John Moua will be the first to admit that he wasn’t exactly the most motivated teenager when it came to school.
“I was lazy,” admitted Moua, who went to high school in Tracy until the ninth grade and dropped out during his junior year at Marshall High School. “I didn’t feel like going to school.”
Moua and his wife, Katie, are the new owners of the Tracy Service Center. John eventually earned his GED a year after he was supposed to graduate from MHS and went from there.
John and Katie were married in 2011, and the couple moved to Mankato to attend South Central College — John for automotive repair and Katie for pharmacy tech.
John had a short working relationship with Tom Hahn, whose retirement opened the door for his new venture. But opening his own auto shop took a bit of encouraging from his wife.
“She’s been telling me for the longest time I should open up my own place,” John says. “Tom was still working here, and I was scared of competition. Once I heard that he was going to retire, I came and talked to him right away.”
Katie knew her husband was good at his craft and made it clear that she would support him.
“It’s something he’s been doing for a long time,” Katie said. “He didn’t really like school … I was just waiting for him to be ready. We both had to be ready to open something.”
John doesn’t plan to overhaul the shop, save adding a room in the corner of the building for his children, which is almost done.
“We’ll do the same stuff Tom had been doing,” he said.
Katie’s role in the new business will be scheduling appointments.
John said he is looking forward to not having to commute to Marshall for work any longer, but more importantly, he is eager to be a part of Tracy’s business community.
“It’s nice to be able to support your community, the town you live in,” John said. “I feel it’s important to be involved, keep it local.”
The Mouas live in Tracy with their children Unisia, Chilai, Shaelyn and C.J. John plans on opening his shop on Aug. 10.
