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A second chance

For one family, a business becomes a road to redemption

Photo: MT Photo: Detroitblogger John, License: N/A

MT Photo: Detroitblogger John

Artie and Arthur Willis.


By Detroitblogger John

Published: January 19, 2011

Artie says he got humbled in prison, sobered up, learned to appreciate the small treasures of a normal life. When he was released, he started a family, started attending church, started rebuilding a life. Now the shop is his again.

"We went in and came out successfully, and we're blessed to still have something to come home to," he says. He refers to himself as "we" when telling the story. So does his dad. They're so close they speak as if they served time together.

Artie tells the story as his young son plays a few feet away. He brings the boy to the shop, just to soak it all in, because he's already planning to pass the place down to him one day, just as his own father did.

When that day comes, it'll be another ring in the ripple a place like this creates. This store gives four people steady jobs. It saved a son from the streets. A young man will grow up and make it his. And a father learned that a family business brings more than money.

"Once you've been successful, and once you've lost it and God gives it back to you, it's easier now to live off a little," Arthur says. "You don't need as much as you think you did in the beginning, before you really know why you do what you do. Because before, I was just doing it. But this time around I know why I'm doing it. The value is there."

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