Dom Dedini hangs up the old fuel pump
Longtime resident cherishes memories of providing service
By Shari Kaplan
After dispensing some 32 million gallons of gasoline over the last 36 years--along with plenty of smiles and jokes thrown in on the house--Domingo "Dom" Dedini fueled his last gas tank and wiped off his last squeegee at his Los Gatos Boulevard service station, known as "Dom's Exxon," on Dec. 14. He didn't want to retire with any fanfare, goodbye parties or anything sentimental, he says. His memories are enough.
"I've been saying goodbye for the last two weeks," he says with a smile, surveying the station island for familiar faces at whom to wave. "I think what I'll miss most is the personal contact with the customers. They've become like family to me. If someone is sick or having problems, I hurt for them." Likewise, many of his regulars hurt alongside him when his wife passed away in 1986.
Dedini rejoiced with his customers as well, as in the case of the twins he first met when their parents toted them in strollers. Seemingly overnight, he remembers them bringing their dates by the station; eventually he was invited to both girls' weddings. Now, he's met their own children in strollers.
Longtime Los Gatan Marilyn Wilder's three children also grew up knowing Dedini, although the friendship had a rocky start--literally. After one of her favorite orchards was torn out so the Exxon station could be built, she threw rocks at the building site--not to do any damage, but just as a token protest. She ended up being the customer from whom he not only earned his first dollar, but also earned lasting respect.
"Dom saved me I can't even think how many times! Whenever my car would break down, he would drive out and help me," Wilder recalls. "That man has done so much for everyone in the community. He's a real 'Los Gatos person'--the essence of what Los Gatos is all about. He really has community spirit and has always been caring and gracious."
Bill Meyer, another longtime local customer, agrees. He remembers a time many years ago when he was financially burdened and couldn't pay for an important auto repair, but Dedini fixed it on good faith.
"I told him, 'you've got a customer for life,' " says Meyer, who once owned a Standard Oil service station in Modesto. "A lot of the old-timers are gone, and a lot of the color is gone from Los Gatos. Dom was a part of that."
Dedini has some colorful memories of his own, one of which was his 50th birthday party that he, his family and customers celebrated at the station, which was cordoned-off for the event. Former Los Gatos police officer Roger McLean even drove by singing "Happy Birthday" on his patrol car loudspeaker. Another memorable incident for Dedini was climbing into the ladies' restroom through a small transom window in order to rescue a distressed patron who had somehow locked herself inside.
Dedini, a native of Gilroy, says he fell in love with Los Gatos when, as a boy, he used to visit an aunt living here. After a stint in the U.S. Navy and a master mechanic's certification from San Jose City College, Dedini worked as a mechanic for Paul Swanson Ford and later for West Valley Dodge.
One day, he was driving along Los Gatos Boulevard and saw a new Exxon station was coming in. A few phone calls and interviews later, and Dedini was set to run the station. For the first 16 years, he was joined by friend and business partner Bill Hobbs, who died some 10 years ago.
Dedini says that although his station is something of an old-timer in offering full service (complete with a knowledgeable and personable old-timer to provide the service), the people who take over the station plan to maintain the full-service portion of an island.
Along with senior citizens, he says other full-service users include the physically challenged and often drivers who simply enjoy the luxury of full service in an impersonal self-service world. The new owners will also expand the snack shop, Dedini says, and offer as many if not more services than he has, which include smog checks, tuneups, brake jobs and engine repair.
After so many decades of operating Dom's Exxon, a frequent "Best Service Station" winner in the Best of Los Gatos readers' survey, Dedini says the year 2000 was a propitious year to retire. It's also the year of the Exxon and Mobil corporations' merger and the takeover of those stations by Valero, a 20-year-old company in the petroleum refining and marketing industry.
Dedini says he was going through some old paperwork recently and came across a goals list he wrote when he began his career 36 years ago, which he had forgotten all about. One of the goals was to retire in the year 2000, which at the time, he recalls, Exxon bigwigs scoffed at.
"They said 'no one ever works at a station that long!'" he says, chuckling. Another thought that makes him laugh is the fact that when people thought gasoline was too expensive during the 1970s fuel crunch, Dedini asserted that gas would never reach 50 cents per gallon.
High rent and the prospect of maintaining and upgrading the ever-more-technical auto diagnostic equipment used on today's computerized cars were also criteria Dedini considered in thinking about retirement. And, he admits, there was another prospect that nudged him: the idea of spending more time "playing"--with his eight grandchildren, as well as at his favorite sport, golf.
His love of cars never far from the surface, he also plans to do some work in the auto industry, finding and trading cars between dealerships when they need a certain make, model or color to satisfy a customer's request.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
