Stephen grew up near Grand Rapids, MI where he watched his maternal grandfather, Arthur Ronda Jr., successfully expand a chain of tire stores called "Ronda Tire". Ronda Tire is a third generation tire company, which began in 1918 by Arthur Ronda Sr.. His two sons Arthur Jr. & Kenneth Ronda joined the business in the 1940's and soon began expanding the company while adding a retread shop in the 195
0's. The City of Grand Rapids went through an urban renewal in 1960 and the original buildings were torn down, forcing Ronda Tire Inc. to relocate to its present location on Market Street in Grand Rapids. At the present time Ronda Tire is one of the oldest independent tire dealers in the United States and is still family owned. Before retiring and leaving his business to his children, Grandpa Ronda would allow Stephen to accompany him on trips around the town to check on his customers. He demonstrated to Stephen the importance of valuing customers and being genuinely concerned with giving them the best possible service he could. Stephen is now the 4th generation of Ronda's in the Auto Service industry. He desires to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, who taught him character, integrity, hard work and commitment, both at home and on the job. Stephen moved to Lynchburg, Va to pursue his degree in business finance at Liberty University where he graduated in the Spring of 2009. He is also trained mechanic and has been working in the business of auto repair for the past 10 years. In 2009, he married his now wife, Sarah, of Madison Heights, VA. She is currently a public school teacher and works part time helping Stephen with his business. Why "Endurance"? We chose this name for several reasons. Sarah is a marathon runner and loves endurance racing. Steve is always supportive of this either by joining her on foot, on bike or cheering at the finish line. We have a dog named Asics. He is a weimaraner and is also a runner, normally joining Steve and Sarah on all their runs. In 1 Corinthians 9:24 the Bible talks about always running the race to win the prize. We desire to be a step above the rest by putting sincere effort into all that we do. Character, Integrity and being different than the "stereotypical" auto repair facility is very important to us. Finally, it really is important that your car can go the distance that it should be able to go! We plan to help make that happen. We pray that Endurance Auto will be a blessing to every customer that we serve.
