By Carol Anders Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH — Plymouth area residents are well aware of the contributions that the owners and staff of Oliver Ford extend to the community, and now at least one family traveling through town has learned what hometown hospitality really means.
On May 8, Cathy May and her sister were taking her nephew and his wife, Jeremy and Maggie King, to the airport in Chicago when their van broke down near the Plymouth exit on U.S. 31.

At first, they began to panic since Jeremy had to be on a plane leaving from Chicago to reach his Army base in Germany. King had returned from Iraq in February and was immediately sent to a base in Texas. This was his first chance to reunite with his family near Kokomo. King will likely return to Iraq in January, according to May.
Fortunately, Oliver Ford mechanic Steven Shook was out testing a car that had just been repaired. Shook said he stopped to see if he could help them. After determining that coolant was leaking from the engine, Shook told them he didn’t know where they usually had their car serviced, but that Oliver Ford was close.
May said they were able to drive the van to the dealership, but knew that it couldn’t be fixed in time for them to get to Chicago.
May said, “Jeremy had to be on the plane or he would have been AWOL from the Army in Germany.”
May said, “Cody (Rhodes, Oliver Ford Service Manager) tried to find a rental car for us, but none were available in Plymouth. Then they offered to let us take one of their cars to Chicago. I couldn’t believe it since they didn’t even know us. They even let us put Jeremy’s dog in the car.”
The family arrived in Chicago just in time to get Jeremy on the plane. Since they were late, his wife had to wait another three hours for a flight.
May said, “We waited at the airport with her and didn’t get back in Plymouth until 10:30 that night.”
May said they were astounded to find their van repaired and waiting for them.
She said, “Steven (Shook) and Cody (Rhodes) and all of the managers who were trying to help us at Oliver Ford are heroes.”
Both Shook and Rhodes said they were glad they could lend a hand.
“When they explained the situation, we knew we had to help,” Rhodes said.