HURRICANE — The coffee is still fresh and hot, the advice from the men enjoying it comes from generations of experience and customers can still get a friendly smile from the employees.

To those who haven’t stopped by recently, the owner of Hurricane’s Quail Lake Quick Stop will be different. After 38 years, Kevin Tervort has retired to spend more time with his grandchildren.

Tervort’s father-in-law convinced him to move to the Hurricane Valley in 1985 and purchase the gas station in a development he was building. He had every intention of turning it into a successful business, selling it and returning to Utah County after a couple of years.

A few years later, a gas tanker exploded during a traffic incident causing the bridge near his store to be closed for construction. He started borrowing money to keep the store alive due to a lack of customers.

On Jan. 1, 1989, the dam burst at Quail Creek State Park causing Utah Gov. Norm Bangerter to declare a state of emergency. More than 1,500 homes were flooded and several bridges were washed away, including the same bridge on state Route 9 near the Quick Stop.

“I basically had to buy the store again,” Tervort said. “I had good credit with the vendors but I didn’t qualify for any of the federal assistance at the time because my business didn’t take on any water.”

Tervort said business owners he became friends with would help his store survive the hard times, as well as a plea from city leaders at the time urging residents to help a neighbor in need.

He has since survived many more hindering road construction projects, a recession, his time as a volunteer with Washington County Search and Rescue and a 12-year stint on the Hurricane City Council.

“It was always to help the community,” Tervort said of his time on the City Council. “I really liked that aspect of helping out in the community I lived in.”

In a time when many business owners took their children to work, Tervort’s children recalled ringing up sales while standing on milk cartons, cleaning up customer messes and making some of their own. Now that they are parents, they realize how involved their father was.

“What most people don’t realize is that store gave us a dad,” Tervort’s daughter, Gabby Gubler, said. “He never missed a game, he never missed an assembly, he never missed an award — we can all say that.”

Patrick Tervort said his father coached many of the teams he played on. He never wondered if he would make it to practices or games on time.

“My dad was always there — for most business owners that just wasn’t the case,” he said. “If you are at the top, you have to run your business and somehow he never missed a game, never missed a scouting event. The sacrifice of both my parents is something I only realize now as a parent.”

Tina Tervort said early patrons of her husband’s store would notice when children weren’t present. Although she was “fired” from the store for taking customer issues “too personal,” she said her children and grandchildren have learned many valuable lessons.

“They would come in and ask, ‘Where is the baby?’” Tervort said of her oldest son, Rylee. “We live in a great community — we’ve been blessed that way. There are so many fond memories of the children growing up and working there.”

When the Quail Creek Reservoir dam broke, a television reporter asked then-Gov. Bangerter if the state intended to rebuild, to which he responded, “an unequivocal yes. That’s what we do in Utah, we rebuild when we have difficulties.”

That beehive mentality is what kept his store open for so many years, Tervort said. He has met dozens of celebrities and athletes over the years, employed more than 1,000 and made 10 times more friends who supported his store, employees and family.

“I didn’t do this by myself,” he said. “I have met all kinds of people, so I have really fond memories of that. To talk to them and be invited into their culture, learn what they do and become friends with them — all over a fishing license or a drink.”

There are no current plans of running for office with his free time, Tervort said. Instead, he intends to spend more time with his family after his daughter’s recent recovery from cancer treatment.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere without them,” he said. “People like to make it all about Kevin, but my family deserves just as much credit.”

Hurricane Mayor Nanette Billings told St. George News that she served on City Council with Tervort before running against him in the last mayor’s race.

“He is a true asset to this community,” she said. “The residents of Hurricane enjoy many of the projects he worked on during his time on the council and will have memories of his store for years to come.”

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