Happy 93rd Birthday, Mom!
Today is a very special post in honor of my mother, Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner – 93 years young today! Not everyone lives long enough to celebrate their 93rd birthday, so I’m thrilled to report that my mother is marking this momentous occasion today.
My mom taught me that I can do anything I set my mind to and that anything worth doing is worth doing well. With her as my inspiration, I have been able to fearlessly reinvent myself as my life and times have changed. Professional Saxophonist, The USAF Band, DC? Check. First female Chief of Music Production? Check. First female Chief Enlisted Manager, The USAF Band? Check. First female CMSgt in The USAF Band to retire with 30 years of service? Check. Digital Marketing & Advertising Specialist? Check. Freelance business owner and book author? Double check.
I cannot express my gratitude for her in words, whose unconditional love has been my greatest strength. My mom has always motivated me to be successful, encouraged me in all of my pursuits, and inspired me to follow my dreams. Her motto is one that I still live by to this day, “There is no such thing as can’t.” Instead of giving myself reasons why I can’t, I gave myself reasons why I can.
Thanks mom, for showing me that anything is possible through hard work and perseverance, and for the 65 years of love and support you have given me. I wish you many more years of health and happiness.
Happy Birthday Wishes from your eldest! I love you!!!
44 Years Ago Today: New Facility Grand Opening
Today marks forty four years since the Grand Opening of Reed Brothers Dodge new showroom and service facility.
When the state widened the roads in 1970, Reed Brothers Dodge relocated from its original 1800 square foot facility at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike to a state-of-the-art 26,000 square foot showroom and Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep service complex on Route 355 at 15955 Frederick Road Rockville, Maryland. The new building, a complete automotive sales and service facility also marked their 55th year of selling Dodge’s.
The new dealership provided a modern new vehicle showroom, 30 service bays, a comprehensive detail and car wash area, Parts Department, Body Shop, the newest technologies to service customer’s vehicles and provided customers with a convenient location to purchase and service their vehicle needs.
Design and construction of the new dealership was managed by the Glen Construction Company.
New Milestone: 50K Page Views
Just a quick post with an offering of thanks to all of you who have stopped in to visit this blog. In the two and a half years since its creation, this blog has seen more than 50,000 page views, crossing the milestone today. And this milestone is dedicated to all the readers who find time in their hectic schedule to stop by for a look and a read.
Thank you to everyone who visits us from all around the world…we have so far been visited by folks from all fifty of the United States and 139 different countries world wide.
I would also like to take the opportunity of this blog milestone of 50,000 views to ask you to help Reed Brothers Dodge History continue to be more and more read. If you like this site, please share it with your friends and family and anyone you think might enjoy it. You can follow this blog directly if you have a Google account, or you can subscribe to get new post notifications delivered to you by email. If you are on Twitter, please follow us @reedbrothers; if you are on Facebook, please drop by and press the “Like” button on Reed Brothers Facebook page.
Business longevity is something to celebrate and share, and it’s an absolute honor and privilege for me to share the history of Reed Brothers Dodge with all of you!
Two Years, 77 Posts & Thank You
Today marks the two-year anniversary of this blog. It’s been an honor to share the history of Reed Brothers Dodge – whether you’ve read our blog, followed us on Twitter, or “liked” us on Facebook. I would like to thank those mentioned below, and many others, for their kind words and the visibility they have provided.
To help review the past year I thought I’d search around on the Internet and see what others have been saying about us.
Included among the posts on our Facebook page:
“… you have a lot of Rockville History on that site!!!!”
Other mentions online and in print:
- Hemmings Daily Blog Four-Links – NYC cop car show, Reed Brothers Dodge history, coachbuilder Mark Nugent, microcars in the Pacific Northwest – posted a photo of of Reed Brothers Dodge and blogged about us. Photo caption:
“Reed Brothers Dodge has been in business in Rockville, Maryland, since 1915, almost as long as Dodge has been around. Unlike most new car dealerships, though, Reed Brothers cares enough about its heritage to have put together a nice website with plenty of vintage photos and history of the dealership.”
Responses to “Four-Links – NYC cop car show, Reed Brothers Dodge history, coachbuilder Mark Nugent, microcars in the Pacific Northwest”
“In the same week where we’re all extremely concerned for Detroit’s historic legacy, I can’t be the only one who felt some comfort…. Comfort that the Reed family valued their dodge dealership’s history enough to hang on to the artifacts and share it all with us. I’m long from my Maryland roots, being posted to London (and still here and happy), and so there was an additional wee bit of poignancy for me and the family.”
“With regard to the Dodge dealership and its 90 year history, it’s too bad that an institution like that can be simply erased by the stroke of a pen. The loss to the people who depended on it for their livelihood and the loss to the community itself is so often never recovered.”
“The Reed Brothers site is about 10 times better than many operating car dealer websites-certainly a sad ending.”
- C Bodies Only Forum – the home for C-Body Platform Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth Automobile Owners. – Reed Brothers Dodge, Rockville, Md.
“There is a remarkable webpage devoted to the history of Reed Brothers Dodge, a dealership in Rockville, Md. that was a Dodge dealer from the very early days until 2009. Ultimately it was a sad story, but the former owners maintained an incredible archive of the family business. Click on the links in the right sidebar titled “Site Navigation” for some incredible pictures.”
“That’s a nice story. Thanks for sharing. That place is near Washington D.C., I’ll have to cruise past and take a picture next time I’m in the area.”
“I love the historical history too Bob. Seriously that is some pretty neat history.”
- The Forward Look Network – The World’s Largest Source of 1955 – 1961 Mopar Info – posted two photos of Reed Brothers Dodge dealership from the 1950s under the “Forwardlooks in old pictures/postcards“
- Classic Mopar Forum.com
Classic Mopar Forum.com
- HudsonJet.net History of Hudson Dealerships: The dealership section is not only dedicated to the dealerships of the Jet years, but all known Hudson dealerships. The site posted a photograph of Rockville Garage. “In business from 1915 thru at least 2013, they sold Hudson from 1917 thru 1921.”
- Just A Car Guy Blog “Dodge, it’s history and 100th year anniversary are here… and a family owned dealership, (3rd generation) owner is blogging about it!”
- The Old Motor Car, online vintage automobile magazine featured a 2-Part series covering the history of Reed Brothers Dodge.
The Reed Brothers – Selling Dodge’s for Ninety-Four Years, Part I
The Reed Brothers – Selling Dodge’s for Ninety-Four Years, Part II
- Norris-Banonis.com I was delighted to provide Kevin Banonis of Norris-Banonis Group with two photographs that will go into the month of May 2015 calendar which features a 1952 Dodge Coronet. One photo is of the 1936 Reed Brothers Dodge canopied Gulf Gas Station and the second photo is of the original 1915 Rockville Garage. Below is a rough draft of what the product will look like. It may change a tiny bit between now and press time but this is pretty much how the finished product will look for the month of May 2015. The printed calendar will be high resolution and will be available for purchase on their website.
And then there’s Twitter…
Reed Brothers received numerous re-tweets and mentions on Twitter,
@reedbrothers welcome, fantastic story about your family dealership, thanks for sharing.
@reedbrothers I am sorry the Chrysler Corporation treated your dealership so unfairly in recent years. I am a local resident of Rockville.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank YOU for stopping by. I appreciate your patronage, whether it be via our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or other social media.
Happy 91st Birthday, Mom!
Today is a very special post in honor of my mother, Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner – 91 years young today! My mom is my rock, my inspiration and role model. She is a remarkable woman of strength and courage. She is brilliant, vibrant, full of heart and truly a treasure in my life.
The amazing thing is, she had a heart attack on September 9, 2013 and one week later underwent triple bypass surgery. Now just two weeks and one day later, she is in rehab and on the road to recovery. My mom has always been an active person and has the heart and mind of someone 20 years younger. When people meet her they can’t believe she’s 91 years old. She’s an avid Bridge player, a Facebook friend, a Skyper, a Texter and can navigate an iPhone and Windows 8! I could not possibly be more proud of her.
If I could give you a gift mom, I would give you the ability to see yourself as others see you, then you could really see how very special you are. Your courage in the face of adversity, and your inner strength is truly a blessing. I hope that when I’m 91, I’m half as vital, dynamic, healthy, and loving as you are! I wish you many more years of health and happiness.
Happy Birthday Wishes from your eldest! I love you!!!
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Copyright Notice
Reed Brothers Dodge History (1915-2012) by Jeanne Gartner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Reed Brothers Dodge History 1915 – 2012 
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