In the Driver's Seat

After a personal tragedy changed her life, Darlene Ballweg steered herself toward a new future

By Kim Dearth

Photographed by Amber Arnold 

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” We’ve all heard the saying, but not many of us truly take it to heart; instead we brush it aside as one of those well-meaning platitudes tossed around when things go wrong. For Darlene Ballweg, however, this simple statement, found on a kitchen magnet affixed to her oven door, is more than a throw-away truism—it is a life mantra.

Today, Ballweg is the powerhouse we see as the face of the eponymous car dealerships—the small, tanned woman in those fun-loving commercials who lends her personal touch at locations in Sauk City, Middleton, Wausau and LaCrosse. But it wasn’t always that way. For years she was content working on a farm and raising a family. Then, in the face of personal tragedy, she was forced to rethink her way of life, ultimately making one seemingly simple decision that would lead her down an entirely new path: Taking over her husband’s business and forging her own road to success.

A small-town girl who grew up on a farm outside Lodi, Ballweg was raised with that pragmatic Midwestern mentality and unending work ethic. A girl whose youthful days were full of the type of fun that comes from growing up on a farm known for its annual corn maze, it was no surprise when Ballweg grew and found herself falling in love with a farming man. Though she had earned a teaching degree from Columbia County Teachers’ College in Columbus, Wis., after marrying Danny Ballweg in 1956, it only felt natural to leave the classroom and head back to her farming roots.

“I was a chore girl, carrying milk and feeding calves,” Ballweg states matter-of-factly about married life on the couple’s dairy farm. “It was a hard life but I was happy.”

In 1965, Danny decided to double his business ventures. While Ballweg helped maintain the family farm and take care of their four children, Danny purchased a Chevy franchise from a widow in Sauk Prairie. In the next two years, he decided to expand. Partnering with 22-year-old Les Mack—who had started working for the Ballwegs when he was just 18—in a Chevy/Buick dealership in Lancaster.

Then, in 1984, tragedy struck. Danny was killed in a farming accident. After 28 years of marriage, Ballweg was suddenly a widow—and solely responsible for both the family farm and the car business.

It was a daunting proposition presented in the midst of her grief.

“When you lose a partner it’s like cutting off your right arm,” She candidly explains. “[Danny and I] were so close. Even on Sunday morning we would just sit around reading the paper, not talking, but it was so comfortable.”

At 49, Ballweg was at a crossroads. Did she sell the businesses and make a comfortable life for herself on the farm? For her answer, she did something unusual; in spite of her no-nonsense demeanor, she relied on her intuition. 

“I decided this was where I belonged,” she says of the dealerships.

“Darlene was a farmer’s wife until that day,” remembers Mack, the man who had worked for the Ballwegs for many years and had bought their Lancaster franchise in 1980. “A few weeks after the funeral she called me up and said she wanted to attend an upcoming corporate meeting in Milwaukee. She told me she wanted to become the designated dealer in Sauk City, and she wanted to tell management that day. At that time it was unheard of for a person who had not spent time in a dealership to become a dealer, much less a woman,” Mack adds. “But she did it.”

Despite her outward strength, the pain of losing her husband was still fresh.

“We cried all the way to Milwaukee and back, reminiscing about Danny,” Mack recalls. “But she still knew what she wanted to do.”

Ballweg stood in a room full of corporate leaders, businessmen with years of experience behind them, and announced her plan.

“I was the only woman in the room,” says Ballweg.

Undeterred, Ballweg charged ahead.

At a midpoint in her life, Ballweg was in a place she never thought she’d be, teaching herself the finer aspects of running a business, often spending sleepless nights worrying about inventory and profit and loss statements, subjects foreign to her until then.

Despite the challenges, Ballweg persevered. Not only did she learn the ropes of their current dealerships, she used her business acumen to add several more, including a state-of-the-art facility in Middleton, and boosted corporate revenues from $10 million in 1984, the year Danny died, to more than $150 million today. And the corporate dealership world that once was cautious of having a woman in its midst embraced her, showering her with accolades such as the 2007 Wisconsin Auto and Truck Dealers Association’s Dealer of the Year.

Today, nearly 27 years after making the decision to step into the business world, Ballweg is not just a figurehead—she stays involved in her business in personal and unique ways.

“I think it’s really important for me to be on the scene,” she says. “Every two weeks I go to Sauk Prairie and Middleton and hand the employees their paychecks personally.”

Her personal touch also extends to her relationship with her customers, to whom she writes thank you notes after a purchase, and to the ways she keeps the dealerships up to her high standards.

“The wind at the dealership in Middleton is terrible and really tatters our flags,” she notes. “I sew the flags when they need repair. I keep a sewing machine in the service manager’s office just for that reason.”

Call them smart business moves or shows of Midwestern niceties—but ask those who know Ballweg and they agree, these are choices that are just her, through and through.

It’s never easy to pick up the pieces after a personal tragedy, but it can be even harder to use them to forge a new direction in life.

Through everything, family and friends have helped keep Ballweg centered and strong—even when pain came again after she lost her two sons in separate incidents.

Quick to remember the good moments with her departed sons and husband, Ballweg isn’t one to get lost. Instead, she focuses on treasuring even more deeply the relationships she has with the people surrounding her. From Mack to her daughter Dana, former General Manager Dave Pederson and now Ballweg's Vice President Jason Brickl—another son of the company who started working for the Ballwegs when he was just 14—Ballweg maintains close ties with those involved in the company.

And as for family, Ballweg says, “Home is everything to me. My life is very family-oriented. Everyone gathered here [at the farm] for Easter and Mother’s Day instead of going out. Home is a little piece of heaven for me.”

Ballweg has also found a source of comfort and community in an active volunteer life, supporting local charities including Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital and Clinics, Tripp Memorial Museum and Hope House.

Her donations also were instrumental in making the River Arts Center in Sauk Prairie a reality. On the day we spoke, Ballweg was planning to attend a variety show at the Center where her 12-year-old granddaughter would be performing.

“With the political situation and the schools getting crunched, I want to make sure children like my granddaughter have the opportunity to participate in the arts,” she says.

 “I’ve always been very interested in music and the arts,” Ballweg continues. “When my husband died, I joined Cripple Creek Cloggers out of Madison and was with them for 21 years. It was a way to dance without a partner.”

Throughout all that life has handed her, she’s found her own way to keep moving forward, ticking down a list of life lessons.

“Keep busy. Don’t sit home and feel sorry for yourself. There are so many people who are worse off than you are, even if it doesn’t feel like it,” she says. Each ultimately goes back to that little mantra found on a magnet in her kitchen: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Ballweg has, time and time again.

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