Station to get makeover in memory of late owner
Thorsby area residents to help family of man killed in gas-and-dash incident
The cinder block walls of the Fas Gas station in Thorsby have never matched the aging green and white pumps out front.
Most of the building is painted orange. The eaves and the tops of the foundation are dark blue.
They’re the same colours the little shop was when Ki Yun Jo bought it around 10 years ago. Joe, as he was known in the community, was a recent immigrant from South Korea in the market for a small business to support his family. He worked every day except Christmas at the shop, kept company by Pome, a little Pomeranian dog. He slept in the back of the store, his wife and kids an hour away in Edmonton.
A few years ago, Jo thought about having the building repainted to match the pumps. But he never got the chance. On Oct. 6, 2017, the 54-year-old was run down while trying to stop a fuel thief. He died a short time later.
Now, people in and around Thorsby — a community of fewer than a thousand people an hour southwest of Edmonton — are pooling their resources to give the shop the new green-and-white paint job he always wanted.
“We were very thankful,” said Sung Hyun Jo, 30, Jo’s son. “Because we were just sitting hopelessly, just praying somebody would approach us and just give us some help.
“The store was everything to my dad and my family.”
It’s just one item on a long to-do list for Jo’s wife and adult children, who have had to drop everything and take over the station since they lost their husband and father. But it feels like a godsend.
Sung, who goes by the English name Ed, came to Edmonton as an international student when he was 13. His father was successful in South Korea — he worked for a major IT company and had a master’s degree — but he wanted his kids to escape the country’s hyper-competitive job market. In 2005, the rest of the family came to Canada.
Eventually, they saved up enough to buy the station in Thorsby.
“When foreigners move into Canada, first they look for a small business to start out of town,” Sung said. “My parents were looking around and found this store.”
It was an old, out-of-the-way station, but it fit the budget. The whole family helped out when they could, but Jo made sure they didn’t have to worry about the hard parts of running the store — the maintenance, ordering chips and pop and fuel, and finding insurance for the fuel tanks.
Times were never easy. In the winter, the short trip between Edmonton and Thorsby could be treacherous. A few years ago, Jo’s wife Meyoung Hee Han was in a multi-vehicle crash between Leduc and Calmar that doctors said she was lucky to survive.
Sometimes, the security company would notify the family of an alarm at the store. Jo was in the back, asleep, too exhausted to notice.
“Every day, every night I’m worrying about that,” Meyoung said. “I pray every night nothing happens in our store, for my husband.”
In recent years, fuel thefts rose. On Oct. 6, for reasons only he knew, Jo snapped and chased a stolen van that someone had just filled up with $196.56 worth of fuel without paying. Police later located the vehicle, but an RCMP spokeswoman said this week that no arrests have been made in the case.
The anguish at losing their husband and father was compounded by concerns about the family business. Sung had recently graduated and started an accounting job. His 28-year-old sister Ka Yung Jo (Kay), had studied fashion design and was working as a tailor. Both eventually quit their jobs to keep the station running.
Rhonda Fiveland, who runs a small contracting business, had spoken to Jo about repainting the station five years ago.
She figured she was the low bid on the contract, but he never took her up on it. It wasn’t until Jo’s death that she realized he was living in the back of the store, and that he hadn’t followed through because he couldn’t afford it. Fiveland approached Kay after her father’s death and told her she would repaint the building for free.
“I think that’s kind of an Alberta way. It takes a community to raise a community after something tragic happens,” she said.
Fiveland plans to paint the top sections of the building, using paint donated from a shop in Leduc. Then, on June 9, high schoolers and other people in the community will finish the job. There will be a barbecue, fundraiser and open house at the store.
The new paint job won’t be the only reminder of Jo’s death. In October, the Alberta government introduced legislation mandating fuel buyers pay before they pump. Legislation had been discussed previously after other Albertans died trying to stop fuel thieves, but Jo’s death was the last straw. The law takes effect June 1. One labour leader said it will make Jo’s passing Alberta’s last gas-and-dash death.
The Jo family doesn’t know what will happen to the store long-term. Sung wants to continue to make improvements — most pressing is replacing the aging fuel tanks.
For now, they’re grateful for their neighbours’ help.
Kay doesn’t know how she’ll feel when the green-and-white paint dries. But she knows it’s more than a just a paint job.
“He wanted that for (a long time),” she said. “And now it’s happening.”
We are very thankful. Because we were just sitting hopelessly, just praying somebody would approach us (and) help.