When his business, Juarez’s Auto Service, outgrew his home garage, he bought another house with a much larger garage. Felipe Juarez says business has been very good for the past 14 years in Blue Earth.

Felipe Juarez has been working on all kinds of vehicles in Faribault County for 14 years, at his Blue Earth business called Juarez’s Auto Service. He works out of an oversized garage now, near his home on West Ninth Street in Blue Earth. But his journey to get to this point has been a little bit different than the usual.

“Just that I am an automotive technician is a little bit different for me,” he explains. “Because I never really liked getting dirty.”

Juarez, or Felipe as he likes people to call him, was born in a small town near Acapulco, Mexico. In 1986 he and his family immigrated to the U.S., and lived in Texas.

Then, in 1993 Felipe moved to Minnesota. He first lived with a sister in Delavan, then for six months he lived in Winnebago, then in the middle of 1994 he moved to Blue Earth.

“I got a job at Telex in Blue Earth in 1993, that is why I moved to Blue Earth,” Felipe relates. “I worked there for 15 years and became a first and second shift supervisor the last five years.”

He says Telex offered to pay for him to train for another occupation, through a grant program. For some reason that he still does not know, he chose auto mechanics.

“I went to Riverland College in Albert Lea for all of 2008 and all of 2009, with no breaks,” he says. “I got very good grades and finished in December 2009 but graduated in early 2010.”

Besides a full load of classes, both during the day and sometimes in the evening, he would come home and practice what he learned on his, and his relatives’, cars. He explains that it was better to practice on the real thing, and not on a simulator.

“My sister needed some transmission repair,” he tells with a smile. “But she had to wait seven months before I got to transmission repair in my classes.”

Next, he applied at different places and got a job at Hinkley Chevrolet in Wells, which is closed now.

“I worked there for two years,” Felipe says. “But I still did some work for people in my garage after I got home. It was some long days.”

After he left Hinkley Chevrolet, he started working part time for Parts City Auto Parts in Blue Earth.

“I worked two days a week, and Scott Nemanic was very good to work for,” Felipe says. “I worked there for about three years.”

He says he was asked to work even more days, or even go full time. But, Felipe was still working on vehicles on the days he was not working at Parts City. Plus, he was working a lot of evenings and weekends, Saturdays and Sundays.

Three years ago he quit at Parts City and has been on his own full time. He still puts in a lot of hours, he adds.

A few years ago his garage at this house was no longer working out as a shop, so he bought a house on Nicollet Street that has a back yard that is on the same alley that Felipe’s own garage is on.

“I bought it just for the garage,” he says. “It is pretty big, and it is now my shop. I rent the house out, but they know the garage is mine to use.”

Felipe remodeled the whole garage, insulating it, raising the roof so a hoist would fit in, and other items.

“It works well for me,” he says. “I can do vehicle maintenance, work on engines, braking, suspension, transmission and steering and many other things. He quickly adds he does major work also, like cylinder head repair and engine overhauls.

The one thing he does not do is body work. He does not do any type of body work, although he has been asked.

He says he works on just about any and all cars and trucks, including both domestic and foreign.

“I have worked on BMW, Mercedes, Audis, Lexus, Toyota and many others,” he says. “Even a Jaguar one time.”

He also works on classic cars. There is a 1974 Cadillac in the shop right now, and Felipe and his hired assistant Jorge are getting it back to running.

Felipe and his wife, Alva, who works at Kwik Trip in Blue Earth, have two children, a son and a daughter. But Felipe says they are empty nesters, because the kids, both Blue Earth Area graduates, live in Mankato.

Their daughter, Kassandra, is a graduate of Minnesota State – Mankato with a degree in international telemarketing.

Their son, Daniel, is also a graduate of MSU-Mankato and is now working on getting his masters degree in computer engineering.

“My kids are very dedicated to working hard, just like me and Alva,” Felipe says.

It must run in the family. Felipe’s father and mother also live in Blue Earth. His father, Cecilio, will be 97 this week. He once worked at Kerry Foods in Blue Earth before it was Kerry Foods, Felipe adds. His mother is 88 and she did not work outside the home, staying home instead to take care of their 14 children.

The senior Juarezes’ still live in their own home on South Gorman Street.

When asked about advice to vehicle owners about maintaining their cars and trucks, Felipe had some advice to offer.

“You really need to get things checked out before winter,” Felipe starts with. “Especially your heater in your car. It can get cold in Minnesota in the winter.”

The native born Mexican says it took a while to get used to winter in Minnesota, but now he prefers it to the heat in the south.

“Tires are also a high priority,” he says. “Check the tread and if they are set to the right PSI. And you should invest in good tires, because of winter.”

Batteries are also a main item to get checked before winter settles in across Minnesota, Felipe says, adding you must make sure they are in good condition and charged up.

Finally, he has one more tip.

“It is not a bad idea to keep a shovel and a blanket in the trunk of your car, or back of your vehicle,” Felipe says. “And maybe put something heavy in the back end of the vehicle, just for better traction. It gets pretty slippery around here.”

So, does the hardworking Juarez couple ever relax and do something fun – like go on a vacation.

Hardly ever. Except this past May they took a five-week trip around the U.S., headed west to Washington State, into California, across Arizona and New Mexico, then Texas and finally wandered north and got home.

“We went to a lot of National Parks, and we visited relatives who are in different states,” Felipe says. “It was a wonderful trip, and it was just the two of us because we are empty nesters – no kids.”

He does admit that it felt really good to finally get back home to Blue Earth where it was not so hot.

And, also to get back to work.