My name is Kyle Powell. I was born on November 2, 1956, to Robert and Mary Lou Weaver Powell. I attended the Gatesville public school systems for 12 years and graduated in 1975. Except for about three years in the late 1970s, I have spent my entire life here in Gatesville. I am one of the blessed ones. I have a great family and have always seemed to be fortunate enough to work around great people and some really good mechanics and technicians. The best front end man I have ever known is my daddy. When it came to understanding the angles and the reactions of different suspensions to load, I can honestly say I have never met anyone better. He also taught me that you have to take pride and be proud of your work as a front end man. "Close is not close enough." Each alignment spec book shows a minimum and maximum and  a  "preferred"  specification. Nothing short of that "preferred" spec was good enough. The most precious gift that my parents gave me didn't cost them a dime. (However, there were many other things that did!) The most precious gifts were integrity, honesty, the willingness to work, and showing me that God is real and all things are to be done to honor Him. The forgiveness they showed me while I was trying to find my way is a trait that I continually strive to emulate. Thank you, Momma and Daddy, not for the money you spent getting me raised, but for the things you did and do for me that have never cost you a dime.

Have you ever wondered where the name POCO came from?

Poco Automotive

It all started with one little word. Robert Powell was working here in Gatesville. In his zeal to work on cars, fixing his friends cars and hot rodding his own, he made several very memorable friends. One of those was a man by the name of Cecil McMullen. Mr. McMullen had a parts store in Mcgregor. Robert traded there pretty frequently and Cecil kinda took a shine to this young mechanic named Robert Powell. Cecil predicted that Robert would one day own his own repair shop. He told Robert that when that day came that he should name the store POCO. It would be an abbreviation for Powell Company. It would also stand for the Spanish translation for "small." Cecil was right. The store was modestly small and it was owned by one man, Robert Powell.

The business began in its current location in 1971 when Robert borrowed $21,500 to buy the four-bay shop. There wasn't a lot of specialty equipment in the early 70s so Robert pulled his small tool box into one of the empty bays and started fixing cars for the public. When there was a problem with a car, Robert just fixed it. Fear sometimes drives us to be successful. I am sure there were days that the fear had to be a huge factor in the success of Poco. Oh yeah, did I tell you Robert and Mary Lou were raising and supporting four teenage children? Do you know anyone that has that kind of fortitude? It is hard for most of us to imagine that type of dedication and that type of determination. The only special training Robert had was a front end alignment school he had attended in Rock Island, Illinois. He soon began to make a name for himself in the alignment business.

Robert and Mary Lou's third child was Kyle. Kyle had grown up handing his daddy wrenches. It was no surprise that during his high school days it was easy to find Kyle. He would either be at the shop (POCO) or he would be in auto mechanics class studying the finer points of auto repair under the tutelage of Johnny Washburn. Mr. Washburn could see that Kyle had a knack for the alignment business and used a lot of the school time training Kyle in that area. There were many days that Mr. Washburn would let Kyle leave class to go and help Robert at Poco. Mr. Washburn entered Kyle in a contest for wheel alignment and he won second in the state his junior year of high school. They returned to the contest the following year and Kyle won the top honor and was state champion wheel alignment technician for 1975. The contest was sponsored by the VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America.) There was a comment made that Kyle was doing wheel alignments when others his age were just learning the trade. On the day following graduation ceremonies in 1975, Kyle started to work full-time for Robert at Poco Automotive. The little store now had two full-time employees. In 1977 , Kyle also attended the same wheel alignment school as his dad in Rock Island, Illinois.

In 1978 Kyle moved to Odessa and went to work in an alignment shop called A-1 Brake and Spring. He moved back to Gatesville in 1981 and went back to work for his dad at Poco and on January 1, 1982, Kyle bought  Poco Automotive from his parents. The store had grown to 6 bays. When Kyle bought  the store from his parents he also added a muffler shop to the existing building. The store now consisted of seven bays and four full-time employees. Robert in the meantime wound up with the lot next door. He started a CB and Stereo Shop. He also spent some time trading guns. Robert's big change came in 1990 when he added cellular phone service to his shop.

In 1992 Kyle added tire service to his growing business. The tire business continued to grow and in 1995 Kyle bought the property from his father that housed Robert's phone business. He then built a warehouse and added two more bays for the tire store. This building tied the two properties together and is as you see it today.

Robert and Mary Lou have since retired. They continue to be active in the community and support their home community at the drop of a hat. Kyle continues to operate Poco with the assistance of Team Poco. Team Poco consists of Jennifer Poston, Justin Eary, and Bobby Jenkins. Poco has grown to nine employees and ten bays.

Mary Lou was in Temple picking up parts for Robert back in 1974. The parts man said he had never heard of Poco Automotive. Mary Lou replied, "If you stay around long enough you will!" He probably did. The "little" company" became "the little company that could" and has.