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Walkerville Well to celebrate 80th anniversary By Andy Roberts The Oceana Echo Community Contributor
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There have been many changes in Walkerville over the last 80 years, but the fourth-generation familyrun Walkerville Well Drilling & Supply Company has remained a constant. The company will celebrate its 80th anniversary Dec. 7—specifically, the 80th anniversary of Glen Chase’s first customer, for which the company still has the receipt. Chase had never seen a well drilled in his life when he spent $300 buying tools used by local well driller Chancy Knott after Knott’s death, but he said he felt Knott’s tools should stay in the area. One of Knott’s helpers, Ray Hill, joined Chase to start Chase and Hill Well Drilling, which became Walkerville Well Drilling about 10 years later after Chase bought out Hill’s share of the company and son-in-law Lyle Frick bought in. The Fricks have run the company ever since. Lyle’s son, Jerry, joined the company full-time after graduating from Walkerville High School in 1959. Jerry’s son, Greg, followed after graduating from Walkerville in ‘85 and then Grand Valley State in ‘90; he is now the main day-to-day manager. Other family members have been involved in the company over the years; Lyle’s wife, Leona, and Jerry’s wife, Verla, spent many years helping out before retiring, but Jerry and Greg remain. “Too dumb to do anything else, I guess,” Jerry chuckled. “There’s a certain amount of pride in keeping going what our grandfather started. We’ve seen it grow and grow and grow and grow....We all had work to do, so
Paul Paulsen, Greg Frick and Jerry Frick • Andy Roberts/Echo we kept going.” The Fricks have lived and breathed the business over the years and have the credentials to prove it. Glen and Lyle joined the National Ground Water Association in the early 1960s, beginning a relationship between the company and association that still holds today. Lyle and Jerry have both served as presidents of the NGWA; Jerry said he’s traveled to over 30 states as a result of his involvement with the association. At one point, the company took on all sorts of projects in far-flung locales, including Lake Michigan islands like Mackinaw, Fox and South Manitou, not to mention stops in Indiana and Ohio. One job Jerry recalled being interesting was when the company set up water for an entire subdivision in Arcadia, in northwest Manistee County.
“It’s kind of slowed up now, and it’s gotten a lot more technical (with) the equipment and everything,” Jerry said. “Crews didn’t like going out there and living out of motels, so we cut back on that. The jobs were getting bigger and bigger, and they weren’t interested in that.” As time has gone on, the business of well drilling has had to spend more time dealing with regulations and less with well drilling. Jerry cited PFAS as a common issue the company has to tackle, so Walkerville Well Drilling is more or less back to its roots now, focusing on residential and farm projects. Jerry estimated the company has “several thousand” clients, many of them somewhere between Ludington and North Muskegon, but that’s not as time-consuming as it sounds, with most only needing attention every five or 10 years. The
relationship with some properties goes back decades. “We just upgraded a well my dad put in on a property that was sold in the late 1960s down west of Shelby,” Jerry said. “When I started getting involved, my granddad was retiring. You’d go out and do things, and every once in a while, somebody would (joke), ‘Your granddad never charged us that much.’” Running a company like this has indeed become much more expensive over the years. Jerry said a new service truck, once all the needed equipment is added to it, will be around a $150,000 investment. More specialized equipment—the type Walkerville Well Drilling doesn’t usually deal with anymore—costs three times that much. Through it all, though, Jerry and Greg say they take pride in running “a legitimate business” and trying to treat people fairly. The company’s longevity indicates they’ve succeeded in that. In the future, the company will eventually pass outside the family, as Jerry and Greg are the last Fricks remaining to take on the work. But for now, the company remains in the family. “You’ve got to feel good about still being here,” Greg said. “You hear about people that don’t make it past about two generations, and especially in today’s world, it seems like every time we turn around, there’s a new business and the other one’s gone. It’s a good feeling that you’re still here. I’ve always enjoyed the ability to give somebody something that they didn’t have.”
Dave Johnson recalls Naval career at SMS
Retired Navy veteran Dave Johnson, above left, spoke to a large crowd gathered at Shelby Middle School Friday, Nov. 10, for its Veterans Day program. Johnson shared many humorous anecdotes from his time in service and encouraged those in attendance to consider a career in the military. The SMS Cadet Band and choir performed a number of patriotic pieces, and students read poems and quotations and delivered announcements to the audience. There was a reception in the library afterward. Jeanne Newman was instrumental in bringing this event back to the school after a Covid hiatus. • Amanda Dodge/Echo