Civic leaders pay tribute to generous car dealer Stepman

Some will say that Ben Stepman was Henderson's most well known or even its greatest resident.

Stepman, a modest longtime auto dealership owner, would have strongly disagreed with being so labeled.

Instead, the man who created the catch phrase "in Henderson, of course" which he used in television commercials for his Ben Stepman Dodge, Yugo and Hyuandi dealerships, is being remembered by city leaders past and present as perhaps the community's greatest booster.

"Ben always worked to improve on the image of both Henderson and its business community," Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said of Stepman who died Monday at St. Rose Dominican Hospital of complications from recent surgery. He was 79.

"He was instrumental in getting the bond passed that led to the Boulder Highway beautification project."

Gibson noted that Stepman strongly opposed the old Henderson vs. new Green Valley rivalry, noting that "to him, it was all just one Henderson."

Services for Stepman, the former multi-term president of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and the owner of a Las Vegas advertising firm, will be 11 a.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary Henderson on Boulder Highway. Visitation will be 2-8 p.m. Thursday at the same location.

Lorna Kesterson, a Henderson city councilwoman in 1976 when Stepman arrived in Southern Nevada and the town's mayor in the mid-1980s, said Stepman"made everybody care about Henderson.

"Ben did a lot for the city with his advertising. He was always promoting Henderson and what was good for the city."

When Stepman came to Southern Nevada, Henderson was the butt of Las Vegas jokes and often called Hooterville after the name of the fictitious hick town on the 1960s television series "Green Acres."

Stepman grew to despise that moniker for the town he moved to in the early 1980s. He spent the balance of his life fighting that image.

Shortly after arriving in Las Vegas in 1976, Stepman met famed entertainer Liberace at a party. Liberace told him that Henderson was going to boom in growth. Stepman followed that tip and made history.

To those who questioned his decision to open a business in Henderson, Stepman would vehemently defend the town saying things like Henderson is the state's fastest growing city or that more than 68,000 cars passed his doorway each day.

Stepman was long known in the auto dealership industry before he came to Southern Nevada in 1976 and subsequently opened Dodge, Yugo and Hyundai stores.

During his 30 years as an auto dealer in St. Louis, Stepman made history when he became the nation's first dealer to hire women to sell cars.

He actually came to Las Vegas to retire. In fact, Stepman and his wife, Billie, were in Las Vegas looking for a retirement home when their car was rear-ended at Maryland Parkway and Vegas Valley Drive.

While shopping for a new car, they were displeased with the treatment they were given by local dealers.

"Ben believed in low-key selling, being an honest dealer and doing proper advertising," said Billie who worked alongside Ben in their St. Louis and Henderson businesses. "We will continue to run that type of business as was his desire."

Ben Stepman Hyundai will close this Friday in remembrance of its founder.

In December 1976, after spending about three months in idle retirement, Stepman was longing to return to the car business. He bought the bankrupt Henderson Dodge, put it into the black and sold it in the late 1970s only to buy it back in the early '80s.

"We started with the phrase, 'We're the other Dodge dealer,' and that really took off," Stepman told the Sun in a 1994 story. Eventually the competing Dodge dealer moved from Henderson to Las Vegas.

Later, while sitting in his small office at his dealership on North Boulder Highway he came up with the catch phrase that made him a household name. He delivered the line "In Henderson, of course," with a broad smile and palms outstretched.

The one-liner became so popular, that some Southern Nevadans without thinking would say "of course," after someone said Henderson. People who ran into Stepman would enthusiastically say "of course!"

In March 1980, he opened Ben Stepman Creative Advertising to produce local radio and television ads, catering to small and medium businesses that otherwise could not afford such great exposure.

"There are many people who for years have owned and operated their own business, but have little knowledge of how to do their advertising and where to place it," Stepman told the Sun for a March 31, 1980, story regarding why he opened the business on East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas.

In 1982, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce selected Stepman as its president -- a post he would hold several more times.

Stepman was born May 30, 1919, in St. Louis and was raised in Keokuk Iowa.

He dropped out of high school to help support his family. In what he called one of his proudest accomplishments, Stepman returned to high school at age 52 .

"A lot of the kids thought he was a narc (undercover narcotics agent) because he was s1o much older, " said Bruce Hampton, Stepman's son-in-law. "But he earned his equivalency diploma, scoring the highest in his class and he became a major advocate for education. He supported several scholarships."

After serving in the Army during World War II, Stepman opened his first Dodge dealership in St. Louis in 1945.

In St. Louis, and later in Henderson, Stepman supported numerous civic and charitable organizations.

"It may sound corny, but I always believed in giving back to the community," Stepman told the Sun in 1994. "This community has been particularly good to me and I felt I owed something."

In addition to doing his own advertisements, Stepman also was asked by other companies to do their ads, which led to him opening the advertising firm.

However, one day while at home with his wife, he noticed himself on television time after time.

"I'm on television too much," he told Billie. In turn he backed away from doing so many commercials. Despite what he considered overexposure, his clients had been satisfied with the results.

In 1983, Stepman again sold the Dodge agency and opened a dealership for what he called the most underrated, misunderstood car ever sold in America -- the Yugo.

"That car was built as good or better than any car I ever sold," he said in a 1994 Sun story. The car sold for $4,995, making it possible for the common man to own a new car.

When the Yugo was no longer available, he started selling the Hyundai, another small and affordable car. In 1995, Huyandi honored Stepman on his 50th anniversary in auto sales. He also was cited for being the highest volume Hyundai dealer in the western region.

Stepman, who has been the subject of several articles in auto industry publications, said that of all the companies he worked with, Hyundai was easily the best.

Although his integrity as an auto dealer never came under scrutiny, Stepman staunchly defended his profession saying that car salesman in general did not deserve the collective negative reputation they got.

"Selling cars is a profession just like any profession," Stepman once said. "We have some people who should not be in the business and we try to weed them out."

While Stepman did a lot of big acts of kindness with major charities, it was the little acts of generosity that made him an endearing local legend.

When an 80-year-old Henderson woman got her eyeglasses broken at a city recreation facility and the city wouldn't pay, Stepman stepped in to resolve the matter.

He was moved by a 1996 Sun story about Olive Mower, who was hit by an errant volleyball while preparing for an aerobics class at the Lorna Kesterson Valley View Recreation Center.

Mower put in a claim to have the city's liability insurance pay the bill to replace her glasses, but it was rejected because the city said it was not legally responsible for the accident -- which indeed it was not.

However, when Stepman read that it cost Mower $237 of her $360 monthly food and gas money to replace the glasses, he gave her a check for $500.

"I understand this woman's position, and I also understand the city's position," Stepman told the Sun. "This is just a case of Henderson folks trying to help each other."

Stepman was active in local community events until he took ill.

In March, the Stepmans attended the Henderson Boys Club fundraiser. Last November, he was honored at the Basic High School football awards ceremony.

In addition to his wife, Stepman is survived by three daughters, Pam Goldberg of Annapolis, Md., Jill Hampton of Boulder City and Lynne Meier of Pineville, La.; a brother Al Stepman of Las Vegas and seven grandchildren, Jodi and Brad Cohen, Jennifer and Matthew Hampton and Rebecca, Kate and David Meier.

archive