Larry Feather’s impact on the Western Slope can be found from Grand Junction all the way down to Montrose.
Feather, 81, co-founded the Stop ‘n Save gas station and convenience stores in 1977 and has been a bedrock of the local YoungLife scene. Earlier this week, Feather was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award by the alumni association of his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK).
“It caught me by surprise when I first heard about it because I was no honor student. But, it’s based on your activities post-college,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in this. Gee whiz, clearly someone thinks I made a difference.”
Feather was born and raised in Sidney, Nebraska.
When he went to college, the most feasible option was the college in Kearney — around 200 miles away. He graduated in 1966 from the school — then Kearney State College — and earned a bachelor of physical education and a minor in history education. He and his wife Joanna married a year later.
He then moved to Denver where he taught at Schmitt Elementary. At the same time, the Feathers became parents.
“I loved teaching but I wasn’t making much and I couldn’t support a family in metro Denver, so I went into oil marketing,” he said. “It wasn’t a difficult change, and I needed to make it.”
Feather landed a job with Phillips Petroleum. He spent two years with the company in Denver before being abruptly moved to Grand Junction.
“We had just bought a new house and were ready to raise a family in Denver. I had never heard of Grand Junction before, it was a little traumatic,” he said. “But here I was running the operations out here."
In 1976, he left the company and, with two partners, started Feather Petroleum. The first handful of Stop ‘n Save stores soon followed, opening in 1977.
Five years later, Black Sunday hit the Western Slope when Exxon pulled out of its massive oil shale project that left thousands jobless and crashed the economy around the Western Slope.
“That was a scary time. We were trying to raise a family just as the economy was going to hell,” Feather said. “I think the reason we survived was because we were relentless entrepreneurs, we did what we could to succeed.”
It’s standard today to see a convenience store paired with a gas station, but locally, Stop ‘n Save was the first of that kind, Feather said.
Even as big box stores latched onto the setup and took over the market, Stop ‘n Save persisted and Feather retired in 2004.
“You can’t get sucked into the stress. You just have to keep going through life,” he said. “I think that’s why we stuck around.”
PEOPLE OVER PROFIT
Feather was busy enough with the business, but he didn’t stop there. He joined the Grand Junction Lions Club in 1972 and helped start Fruita’s little league. He and his wife have also been fervent supporters of YoungLife since the 1980s. Feather has also served on the board of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation board and the steering committee for the HopeWest Hospice facility.
His son Luke Feather, who is the area director for YoungLife, witnessed his father’s heart first hand.
“My dad always made time for us. He was always playing catch with me or going to all of my games and events. And I didn’t realize how difficult that was until I became a father myself,” Luke said. “He’s given so much of his time and money to the community. I truly think the Grand Valley is a better place because of him.”
That dedication to giving is what drives Feather.
Feather said that ultimately, his guiding mantra in life has been to love everyone.
“I believe that we’re all created equal and we all deserve equal treatment,” he said. “It’s like the stress in business. You can’t get consumed by negative stuff.”
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