Third Generation Monken

Monken Automotive was started by Harold Monken in 1967. His son, Wes Monken, joined the dealership in 1997. The dealership currently has two second generation employees with Wes Monken and Amy Monken-Brandt and now a third generation employee, Eric Monken.

Eric’s parents moved from Hoffman to Georgia where he was born, and shortly after moved back to Hoffman where he grew up on Monken Road near the rest of his family. Since grandpa, Wayne Monken, died at an early age, Harold Monken, Eric’s great uncle, was right down the road and quickly became a grandfather figure in his life.

Growing up, on Tuesday mornings Harold and his friends would all drink coffee in his barn, so it was a special occasion for Eric to get to crash these mornings. He also enjoyed going to horse shows and getting ribeye sandwiches at DuQuoin with Harold every year.

He’s been getting to know Wes more recently and even mentioned the fun memory of taking Wes to a crawfish boil earlier this year. Wes said it was a lot better than he thought it would be, but for Eric it was fun to see Wes in a different element.

Eric currently serves as the Used Car Manager. Although he may have more agriculture experience, Eric grew up changing oil and helping around the dealership, so he’s excited to be back. At work you can find Eric appraising used vehicles and assisting the sales department.

When Eric was asked what it meant to be a third generation Monken he said, “The whole Monken family takes that name pretty seriously. I live on Monken Road and we weren’t ever going to move anywhere else. The Monken roots are here and it’s an honor to work here.”

Aside from the honor of being a third generation employee, he also really loves working at Monken Automotive because of the people. It’s family owned and they treat everyone as if they’re all one big family.

Eric closed by saying, “I’ll be confident that the business will stay in the family and nothing is going to change from the time when Harold started it all.”

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