E. Side auto shop owner is known for his charity.
Johnny Guerra’s cherished belt buckles are a symbol of his love for his community and the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.
The gleaming clasp is a regular part of his usual ensemble: starched shirt, black jeans and cowboy boots brushed to a glossy shine. Through the years, the veteran East Side businessman has given the rodeo buckles as gifts to more than 30 friends.
And each one is buffed with pride. The buckle represents three decades as a member of the Bexar County Community Arenas Board. Guerra’s charity is a natural result of his Catholic upbringing and growing up during a simpler time when helping those in need was the norm.
“My goal is to help the poor and the misfortunate people of our county,” he said. “It hurts me to see someone suffer and I want to make it as easy as possible for them to get the opportunities that some people don’t get.”
Since 1966, the 85-year-old has owned the A&A Body Frame & Paint shop, located on East Commerce Street, just minutes from downtown.
Five days a week, Guerra and his wife, Lillian, arrive at the shop at 8:30 a.m. and work until 6 p.m. His desk sits across from the invoice-covered desk of his bride of 65 years.
Framed photographs of Guerra with San Antonio Spurs players, rodeo organizers and county commissioners line the office walls. And through the years, the woman everyone calls “Miss Lillian,” has volunteered with the East Side businessman.
“He’s been in many arenas,” Lillian Guerra, 83, said, “but the one that means the most is the community arena. He’s so dedicated.”
Thirty years ago, the late Bexar County Commissioner Paul Elizondo appointed him to the board. Since then, he’s served as chairman and vice chairman. In 2019, Jim Goodman wrote on his blog that the businessman was pivotal in bringing the San Antonio Iguanas professional hockey team to the Freeman Coliseum.
Guerra said the late Mary Nan West, first woman to chair the livestock and rodeo, knew of the couple’s interest in scholarships for students and enlisted them to help with the rodeo.
His most prestigious honor came nine years ago when he was installed as a knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem-eastern Lieutenancy. The civic organization is one of the oldest in the Roman Catholic faith, dating back to the First Crusade.
Guerra said the nomination is sent to the archbishop of San Antonio, then higher order in Houston and on up, all the way to the Pope for approval.
“It means you have a good heart and are a good Catholic,” he said. “I was born a Catholic and will die a Catholic.”
A highlight of Guerra’s community work was serving wih the group that raised $120,000 to support Pope John Paul II’S visit to San Antonio in September 1987.
Civic duty is a trait Guerra learned from his parents who taught him to aid his neighbors and relatives in their time of need.
Life moved at a slower pace in Kenedy, a small town 59 miles south of San Antonio where Guerra grew up. He milked cows, rode horses and on summer nights slept on a screened porch, comforted by a cool breeze.
“It was just a beautiful way of life,” he said.
Amid carrying out his rural chores, Guerra tinkered with engines and marveled at the technology of a new frontier. He was 18 when he moved to the Alamo City, took an electronics course and opened three TV repair shops.
Backed by his experience and interest in cars, he later opened his own body and repair shop with his wife, who shared his love of the cowboy lifestyle and rodeos. The Guerras said they enjoy the sport of bull riding, where sometimes the bulls win and sometimes the wranglers win.
He was smitten when they first met in 1955 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on West Commerce Street. He pursued the young woman, proud to be a Texan, until she fell for him. They married at a big church wedding with a rousing reception at Beethoven Maennerchor.
“If I had to do again,” Guerra said, “I would do it again with the same woman.”
The couple raised three children — Joann, John and David — and have eight great-grandchildren. Eight years ago, their son John died of a heart attack. Guerra said there’s not a day that goes by without him on their minds.
The couple take great pride in their work with the rodeo, which has raised more than $200 million in agricultural scholarships for San Antonio youth.
Their charity also extends to the neighborhood where their business has been a fixture for 54 years.
Guerra arrived after the newly built Interstate 37 opened a pathway from the East Side to North Side malls and stores. In the late 1970s, Guerra also worked for San Antonio billionaire B.J. “Red” Mccombs as a car salesman. His business stayed steady and has evolved through gangs, population changes and gentrification.
One thing hasn’t changed — the couple’s propensity to extend a helping hand.
They’ve supported Pastor Shetigho Nakpodia and volunteers who feed the unsheltered at Redeemer’s Praise Church across the street from the auto body shop. And they’ve befriended Victor Flores, the paleta man, who still peddles a three-wheeled cart throughout the East Side though he’s been robbed through the years.
Last year, Guerra asked the paletero why he didn’t arm himself. Flores pointed to his weapon of choice: a booklet entitled, “The Case for Christ,” propped up in a cardboard box on top of his cart.
Guerra keeps an eye out for Flores and always steps out to talk with Flores when he brakes to a stop beneath the shop’s outside canopy for a break and conversation. Guerra will buy several paletas for his employees, even if they don’t have a taste for a frozen treat at the moment.
The longtime community volunteer does that and other acts of kindness without giving it a second thought.
For Guerra, it’s just the charitable thing to do.