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Will Perkins – Introduction
A good friend of mine in Denver had a friend in Colorado Springs who was a n automobile dealer, and a strong man of God that he wanted me to meet. Little did I know that this would not only
turn out to be one of my closest friends, but also my last business partner in Colorado.
Will was born and grew up in the springs school systems, and actually graduated from Colorado College
there in the springs as well. After graduation he played baseball in the major leagues for a couple of years. His Dad had started a Chrysler Plymouth dealership after World War II and he wanted to join him in the business. Will
returned home to join his dad in the business and wasn’t a short time later that Will’s Dad had a fatal heart attack and left Will, his sister and his mother with the business.
One of the first
things Will had done after coming back was to implement a policy of not turning the speedometers on high mileage used cars. His dad had assured him that it was standard procedure for dealers to turn the speedometers back, and
Will assured him that he would not be involved with a business with that policy whether it was his father or not.
When Will took over the business, when his Dad died, he also found a job for his
sisters husband because he felt that it was half her business and he felt he had a responsibility to do that. When his sister died a few years ago, he had an appraiser come in to establish a trust and make it possible for his
brother-in-law to be able to support himself for the rest of his life.
Will and I got involved in a business relationship in 1966 that required us to serve on the board, and attend monthly board
meetings in Colorado City where the company was headquartered. I would drive from Denver down to Colorado Springs, pick Will up, and we would spend the next six hours together, driving to Colorado City, having the board meeting
and driving home. We had a tremendous amount of quality time to share anything and everything.
Every Christmas Will would buy space on the TV stations and talk about the Christmas Story and the
baby Jesus, not about cars, trucks and vans. He was the only dealer in the United States in a city over 100,000 population with only one Chrysler/Plymouth dealership, and remained that way until 1997, when he and his son Tom
chose to be Dodge car and Dodge truck dealers instead. Will was the only dealer/member of the Chrysler dealers council to be elected president for two different years. When Colorado Springs was looking for a chairman of the
committee to be formed to attract Para-Church Ministries to relocate their world headquarters to Colorado Springs, they chose Will, and as of January 1, 2000, there are over 150 organizations with their world headquarters in
Colorado Springs.
Colorado Amendment II was one of the most difficult and controversial issues to ever come up in Colorado. Will not only agreed to be the chairman, but literally took over four
years of his life to lead the Colorado citizens to a large citizen vote for passage of the amendment, only to have the Supreme Court overturn the passage. The citizens are still trying to appeal that decision.
Will and his wife Bess have three girls, and a son Tom who is the president of the company. His youngest daughter Sandy and he were in the final four sons and daughters national tennis championships.
All the kids are married and have already supplied over 10 grandchildren. Will truly is a man of consistency, and walks his talk as a Christian businessman.
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