Penn Hills residents are missing a friendly face. Don Kuhn Sr., founder of David Kuhn Auto Body in Penn Hills, died July 15 surrounded by his family.
It was his 82nd birthday. Well known in the community, he owned and operated his shop for 51 years before retiring in 2018. He leaves behind his high school sweetheart and wife of nearly 64 years, Sara Kuhn, 81.
They began dating during their senior year at Penn Hills High School. Describing how Kuhn caught her eye, Sara said he reminded her of James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause.” “Don was the rebel,” she said.
“He had a ’57 Chevy standard shift, and he drove it like a race car.” His wild side was one thing, but his eyes made her stay. “But what probably motivated me the most,” she said.
“He had absolutely the most beautiful blue eyes.” Sara said Kuhn’s bright-blue eyes were complimented wherever he went. “All my teachers, when I was a senior and he started showing up at my classrooms, they would all say he had eyes like Paul Newman,” Sara said.
Over 63 years of marriage, she said they were each other’s support system. They didn’t need anything else, she said, because they had each other. Kuhn first worked as a clerk at a food market but had always dreamed of starting his own business.
Sara said the two did not have much money when they first married, but she supported his decision to follow his dream of owning his own business. In 1967, the opportunity arose to buy a garage on Sixth Street and North Avenue. “He quit his job and we bought the garage,” Sara said.
“That’s where we started.” Kuhn would operate his auto body shop from that location for the next seven years. He worked side by side with Sara.
She served as the business’ shop manager while he was towing and working on cars. “Anything we did, we did together,” Sara said. “We were basically best friends besides husband and wife.
” In 1974, he sold the space and relocated to the shop’s current spot on Sandy Creek Road. He and his two sons, Don Jr. and David Kuhn, fixed the 5.
5-acre plot to fit the specifications detailed in the municipality’s towing contract. Kuhn bid on the contract in 1975 and was accepted. Sara said his family was Kuhn’s No.
1 priority and his business was second. Sara said he had a deep desire to provide for his family, leading him to work seven days a week until he retired. Each day, she said, Kuhn would open the shop from 7 a.
m. until 6 p.m.
At the end of the day, he would come home for dinner and head back to work afterward. “With him, building a business from scratch, he spent a good deal of time in the business,” Sara said. “I, in turn, did everything with my sons.
” Despite not having much time to take his sons to Kennywood or the zoo, Kuhn bonded with Don Jr. and David during their days at the shop. Its original location on the corner of Sixth and North was a street away from the family’s home.
Sara said their boys would walk to the shop each day to spend time with their father as he worked. “All he knew was Don Kuhn Auto Body and his family,” she said. “That was his whole life.
” Don Jr. and David ended up working at the shop with their father. David became the shop’s estimator, and Don Jr.
filled Sara’s role as shop manager until he retired. Sara said having grandchildren changed her late husband. “His business was established,” Sara said.
“He had money. He doted on them. They wanted for nothing, and he spoiled them all their lives.
” She said if someone looked up the word grandfather in the dictionary, they’d see a photo of Kuhn under the definition. “They were everything to him,” Sara said. Kuhn loved his grandchildren endlessly.
Sara said since he missed a lot of things while his sons were growing up because of work, Kuhn made up for it tenfold with his grandchildren. “He was a stern but funny man,” said Kuhn’s granddaughter-in-law, Angel Kuhn. “It was the honest kind of funny.
” Angel described Kuhn as a staple in the Penn Hills community. “He was an honest and genuine man who loved his family and work,” Angel said. She said he consistently gave back to his community with free towing services, donated to youth sports teams and supported local police officers and firefighters.
“He always had a lesson to teach,” Angel said. “No matter if he towed a stranger’s car for an accident or an impound, there was a good chance he was going to have a lecture or lesson to teach you when you picked your vehicle up.” Angel and her husband, Don III, began running the shop in 2018 when their grandparents moved to Florida for retirement.
They officially bought the shop in 2020. Kuhn’s health started to decline. Sara said he was having strokes regularly, he began using a wheelchair and she wasn’t able to leave him alone for fear of him having another stroke or falling.
When taking care of him became too much for one person, they moved back to Pennsylvania in 2023, this time settling in Oakmont. After moving back, Kuhn’s health continued to decline and Sara remained his main caregiver. “I wouldn’t put him in a rehab facility,” she said.
“I kept him at home and I did all of his care. I would tell him every day, ‘You did so good, Hon. You provided for all of us.
’ And I said, ‘What do I always tell you? You don’t have to worry about anything because you have me.’ I would tell him that every day.” Once Kuhn could no longer respond verbally, he still would squeeze Sara’s hand when she said those words.
When she let the rest of the family know that Kuhn probably wouldn’t be coming home from the hospital, his children, their spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren rushed to be by his side. Sara said all 21 of them packed into the hospital room and shared memories about their patriarch. “My children and grandchildren could not have honored their father and grandfather as much as they did with his passing,” Sara said.
“It was a wonderful goodbye and a wonderful tribute to Don as a man, husband, father and grandfather.”.
