To the Editor:

It was sad to see the obituary for John Foley.

Our family were customers of his for many years. We were given a gift to have known John as a businessman and a neighbor.

Whenever we had a problem, John diagnosed and fixed it in the most straightforward way. He was kind and capable!

John knew how to communicate, to teach car care, to know when to be reassuring and when to share a joke. One time, I brought the car in for brake work and the brakes were worse than I knew. When I came in at the end of the day to get the car, John asked if I was planning to audition for the “Joie Chitwood Thrill Show,” Chitwood being the driving daredevil who used to appear at the Altamont Fair.

Foley’s garage was clearly rooted in the community. But after becoming a customer, I noticed an amazing thing: You could speak to people who lived far away from Guilderland and they drove the distance to get their work done at Foley's.

John’s obituary mentioned his “quest for speed” and how he once raced against Don Garlitz, who was known as “Big Daddy Don Garlits” in the radio commercials for drag racing in the New York City area in the 1960s.  When John started racing, one of his colleagues was Shirley Muldowney, who hailed from Schenectady.

Although John is no longer with us, he has left us the gift of sharing the business with his son, Sean, who combines the best of knowing high-tech car work with his father’s work ethic and help to customers. He has also left a wealth of stories to recall fondly.

In his several most recent books, the late Joseph Persico included John in the acknowledgments section.  Both men liked to spend some time in the South in the winter. Perhaps they are spending time together in Heaven, on the beach, discussing history and cars.

John Rowen

Altamont