Family Business

Alta Mayhugh

Y-Yard customers who don’t know any better would observe Mike Nolan and daughters Kelly Roepke and Erin Nolan as just co-workers.

Roepke and Erin Nolan address their father as “Mike” at work, the same way they address their fellow associates.

Mike Nolan and his daughters check their family relationships at the door when they arrive at work to maintain professionalism and equality among employees.

“Something he’s always taught us, when we walk in the door at the Y-Yard, he’s not my dad ... I think we’ve done very well balancing work and family,” Roepke said, adding it helps they work in different departments.

Roepke’s husband Kevin also works in sales for the business, and Mike Nolan’s wife Kathy is a secretary at the Y-Yard.

Mike Nolan and his family have made Y-Yard Auto & Truck Inc. a thriving, successful business with their dedication through ups and downs in the past 36 years.

And, a new generation has taken the helm of the business. Roepke became president of the business at the start of the new year after serving as vice president, and Erin Nolan is the new vice president.

“I’m turning over the reigns to a new generation,” said Nolan. “I’m off the ‘firing line,’ I’m not in charge of the day-to-day operation of the business,” Nolan said, adding he’ll still work at the business and oversee it.

Y-Yard, a 45-acre domestic and foreign vehicle salvage yard located five miles south of Effingham, was purchased by Mike Nolan on July 1, 1970.

Mike Nolan, who grew up in Decatur, had worked at salvage yards in Milwaukee, Terre Haute, Ind., and Decatur; he worked at the yard in Decatur from 1961 to 1964, the one in Milwaukee from 1964 to 1967, and was managing the one in Terre Haute when the Y-Yard came up for sale.

“I was wanting to get into business for myself. It (Y-Yard) was a marketing area I was familiar with, it was the natural thing to do,” Mike Nolan said of purchasing the Y-Yard.

Since 1970, Y-Yard has grown by leaps and bounds, with expansions in 1971, 1975, 1984, 1993, 1997 and 2001. The introduction of computers to the business in 1987 really helped it grow and be more beneficial to customers.

Mike Nolan admits he was reluctant to computerize the business, but was persuaded by employee Tom Clough to do so.

“Tom Clough talked me into getting a computer,” Nolan said, and admits the technological advancement of having computers has moved the Y-Yard “up the ladder” in competition. Clough has been with the Y-Yard for 30 years.

In addition to the success, businesses endure hard times as well, and the Y-Yard is no exception. A storm in 1989 pounded the yard with hail, destroying everything that was out in the open.

The hail that hit May 25, 1989, destroyed all the roofs and sheet metal. Windows, headlights and taillights were busted out, said Mike Nolan.

A nearby ditch was filled with 3 feet of hail, and the hail was 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter, Mike Nolan said.

Erin Nolan was 7 years old when the storm hit, and as a young girl she sympathized with what her father was going through.

She wrote a message to her father that Mike Nolan has in a frame. It says: “Y Yard please get better. Why did it have to happen to my Dad. Please don’t rain any more! I wish it didn’t have to happen to you,” with a drawing of vehicles with windows smashed out.

Erin Nolan doesn’t remember writing the piece, but she does remember the hail storm negatively impacting the family business.

“It was a big deal in the family. We knew it was bad for business,” she said.

In response to the hail storm, the Y-Yard expanded in 1993 so more expensive items such as doors, decklids and other sheet-metal parts could be stored inside.

All of Mike and Kathy’s four girls have worked at the Y-Yard throughout their lives. Amy Conkling worked at the Y-Yard for several years and now works with the American Red Cross; Colleen Horn assists the office by doing title work and maintaining police records, Roepke said.

The girls did all sorts of odd jobs at the Y-Yard, including mowing and painting the fence. They grew up around vehicles and when they turned 16, their father made certain they knew how to change tires, Roepke said.

Mike Nolan is proud of his daughters and is happy two of them decided to take the reigns of the Y-Yard.

“It’s been more fun than challenging (to work with my daughters). To me, it’s gratifying two of my four daughters followed in my footsteps.

“I was hoping someday they’d pick up the reigns and run with it. I’m happy I have them here to do that,” Mike Nolan said.

Roepke, a graduate of Illinois State University, Normal, was teaching first grade in the Effingham Unit 40 School District when Mike Nolan was going in for back surgery in 1999. Roepke took off a year of teaching to see what she could offer to the family business, and decided she wanted to stay.

Both daughters will be assets to the Y-Yard in their own ways, according to their father.

Roepke has become widely known in the business in the past seven years she’s been a part of it, and she’s a “detail” person who applies herself, Mike Nolan said.

Erin Nolan is “very detailed, she’s a hard worker and has learned well. She’s our number-one buyer and price analyst,” Mike Nolan said.

Erin Nolan is also an ISU graduate.

Roepke and Erin Nolan look forward to the challenge of being leaders in the business, despite the fact some people don’t think of women running a used-vehicle parts business.

In fact, sometimes when either Roepke or Erin Nolan answer the phone, they get customers who say they want to talk to the male employees.

“That doesn’t bother us, it’s challenging,” said Roepke.

“With dad having four girls, we were taught we could do just as well as any boy could do. I think that presents a challenge and makes it kinda fun,” Erin Nolan said.

Y-Yard’s success is a combination of many things, including good and dedicated employees with excellent work ethic, said Mike Nolan.

Roepke and Erin Nolan also attribute the success to the company’s willingness to listen to its customers and adapt to changes as the years pass.

Future plans Roepke and Erin Nolan have planned for the Y-Yard include creating a public relations position, increasing sales, finding ways to locate affordable salvage, continued support of vehicle retirement legislation and “continue the legacy our dad laid out for us,” Erin Nolan said.

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