Businessman, mechanic, and car enthusiast are all words that describe Vernon Giedd. Vernon and Carolyn Giedd owned and operated Vernon’s Repair & Auto Service in Lake Andes for the past 27 years. This past March, he sold the business to JR Kiyukan who renamed the business to K Tire & Oil. Although Vernon no longer owns the repair shop, he still owns the car dealership and has cars available at K Tire & Oil. Derol Hall has worked for Vernon for many years and still assists him with the car dealership and sales. Giedd was very happy to be able to sell the business to Kiyukan because Kiyukan planned to continue to have the business open in Lake Andes. Vernon knew that Lake Andes could not afford to lose any more businesses. Kiyukan had worked for Vernon at his repair shop years previously so Giedd knew that Kiyukan could continue to bring good vehicle repair service to Lake Andes.

Giedd was raised right outside of Wagner. After high school, Vernon started out by farming with his family and brother-in-law. Even on the farm, Vernon’s dad, Albert, looked to Vernon to rebuild and overhaul the engines on their machinery. Eventually, Joe Bren took Giedd under his wing, and Vernon was hired at Honke Chevrolet in Wagner. His first position at Honke Chevrolet was as a car detailer. Once the company saw that he was very interested in the mechanical aspect of vehicles, they sent him to General Motors (GM) certified mechanic school in Omaha, NE. The GM mechanic school was a three-month course where in the mornings the class would watch films and study. In the afternoons, the mechanics spent their time doing hands on learning what they were taught in the mornings. Vernon had to go and be recertified each year in a week-long course at the same school in Omaha. He did this for nine years.

Giedd worked for Honke Chevrolet for ten years before it was sold to Weissers. He then worked for Weisser’s for 15 years as a mechanic. Vernon felt the need to venture out on his own and bought the old Co-Op building in Lake Andes from Harlan Peterson and Tom Thompson, turning it into Vernon’s Repair & Auto Service. Vernon had a lot of mechanic mentors throughout the years. Besides his formal education, he learned a lot from Joe Bren, his wife, Carolyn’s dad and machinist Fred Banta.

When he first started Vernon’s Repair & Auto Service, he hired his cousin, Dan Honomichl and Tom Hartley to work for him. It was hard to find reliable honest help for his repair shop, but these two were great employees. Throughout the years of owning the shop, he has always enjoyed helping younger people learn the trade and teaching them how to do things right when it comes to vehicles.

He met his wife Carolyn while driving around Main Street in Lake Andes. She has been very into cars since high school which was perfect since he was also a lover of classic cars. Over the years, they had several sets of matching his and her classic cars. The Giedds have always been into classic cars and have driven in parades and entered car shows with their many different classic cars. Throughout the years, they have owned a 68 GTO Convertible fully restored, a 59 Chevy, a 95 Ford Thunderbird and a 78 Lincon Mark.

Vernon and Carolyn had two children, Glenda and Tyler. Glenda lives near Tea and has two children. Tyler passed away at the age of five to brain cancer. The Giedd’s have a Siamese cat named Bunny. Giedd loves to hunt and fish. He especially likes to hunt for deer and pheasant and has even redesigned a minivan to make it accessible for handicapped hunting. In his younger years he was also very active in the Wagner Saddle Club and would ride in the local parades. Thank you Vernon for being a business owner in Lake Andes and your continued desire to keep businesses going in Lake Andes.