Man who helped shape North Bend turns 90

Published 11:51 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – The Wyrsch name means a lot in North Bend.

For generations it was the name behind a long-running gas station, a much-needed restaurant and a renovated hotel that helped make the Sunset Highway (now North Bend Way) through North Bend a place one could count on for service.

The man who brought that name to North Bend is celebrating his 90th birthday this week. George Wyrsch will be joined by his wife Mildred and other family members in a celebration that will remember nearly 100 years of living and working in the Valley.

“We’ve always loved North Bend,” said Mildred. “Still do.”

George was born in Monroe in 1914 and moved with his family in 1921 to North Bend where he grew up on the Tollgate Farm. He went to North Bend High School and became an accomplished football player. The son of a farmer, George realized growing up he didn’t want to work the land the rest of his life.

“The day I graduated high school was the day I milked my last cow,” he said.

After graduating in 1934, George went to the University of Washington on a football scholarship, but left after one year because of a back injury. Upon returning home, George went to work at the Sorensen Ford garage in Snoqualmie. While working in Snoqualmie, Wyrsch caught his first glimpses of Mildred Gustafson, a resident of Meadowbrook. At that time Meadowbrook (now a part of Snoqualmie) was a thriving town thanks to the nearby Weyerhaeuser mill.

“We were very proud of it [Meadowbrook],” she said. “When the mill was running, it was the prettiest town.”

Mildred would come into the Sorensen garage with her stepfather to drop off their car. George and Mildred became good friends and George always kept her in his thoughts.

“I made up my mind that she was a good looking gal and that I had to get a hold of her,” George said.

Although his first day consisted of washing cars, George learned a lot about the automotive business while working at Sorensen’s and he eventually became shop foreman. He built personal relationships with his customers, who told George they would follow him if he ever ventured out on his own. George realized he had what it took to run a service station, so he borrowed $500 and leased a Shell gas station on North Bend Way in the early 1940s.

When World War II came along George was drafted into the Army, serving under Gen. George S. Patton in Europe. Once his commanding officer found out about his mechanical prowess, George was assigned as a tank mechanic and was eventually made a temporary sergeant. The experience gave George the chance to visit family roots in Switzerland before he returned home in 1946. He wasn’t home long before he was married to Mildred.

“And we have been married 58 years,” Mildred said.

George, who had sold his lease on the Shell station before he went off to war, returned to the Valley to get back into the service business. He purchased a Richfield gas station on North Bend Way that wasn’t much, but it had a large lot that allowed Wyrsch to add on a service station. The 24-hour station became a staple of the Sunset Highway, which saw a lot of traffic from people heading in and out of Seattle.

“He always had the latest equipment,” said David Wright, a longtime friend of the Wyrschs who once worked as a state trooper. “He was always a good friend of the customer.”

The Wyrschs said they were strict about cleanliness and work ethics, but they wanted to treat their employees well. George said everyone had to work hard for very demanding customers at a time when money wasn’t as fluid as it is today.

“A mistake was one thing,” George said. “Being too lazy to get it right was another thing.”

While North Bend had a place to fill up and tune up its cars any time of the day or night, George lamented often about the eating options in town and decided to do something about it. Although they knew nothing about running a restaurant, the Wyrschs gathered two other partners and opened up the Gateway Cafe on North Bend Way.

“We had a good highway cafe,” said Mildred.

As the businesses grew, the Wyrsch family also started to grow. George Jr. came along in 1947, daughter Carolyn in 1949 and Mary in 1951. George Jr. started working in the garage when he was 12 and Carolyn started working at the cafe when she was 16. George Jr. said his experience working for his father instilled in him an ethic he continues to carry with him.

“We were taught to work hard and treat people fairly,” said George Jr. “That’s what I have tried to do.”

Although the children helped out with the family businesses, this didn’t keep George home much. The joke Mildred will tell is that George was the best boyfriend she ever had, but a lousy husband. The two went out every Saturday but he was never around to do anything at the house. It got to the point where Mildred said they had to slow down.

“Millie got tired,” Mildred said. “He was gone 16 hours a day.”

George had realized as well that he had worked too hard for too long and decided to retire. He sold his service station to his son George Jr. in 1978. George’s decision could be described as a soft retirement, however, because he turned around and bought the North Bend Hotel, which he promptly gutted and renovated. The Wyrschs hired a family to run the hotel and when that family went on vacation, George and Mildred would run it.

The Wyrschs eventually sold the hotel, while the restaurant was torn down to make way for QFC parking. The two are now as retired as they can be. George, who was involved heavily in the Lions Club in North Bend, has even slowed down a little, but the family is still involved in the city they love. In 1979, the leaders of the city of North Bend decided it didn’t have enough money to put on a fireworks display during the city’s summer festival. The Wyrsch family stepped in and funded the display, and has done so every year since.

“He’s always been a promoter of North Bend,” said Troy Hoffman, a longtime family friend.

George’s business became a family business. George Jr. still owns the Richfield station on North Bend Way that eventually became the Shell station, and he also owns the Chevron, Shell and 76 stations on Mount Si Boulevard. He founded Wyrsch’s Towing and has been working to put a hotel, restaurant and gas station on a parcel of land he owns south of Interstate 90. George Jr.’s son Bryan leases the Shell station on Mount Si Boulevard.

“We are so proud of our son,” Mildred said.

Carolyn went on to be valedictorian of her class at Mount Si High School and graduated from the University of Washington. She aced her certified public accountant exam and now lives in Stanwood.

George and Mildred’s youngest daughter, Mary, died as a child.

As family members remember all that the Wyrschs have accomplished in North Bend, they will recall the kind of spirit that couldn’t take no for an answer. Even if George was not entirely sure what he was going to do next, he wanted to be best at it.

“He opened a restaurant because he wanted to,” George Jr. said. “He didn’t know how to boil water.”

George and Mildred have a vacation home in Hemet, Calif., where they spend their winters, but they still have a home in North Bend to enjoy the summers and a legacy of community businesses that Valley residents can see to this day. Mildred said she knows the secret of her husband’s success.

“It takes two,” Mildred said.

“It does,” George said. “We just wouldn’t have made it without each other.”

Ben Cape can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at ben.cape@valleyrecord.com.