On September 22nd, 1972, one of the hardest working individuals was born into this world, my father, John E. Scanlon. As a child, he didn’t have much. He was the youngest of four children to my grandmother, Julia. They grew up in a small two bedroom apartment in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn just off of Avenue U. At the age of two, his father walked out on them, ultimately leaving the family financially inept. Although he does not have much recollection of his father, my dad remembers the impact that he left on the family.
Throughout his childhood, John watched his mother work two jobs just to make ends meet. My grandmother did the best she could to raise four children, but with two jobs, she wasn’t always around. Consequently, my dad and his siblings relied heavily on each other while growing up. As the youngest of the four, my father was always the last one to receive all different kinds of hand-me-down clothing. Despite their economic struggle, each of them did their part to make sure their home was up and running because my grandmother could not do it all by herself. By working two jobs, my grandmother did everything she could to assure her kids had the best childhood possible.
So where did John get his work ethic? He says he gets it from watching his mother struggle all of those years to make his life a little easier. He didn’t want to experience the distress that his mother did, so he sought a way out. His hard work began in elementary school, and it ultimately carried over into high school. To this day, my grandmother and his siblings speak of how good of a student he was and how well he did in school. Besides being at the top of his class, my father began to work during his freshman year at the age of 13. He got his first job at S&K, an auto body shop, where he would sweep up the place after school. He became very interested in the business and wanted to learn more about it.
At age 16, he left S&K to work for De-Ko, another body shop in the area. This is where my dad began to pick up the tools of the trade. When his senior year came, he was asked where he wanted to attend college. My father told his guidance counselor that he didn’t want to attend college; he wanted to own his own body shop. My grandmother was extremely bothered by his decision because she worked countless hours just to send him and his siblings to Catholic school. She feared his choice would come back to haunt him, and he would wind up dealing with similar economic hardships.
But my father didn’t think negatively of his decision. In his mind, he was living the life and chasing a dream. For the rest of his senior year, he spent days upon days working in the shop, learning everything he could about it. After high school ended, he went on to work for a 3rd and final body shop, where he learned the essentials of running his own business. From this point on, John knew he wanted to own a body shop one day, and this opportunity came about quicker than he expected.
He met his partner Steven in the auto shop industry, who my Aunt Brenda would eventually wind up marrying. After much thought and collaboration, John and Steven decided that they wanted to open up a body shop of their own. In the fall of 1991, they saw a window of opportunity. An old, rundown building was for rent, and they figured they could fix it up and use it to start their own business. In December of 1991, my father signed the official documentation to rent the building. They spent the next two months renovating the entire place and gathering the resources necessary to run the shop. In February of 1992, Narrows Body Craftsmen Inc. was born, and my father was only 19.
My dad at Narrows, 1992
Although my father was living the dream of owning his own business, he knew this was going to be no walk in the park. There were dozens of nights where my father would work additional hours to make an extra few dollars. There were plenty of nights where my father wound up sleeping at the shop after working the entire night. To put it quite simply, my father was a “go getter” when it came to business; nothing stood in his path.
By the age of 21, my father had me, his first child. At such a young age, he had the responsibility of running both a business and a family, but this didn’t stop him. Most people his age were out enjoying the final stage of their youth, but my father wasn’t. Instead, he was out doing business on a daily basis to make sure that my mother and I didn’t have to live the way he did. After he spent a few years in the body shop business, he later went on to partner up with my Uncle Bob in both the potato chip and juice distribution. In 2003, they saw the golden opportunity of becoming distributors of Boar’s Head Cold Cuts. Currently today, my father and my uncle each own their own routes. My father’s is located all throughout Staten Island and Brooklyn, the place where he still calls home today.
So as I conclude my first Macaulay Honors Seminar in the Arts, I have become more aware of the cultural realities in the world around us. Socioeconomic class is often one of the most difficult barriers to overcome in society. Often times, it is more difficult for impoverished families to move up in society regardless of how hard they work. My father, however, is a prime example that the American Dream still exists today. His hard work from a very young age was turned into a success story like no other. Because of his diligent work ethic, he not only achieved his own goal of starting his own business, but he also made it possible for me, his son, to dream higher than him.
My father winning a prestigious Boar’s Head Deli of Distinction Award
December 2012
Your dad and my dad have a similar story of the American Dream and entrepreneurship. Both were able to do relatively well with a simple education, and I think we both, as their sons, appreciate this.