Murray Lake Marina, serving the area since 1944, under new ownership
Murray Lake Marina - Stock Photo From https://www.murraylakemarina.com/
by Bill Lee || contributing writer
Two years ago, after 40 years of owning Murray Lake Marina, Dave Steinbrecher of Lowell thought maybe it was time to sell his life’s work. He was in his late 60s and was a little worried about what would happen to the marina’s future. Fortunately, he had someone at the marina who was possibly interested in taking over, a mechanic named Sam Paxon. Paxon, who had been working there for over ten years, had gotten to know Steinbrecher, and the transition of ownership seemed to make sense. Dave would be passing his beloved marina to a trusted member of his team, and Sam, who had never owned a marina before, would get first-hand knowledge from the owner himself.
A little less than two years ago, the deal was made. “Dave has built it up, and I put a lot of time into it with him, and I didn’t want to see it go anyway,” said Sam Paxon. “It’s hard to buy a marina. Dave is here and helps every day for me learning everything. He has been more than fair, to say the least.”
Although Nikki Paxon, Sam’s wife, left a career in the health care industry to be a marina owner, Sam has been around boats for a long time and found a job at Murray Lake 13 years ago. “I went to school in Florida for working on boats,” said Sam Paxon. “I had a resume online and the service manager hired me as a mechanic. I’m not sure if I’ve ever decided to own a marina. I’ve always like doing my own thing and it just sort of worked out.”
After 40 years, one would think that Dave Steinbrecher would like to settle down in Florida with his toes in the sand and drink in his hand. Nope. “I’m still working here with Sam,” said Dave Steinbrecher. “There are things I’m working on but have no plans on retiring yet.”
Murray Lake Marina has been a part of Lowell’s summer fabric since 1944, when there were little fishing boats and cabins on the lake to rent. Today, it is home to 25 full-time and summer employees serving a clientele of over 700 boats, some of which are delivered to 25 lakes across Michigan. Generations of local families have been working with the marina since its opening, and Dave has enjoyed working with them. “We’ve had families coming back buying their third, fourth, fifth boat from us,” said Steinbrecher. “It’s been a nice job. I grew up around it and lived on this lake since I was 18, and the marina was on the lake and sort of transitioned from working there to then buying it. And the bigger the marina gets the more work there is.”
Sam and Nikki Paxon, whose main job is in sales but side job is to keep Sam ‘in check,’ have seen that growth since their time there. “In the last 13 years, we’ve multiplied the business 10 to 12 times every year,” said Paxon. “It’s cool to see the growth and where it is going to be in 20 years from now.” With growth comes more challenges but Sam and Nikki seem to take it in stride. “We have the same challenges as any business,” said Paxon. “Most everything now is trying to find employees that want to work, that are younger and are worth training. Other than that, your day-to-day is like any job. It’s not that bad.”
Steinbrecher has many great memories, as owner of Murray Lake Marina, including working with so many wonderful customers. He has some great stories, as well. One had to do with a commercial jingle he had helped to develop in the 1980s. “Back in the 80s we had a guy out in Cannonsburg who made up a commercial jingle, and we actually won advertisement of the year for it,” said Steinbrecher. “It is pretty interesting and pretty hard to win. We came up with a jingle called ‘Captains of the Inland Seas.’ Customers would come in just singing that thing. It was on the radio for a year.”
Without his loyal customers, he knows Murray Lake Marina would not have had the success in his time there. He is grateful of that. “I’ll miss the customers,” said Steinbrecher. “I want to thank them for all these years.”
