Killroy Pest Control History - How We Got Started

As we look back at this history of our business, providing over 50 years of Bay Area Pest Control service, we take a look at where we began.

Phil Olavarri, one of our company founders, was a pilot in the Europeantheater in World War II. He and thousands of other servicemen came to know well the slogan of the war – “Kilroy Was Here” as it was drawn by Americans upon convenient surfaces across Europe (early graffiti!)

When Phil and his wife,Norma, were looking for a name for their new business in 1956, they realized the little man looking over the fence proclaiming "Kilroy Was Here!" was a popular figure.

So they added another "L" to the name (since kill-ing bugs was the business) and they were on their way to soon becoming one of the pest control leaders in our valley!

Killroy Pest Control, Inc. now provides custom-tailored pest management programs forboth residential and commercial properties.We can solve all pest problems effectively and affordably with competent proficiency, friendly service, and the most-up-to-date materials. Killroy’s termite services include both inspection and treatment, if needed. Our seasonal services include weed control, oak and olive tree spraying, dormant treatments for fruit trees and more. “Sensitive Solutions,” a division of Killroy, provides non-chemical and low-toxic pest control options. This division has a fast-growing base of customers, taking extra precautions with the customers' children and pets, as well as any sensitivities or health issues.

With Phil and Norma “popping in” regularly, the business is now managed by Entomologist Dennis Merrill, his wife Dennie, and Phil and Norma’s daughter Lynn, with her husband, Richard Schmidt.

Left: Dennis & Dennie Merrill. Right: Lynn Olavarri-Schmidt, Richard Schmidt, Phil & Norma Olavarri

How the Phrase "Kilroy Was Here" Got Started & A Christmas In 1948

It was during the sad days of the second world war that Jim Kilroy started chalking his slogans at a shipyard near Boston. Jim was the original Kilroy. He was “Kilroy Was Here!” No doubt about that.

However, in the autumn of 1948, he was just plain James J. Kilroy, a 46-year-old shipyard worker from Halifax, Mass., and he was trying to figure how to get up enough money to buy his nine children some Christmas presents. No matter how hard or how long a day a man may work, there never seems to be enough money around at Christmas when there are nine children in the house.

“'The Transit Company of America’ was running a contest in 1948,” recalled Mrs. Margaret Kilroy Fitzgerald, the oldest of the nine children. “They wanted to locate the man who started the famous
’Kilroy was Here!’ slogan...and the prize was a trolley car!”

“My father wrote a letter to the Transit Company of America to tell his story, and his claim was checked out. He was thoroughly investigated, and the people running the contest announced that, without a doubt, he was the original Kilroy.”

In his letter to the contest judges, Kilroy wrote that he started to work for Bethlehem Steel Company at
Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1941. However, it was when he was appointed “a
rate setter” that he was inspired to write his now celebrated slogans.

In his letter he wrote: “I spent most of my time carefully surveying every inner bottom and tank before issuing a contract. I was thoroughly upset to find that practically every test leader I met wanted me to go down and look over his job with him, and when I complained to him that I had already checked out the job and could not spare the time to crawl through one of those tanks again with him he would accused me of not having looked the job over at all. I was getting sick of being accused of not looking the jobs over, and one day, as I came through the man-hole of a tank I had just surveyed, I angrily marked in crayon on the tank top, where the tester could see it, 'Kilroy Was Here!' The following day, a test gang leader approached me with a grin on his face, and said 'I see you looked my job over....'”

After that, Kilroy started chalking the message everywhere he went aboard ships under construction at the shipyard. Normally, these slogans would have been covered with several coats of paint before the ships went to sea. But, during the Second World War, they were dispatched to sea without benefit of paint, so they could be used as quickly as possible to transport soldiers, sailors and Marines to various parts of the world.

The servicemen spotted the “Kilroy Was Here” logos on the ceilings, floors, and walls of the ships, and quickly adopted the slogan as their own. In short order, “Kilroy Was Here” was written on walls in every corner of the world. The slogan even inspired a Hollywood movie called “Kilroy Was Here!”

A few days before Christmas in 1948, Kilroy gathered his nine children around him and asked, “How would you like Santa to bring you a trolley car for Christmas? Needless to say, the youngsters were overjoyed. After all, what youngster wouldn’t want to receive a real live trolley for Christmas?