is also a valued teacher; he offers firefighting courses for New York State, automotive lessons for the community and most recently serves as a guide for Behold! New Lebanon, a living museum that invites people to experience today’s rural America.
A landmark himself, people in town say: "Go see Bud, he'll tell you what you need."
This is how it works in rural America...then and now. Bound by tradition yet taking advantage of new technology, each small town revolves around individuals like Bud Godfroy and the values they hold dear.
Ruth J. Abram is founder and president of BEHOLD! New Lebanon, the living museum of contemporary rural American life. A historian and social activist, Abram was also the founder of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in Manhattan, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, and the National Women’s Agenda and Coalition. She is a resident of Columbia County, New York.
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