Local tire business founder Wiens dies at 84

Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004 | 10:49 a.m.

Local tire king Ted Wiens built his business on two principles -- treating his employees well and instilling in them that the customers, not him, were their true bosses.

"My father would want to be remembered for how his business was good to his customers and how he was good to his employees. Quite a few of them stayed with him their whole careers," said Ted Wiens Jr., who for the last 23 years has run the business his father built from a single downtown Texaco station.

"He highly respected his employees and taught them the customer was the boss. The motto of our stores has long been 'Service you could trust,' " taken from the Texaco slogan.

Ted Wiens, whose business empire includes two commercial truck tire centers and 11 auto repair and tire stores, died Tuesday at his Las Vegas home. He was 84.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 57 years will be 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Palm Mortuary, 1325 N. Main St. Visitation will be 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.

Born Aug. 4, 1920, in Hebron, Neb., Wiens was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal for heroics in P-51s and P-38s over Europe. He served as a bomber escort during the D-Day invasion at Normandy.

After the war, while a major awaiting discharge in Indian Springs, Wiens became interested in the auto service business and took a part-time job at George Fry's Richfield station at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard, which at the time was Fifth Street.

After his discharge from the service in 1948, Wiens leased the Texaco station across the street.

Wiens sold the Firestone brand of tires at that store and a store he opened a few years later at Las Vegas Boulevard and Carson Avenue. He opened his first Firestone tire dealership in 1956 at Las Vegas and Oakey boulevards.

Wiens retired in 1981.

A civic leader, Wiens was a life member of the Elks Club, where he did volunteer work for the Elks Helldorado Rodeo. He also was a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Founders Club, the Las Vegas Country Club, the Las Vegas Rotary Club and the UNLV Rebel Boosters. He also was an assistant Scout master for the Boy Scouts of America Troop 120.

In addition to his son, Wiens is survived by his wife, Mary Alice Wiens; a stepson, Billy Smith; two stepdaughters, Debbie Brewer and Teresa Smith, all of Las Vegas; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.