EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE: The Order of the Meineke Man

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — Let’s talk extraordinary. When it comes to retirement, some people kick back and relax. Some people tackle a bucket list. And some people decide to team up with their son to start a family business. David Sink, Jr. did just that.  This week, we have the Order of the Meineke Man.

You could call him the *wheel* deal. “I originally thought I’d be the drummer for the ‘Shadows’ in a rock and roll band but then the Beatles came to the country,” David Sink, Jr. said.

50 plus years after the Beatles landed in the U.S., we land here in Leland.  From the road, you see a new Meineke Car Care Center.

But if you roll inside you’ll find something unique hanging on the wall.

“I like to tell everybody,” Sink said, “that it puts me in the company of other recipients such as Billy Graham, Michael Jordan, and that’s not bad company to be in.”

Not bad, indeed!  David Sink, Jr. received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2007.
It’s one of the most prestigious awards given out by the governor of North Carolina.

Sink was president of Blue Ridge Community College in Hendersonville for 20 years.
He retired from a life of education and started living it up in the mountains.
But Sink would eventually find he needed to change his tires.
“When you wake up one morning and you start looking forward to watching reruns of the Brady Bunch,” he said, “it’s time to get out of the house.”

And use his old life to begin a new one.

“I got into this business(Meineke Car Care) after looking at an applied automotive program we had at Blue Ridge Community College,” Sink said, “(and) came out of retirement to help my son.”

Now the two put their brains and brawn to work everyday in one of the fast growing areas in the country. It’s one heck of an Order(of the Long Leaf Pine).
And maybe it’s no rock and roll band, but creating a family business sure is ‘Extraordinary’.