For many business owners, the bottom line is often money. For George Mordt helping people while making friends along the way is the most important aspect of the affectionately titled Dad’s Garage.

Mordt’s penchant for helping others paid huge dividends recently when a chance encounter, with a couple moving across country from Tennessee to Colorado led to a viral Facebook post that almost immediately doubled Mordt’s business.

It was that encounter that led to Mordt being nominated and selected as the Warren County Record’s most recent Hidden Hero.

The post, written by Suzy Waters and posted following an incident Aug. 23 recounts Waters, her husband Austin and her friend Derek Witzke’s harrowing experience attempting to travel cross country from Cookeville, Tenn. to Fort Collins, Colo.

According to that post, the three were about six hours into their trip outside of Wright City when their car started having problems. Since it was a Saturday, local repair shops were closed or about to be closed, so they contacted Auto Zone who ultimately told them to contact Mordt. In the post Waters said she was crying on the phone when she spoke with an Auto Zone representative as the couple not only was transporting all their possessions, but also had two cats in the car with them.

Eventually Waters made contact with Mordt and his fiancé Danielle Vrabel. In the post Waters said Vrabel comforted her, while Mordt said he would be there in 15 minutes. Shortly thereafter Mordt arrived with Austin Dieckman and the two proceeded to diagnose the issues with the car. They not only got Waters’ vehicle back up and running, they showed concern for the couple and their plight.

“They didn’t just fix our car — they stayed until they were confident it was running safely, and even checked in later that night to make sure we made it to Kansas City and got checked into our hotel,” Waters said in the post.

In an interview last week, Waters said she still has effusive praise for Mordt and Dad’s Garage. She said things have been going great since their encounter with Dad’s Garage and that when they travel back this way heading to visit relatives in Tennessee she definitely will stop in again to meet with Mordt and Vrabel.

Mordt recalled the encounter on Aug. 23 as well.

“I was in here and I was doing front suspension on a Chevy S-10, which is strenuous, exhausting and time consuming,” Mordt said.

He mentioned that his fiancé Vrabel answered the phone and told him that the couple is moving and is broken down on the interstate in Wright City. It was early Saturday afternoon, so Mordt grabbed some tools, put them in his mobile service truck and he and Dieckman drove out to meet the couple along the interstate. Mordt said the couple was driving a Honda CR-V and he was quickly able to diagnose their problem right there on the highway and discovered they had two faulty sensors. He ran to Auto Zone and O’Reilly’s and was able to get the two sensors they needed and got them back up and on their way.

Dieckman said he had just gotten off work from his regular job and immediately jumped at the chance to help out. He said while they waited he replaced their battery and helped get them back up and running.

“It made me feel happy once we got everything done,” Dieckman said. “When I see people happy it makes me happy.”

As is often the case, Mordt made a life-long friend from the encounter. He said he still regularly keeps in touch with the couple, making contact with them a couple of times a week. Mordt and Vrabel are soon to be married and Waters said she wants to help with the wedding planning, Mordt said.

The post also increased Mordt’s business more than he could have possibly anticipated.