The company's first employee was Raymond Lott, whom everyone called
Mr. Lott. "He was
probably 65 when we hired him.
He ran the automatic screw machines," Jack said.
"Gradually, we hired most of the guys who had worked for
me back at Grimland Brothers."
At one time, in fact, Charles Grimland himself came and worked
for Jack.
By the time the business was going, a third
child, Janice Lynn Peck, had been born on June 27, 1951.
On Sept. 24, 1954, son Robert Wayne Peck made his way into the
world. Trying to start
a business from the ground up while raising a family with four small
children meant long days, Jack recalls.
He and Evelyn insulated the house they lived in, added asbestos
siding, put in V-siding in the gables, built a garage, bought an extra
lot, installed a fence and poured their own concrete for a patio.
"I had the energy," Jack said.
"I was used to working 70-80 hours a week anyhow."
Jack also served as a firefighter for the Bellmead
Volunteer Fire Department. Jack and Evelyn lived in Bellmead until
1958, when they moved to a house in Waco on North 23rd.
The family always enjoyed outdoor activities.
Evelyn, in particular, loved to swim and was one of the founders
of the Waco Splash Club, which was a synchronized swimming club.
Bob was nearly born in the water, Jack laughs. "We
went camping at Lake Whitney just two or three days before he was born.
She was so pregnant, she wouldn't swim in the daylight, only
in the dark."
Evelyn
was a qualified water safety instructor, and son Jack and daughter Janice,
both swam competitively. The
family also sailed, and at one time had two Starfish sailboats and a
sailing canoe. Evelyn was an excellent cook and housekeeper, Jack
said, and Bob added: "Best mom in the whole wide world."
The Pecks had a wonderful marriage, Jack said.
"We never went to bed angry" he said.
"We didn't have a lot of fights.
One of us always yielded to the other.
The people who would visit our house could feel the peace in
our house and would comment on it."
The business had its ups and downs, Jack says,
noting that he never had a big, elaborate plan for the company.
"We just took it as it came," he said.
"My only plan was to be in business by the time I was 30
years old. I'd worked for
enough other people."
When Korea ended in 1957, nearly every
contract Mercury had was cancelled in about a week.
"We were almost 75 or 80 percent in defense work, and that
all got cancelled." In 1958, a big automation job for American Desk nearly cost
Mr. Rusch and Jack their shirts.
The union organized Mercury's 35 or so employees in 1960, but
within nine months, the union didn't have a member and cancelled its
contract.
From 1958 to about 1976, Mercury Tool manufactured
go-carts, and the Pecks raced them all over the country.
For Jack, who had always wanted to be a race car driver, it was
a dream come-true. "Of
course, some people wouldn't call what we raced 'cars', but we could
beat most of them," laughs Jack.
The go-cart business started with an employee
at Mercury who was interested in the little cars and built the first
go-cart in Waco. Before
long, go-carts were a trend all over the state.
Waco had four tracks where people went to buy a ride, and Mercury
Tool built go-carts for all of them.
One of Mercury's customers was setting up go-carts all over the
state and before long Mercury was cranking out 55 go-carts a week.
