Surely you, too, have wondered about those bright yellow mouse cars with the ears and tails. I finally caught one of the beasts parked over at the Goodwill store, suitable for a picture, and even consulted The Google for intel. For instance, what is truly about Nolen? Is this a local phenomenon or part of something bigger?
Here's what I found out: Shortly after graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in Entomology, Truly David Nolen joined forces with his father, Truly Wheatfield Nolen, to expand and improve the pest control business. With third generation Scott Nolen as President, a dynasty was born. Scott's background in research and development has led to the development of natural techniques and inventions used in their family friendly approach to pest control. Now, Truly Nolen boasts over 80 offices located in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. There you have it! Our mousemobile is not unique; we're but one of many cities with such a creature. He's kinda cute. He's franchised.Link Notes: Interesting stuff tonight. Oddball Observations offers several neat pictures of Arizona's Big Sky; OmegaMom tells the sad tale of trying to ship turtles to Alaska; k spent the day at a loon fest taking pictures with her new camera -- honest.
This is a first for me, seeing the car. Kind of a unique advertising gimmick.
ReplyDeleteAnd a first for me too, Granny. That is the beauty of these blogs from other countries with other customs (and "Mickey Mouse" cars!)
ReplyDeleteI like that the pest control people upgraded to a Bug for their vehicle!
ReplyDeleteSteve -- I am seeing more and more pictorial vehicles being used as as ad venues these days.
ReplyDeleteAvus -- yes, I really like to visit living abroad via blogs. I think you get a much more honest picture of a place from a native!
Melanie -- very apropos indeed!
Those blokes were really called Truly?
ReplyDeleteLucy -- Apparently. Sounds very Puritan to me.
ReplyDeletegranny j, Truly Nolen and I go back a very long way. In fact, I posted a comment somewhere a week ago about a my first co-parent to April, my first little cat, back in 1981. He was a neighbor of mine, and worked for Truly Nolen. I scarfed the Truly Nolen patches off one of his uniforms, and still have them today.
ReplyDeleteTruly was started in Florida and Arizona - another of those odd FL/AZ connections that crop up.
He had 2 sons, Really Nolen and Nozzle Nolen. Can't remember where Really went in life. Nozzle, though, opened his own business - his animal theme is elephants. Nozzle. They have a HQ office close to my home in Florida.
The mouse cars have been in my photo collections for many years. Their signs are great, too.
nite nite termite!
or,
sleep tite termite!
and so forth.
Did you ever find out where those strange names came from, k?
ReplyDeleteWell, I finally did a bit of surfing on that. Apparently it's an old family name, originally from France.
ReplyDeleteI found no *Nozzle* Nolen - that company was founded by a Ken Nolen.
But there really is a Really.
And a whole TRUCKLOAD of Trulys.
Apparently the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in this family. There are a lot of different pest control and pest control related businesses by sons and sibs.
They seem to all get along pretty well, but there also seems to be an undercurrent of stress over some of the actions of - I think Truly Nolen Sr.? - who reportedly would go into the company parking lot from time to time with a ruler, to make sure every little mouse car was parked just exactly right.
Bit of a control freak, perhaps?
A very interesting family, all around.
I just ran across this blog. Let me clear up some of the confusion if anyone cares. Yes, there is a Reilly (not Really) He is the youngest son. The two eldest sons are Truly William Nolen (the eldest) and Truly Scott Nolen (these are the children from Truly David Nolen's first marriage, there is also a daughter).
ReplyDeleteNozzle Nolen is the name of another company in Florida with which Truly Nolen does have relations. To be honest I don't remember the connection but they are related way back (like some 40+ years ago).
The name Truly isn't Puritan per se. It is a family tradition originating with Truly Wheatfield Nolen (who Truly David Nolen bought the company out from)
The rumor that the last name is French is something that Truly David Nolen insists upon though if you ask any French person they will not know this last name. More likely it is Irish in origin.
Just for the record, Reilly is an engineer. Scott and William (Bill) both work with the company.
what is his daughter aylah up to? she was an old friends of mine that i havnt heard from in ages
ReplyDeleteActually I was a roomate with Really Nolen for awhile at LaMancha appartments in UFLA back in early 80's.... very interesting character I must say..... we were complete different and I often drove him crazy and visa-versa but again he was different.... nice guy but have no idea of his whereabouts since the 80's
ReplyDeleteOk I searched and Really has his own company:
ReplyDeletewww.reallyinnovations.com
I am very impressed. I often wondered what became of him after we stopped being roomates.... looks like he did well and glad for him.
Hi, commenters. I am amazed at just how popular this post is and how many hits it gets via Google. Thank you for all the information you have furnished re: the Nolen family.
ReplyDeletePosted 7/19/08