MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — After many years in any adventure, there comes a time for celebration.
H Miller Norris, owner of Norris Wheel and Brake in Milledgeville, is celebrating 50 years in the auto repair business.
Norris says he has always loved cars, and as a kid, loved taking things apart to see how they worked.
“Even as a child, I would take cameras and alarm clocks apart, and when I got to be an early teenager, I started working on cars. Actually, the first thing I worked on was my next-door neighbors’ tractor,” Norris said.
He said after working with his neighbor, he began to work and learn more about cars.
Norris began his career in the auto repair business at 14 years old in 1961 when he worked at Keel Gulf Service, according to his son Gideon.
Norris bought the business in 1971 and then expanded it into a larger shop in 1986 where it sits today, just three blocks from its first location in Milledgeville.
“It doesn’t seem like 50 because if you go back to when I started working, there’s another 10 years before that.”
Norris Wheel and Brake is a family business that has seen all of Norris’s kids through its doors.
Norris says that customer service is the key to keeping a business open for as long as his has been.
“Being honest with people. If you make a mistake or something, just say, 'I made a mistake and I'll correct it. I'm sorry it happened,’” he said.
Norris doesn’t see retirement on the horizon anytime soon.
“I enjoy what I’m doing. I like being able to, you know, fix somebody’s car, get them back on the road, and get them back to where they’re not stressing about the car not working or whatever,” he said.
The celebration of Norris Wheel and Brake’s 50 years in business will be on September 17 from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the auto shop.
At the event, Norris and the community will recreate the business's first ribbon cutting featuring those who were there 50 years ago, including Norris’s daughter who was born in the same month as the opening.
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