Horrible ending for a historic local business

April 29--After operating a hometown business in Wichita Falls for more than 50 years, Gerald Stone made the hard decision Monday morning to close his shop doors. His business, Stone's Garage, was burglarized over the weekend.

The thieves stole over $11,000 worth of equipment, parts and tools from the small shop that sits at 1824 Sheppard Access Road. Stone, 79, said he is the only mechanic in town who specializes in old Volkswagens.

He and his wife, Sandra, have been married for almost 58 years, and he opened Stone's Garage in 1967. He bought the building at his current location in 1975.

A small hole at the bottom of the side of the building, about a foot tall by a foot and a half wide that Stone called a dog hole, allowed the thieves to enter the building and open the back garage doors and take out multiple items.

"I've been hit before," he said as he pulled out a mug shot of the man who was charged and convicted of burglary of a building at his shop about four years ago, "but I've never been hit this hard."

After taking about a year and a half leave from work for heart complications, Stone returned to work about a month ago.

"I opened my doors and everybody started coming back, wanting me to work on their cars. Thank goodness they haven't stolen anything off those," he said.

He walked into his shop Monday to discover almost everything of any value was stolen, including his a mechanic parts washer table, car lift, large tractor tires, air hoses to a compressor and many other items. About 11 a.m. Monday Stone was still logging things that were stolen.

"Everything was going so good since I came back to work, and I've been feeling good. I came in the front door this morning and about had a heart attack," Stone said. "I'm still in shock. All I can do is pray that the Lord allows those criminals to be arrested. And I hope they (the police) might be able to recover some of my equipment."

The Wichita Falls Police Department took an incident report about 9 a.m. Monday and noted the burglary happened sometime between 5 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. Monday. Stone said he normally stops by the shop on the weekends, but this weekend he stayed home.

He does not have insurance on his equipment.

"I've checked on it before, but it's so expensive. I've been doing it all this time, and I've never had anything this bad. After I stayed off work for a year and half, I saw how much money it costs to live, and with nothing coming in, you better have a bunch of money saved up because it goes in a hurry."

He and his wife have put many years of hard work into the business over the decades he's been in operation, and the couple looked at each other and shook their heads as Stone expressed not knowing what to do other than close the business for good.

"It's put me out of business because I don't have the money to fix all of this stuff. I'm just going to probably get rid of everything I've got and put the place up for sale. That's about all I can do. It's the way I make my living. You can't live off Social Security," Stone said.

Stone feels his work helps keep him healthier than sitting at home -- and keeps him busy. Although he is only one birthday away from 80, Stone did not have intentions of sitting back and taking things easy just yet.

Anyone with any information about this crime can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 940-322-9888 or long-distance at 800-322-9888. Those with information can also download the app TipSubmit or text code word WFCrime to Crimes to submit an anonymous tip.

Callers are always anonymous, and if their information leads to an arrest and board approval, could earn up to $1,000.

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