A Lot Alike: Father, son share mechanical inclination that runs in family

Credit: Journal Photo by David Rolfe

Cory Brown (left) and his father, Steve Brown, work together at Henry's Electric Motor Service, which was started by Steve Brown's late father.

By: Jim Sparks | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: June 15, 2008

Cory Brown has been rebuilding commercial electric motors and pumps with his father, Steve Brown, for 11 years.

They work alone in a repair shop started 39 years ago by Steve's late father, Henry Brown.

The job, the Browns say, is a balance between working together close enough to get everything done while creating enough space to coexist.

That's why despite enjoying each other's company, they follow a simple rule for not driving each other crazy.

"He stays in back and I stay up here," said Steve, 57, of Clemmons as he stood behind the counter of Henry's Electric Motor Service on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

"That's the way it works," Cory, 30, of Winston-Salem said, smiling, as he rewound the wire coil in a huge electric motor in the back of the shop.

Not really, though.

As Cory Brown worked, his father popped back to talk about another motor waiting to be fixed -- a pattern repeated by the two throughout the workday and even on the weekends, when Cory Brown drives out to his parents' place to help his dad build a garage.

"He feeds me breakfast, then I've got to start hammering," Cory Brown said. "He's got me working seven days a week."

The Browns said they plan to take a break today so son can treat father to a steak dinner.

Like many fathers and their children, the Browns are linked not only by blood but also by a common bond of wanting to know how things work and the collective skill of how to make them work better.

A mechanical inclination seems to run in the Brown family.

Cory Brown was 14 when he rebuilt his first motor. On days off from school, he said, he remembers going with his father to the old shop, which was off of Waughtown Street until it was torn down. That property is now part of the campus of the N.C. School of the Arts.

Cory Brown said that the best thing about working with his dad is that when he needs to take time off, he can. When jobs call for working late, though, he has to do that, too.

Steve Brown said he cherishes his memories of working with his father, whose workbench still looks pretty much like he left it when he died two years ago.

He said that the best thing about working with his son is that he knows that he can count on him.

"I wish I had a dozen like him ," Steve Brown said.

■ Jim Sparks can be reached at 727-7301 or at jsparks@wsjournal.com.