CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — There's that saying, that sometimes a place just needs a woman's touch.
That could very well be the philosophy behind one local paint-and-auto body shop called Rose's Touch of Color located at 3056 South Padre Island Drive.
From fixing up the smallest of scratches to a complete paint job, the crew there is credited with helping bring hundreds of vehicles and sometimes even boats and planes back to life.
At Rose's Touch of Color, a good morning is measured in the sound of what rolls through the open garage door.
It was years ago when Rose Jolley decided to leave a bad job and create her own business.
"This is how I started the business, out of the back of a pickup," Rose said. "I just said, 'I can do this myself,' and started my own company."
It was some 30 years ago when Rose seized that opportunity.
"A lot of what this is, is trial and error, nobody has ever told me," she said.
Rose took her love for art and taught herself new techniques along the way and applied it to these four-wheeled canvases.
She added her own spice, mixing her own paints.
"Just because there is a formula or a recipe doesn't mean you don't have to add a little more salt or a little more pepper to make the color right," she said.
Rose said she knew she would have to work hard.
"As a woman I still had a lot of prejudice that I had to go through, so I not only had to be good I had to be better," she said.
It was that work ethic that helped Rose become a force in an otherwise male-dominated profession.
Three decades later, helping shake things up is Rose's daughter Michelle Crimmins.
"Started making my mom's paint when I was about ten, so it helped speed her up on the process, I would start on the next color," Michelle said. "The cars, we would have them lined up, the sooner we got done in the summer, the sooner we got to go swimming."
Rose is passing the torch, because now, her daughter is calling the shots.
"I am just so very very proud," said Rose.
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Hiring a team of paint and body techs who all share something in common.
"Yes, everyone employed with us, is a woman," said Michelle. "Some of these men still see me as a 9-year-old girl running this business."
Rose said she didn't really mean to only hire women, but that, "the women seem to be the ones that stick around."
Monica Hudgins is one of those employees, a paint and body technician.
"People are surprised coming in here and not realizing it's all women," she said.
She's been part of the team for almost a decade.
"I love getting up every day knowing that I am accomplishing something going from broken to fixed."
Michelle prides herself on the trust she's built with her customers.
"Women tend to have more detail in color and lines, we are more perfectionist when it comes to the overall quality of our work," she said.
Rose is supposed to be retired, but just can't stay away.
"No I can't, its hard," she said.
She still stops by the shop from time to time, home to so many memories, her box of paints still in tow in the back of her truck.
Rose knows the business is in good hands.
"It warms your heart, you think you love your kids, wait until you have grandbabies," she said.
In fact those grandkids are already leaving their mark in the from of hand prints on Rose's tool box.
Little hands that will one day grow into big hands, that they hope can continue the tradition.
"Just to maintain it and keep it growing so that my daughters can take over as well," said Michelle.
Just the thought of it, "brings tears to my eyes," said Rose.
Inspiration of what can be done because of something this mother had the strength to do, all those years ago.
"Do not let somebody tell you, you can't do it just because you're a woman," said Rose.
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