90 Years. 90 Stories.

Van Burgess

Van is a Mechanic, Shop Manager, and Safety Champion for Purcell Tire and has been with the company for over 6 years.

I believe my career at Purcell Tire in Jackson, Missouri, started in January of 2020. I’ve always been a mechanic. I’ve always worked on cars and played around with cars, so working with vehicles has always been a big part of my life. Over the years, I have worked several different mechanic jobs. I had known Junior since his years at the Cape store and had a best friend who worked for him at the time. I was pretty content where I was, either in college or having just graduated and working somewhere else, so I never really pursued an opportunity to work with Junior then. As the years went by, more than 20 years had passed. When they eventually moved up to the Jackson area, Junior and I caught back up, our paths crossed again, and that’s where the opportunity to come work for him eventually came together. When I first started, I had two pretty established older gentlemen working there. I came in familiar with the work, but it had been a little while since I had really turned wrenches full-time. I had my own tools and had a lot of knowledge and experience in the automotive field, but coming back into that environment was definitely challenging. I was working alongside two other employees who weren’t necessarily used to my style or my speed of working. I tend to work hard and move quickly, and some would probably say I put a little fire under them to try to get more done. Over time, though, we found our rhythm and became a good working team. Over the years, I really tried to accelerate my career and take advantage of every opportunity that came my way. I volunteered for anything and everything I could. I went to alignment school, became a Safety Champion, and anytime there was an opportunity to help with the safety board or get involved with safety, I enjoyed doing it. Safety has always been important to me because of several of my previous careers where I was involved with safety in different ways. I believe strongly in the importance of making sure everyone goes home safely at the end of the day. Working for Purcell over the last six years has really been a good experience for me. It seems like we’ve got a good, solid crew, and I’ve known a lot of the guys who have worked there for a long time. I’ve even gone to school with a couple of them. Because of that, it really feels like a family. We spend so much time at work with one another that sometimes we spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our own families. That’s one of the things I’ve come to appreciate about working at Purcell. I enjoy the people I work with, and I don’t mind putting in the time and the hours when I’m working with a great bunch of guys. Looking toward the future, hopefully my career ends at Purcell. Whether that means moving into another position that allows me to grow and be promoted at the current facility I’m at or potentially transferring to another location or opportunity within the company, I don’t know exactly what the future holds. What I do know is that I see myself eventually moving into some type of supervisory or management role. I’ve enjoyed taking on additional responsibilities, helping others, being involved with safety, and pushing myself to learn and do more. I’d like to continue growing with Purcell and hopefully have the opportunity to take the experience I’ve gained over the years and use it to help the company and the people I work with.