Longtime trucker Jerry Ward took his final ride above the tandems of a bobtail Nestor Trucking Co. Peterbilt driven by Holden Nestor this past Friday, as reported by the Sterling (Colorado) Journal-Advocate newspaper:
Jerry Ward, born in 1936, was 83 when he passed on April 20. Read more about his life via the Journal-Advocate story at this link.Ward’s children told Journal-Advocate reporter Jeff Rice having the the Nestor Pete function essentially as hearse, leading the procession of vehicles to the local cemetery where Jerry Ward was laid to rest, was no doubt a “fitting tribute” to the life of a man for whom trucking “was his job, it was his hobby, it was his life,” as his son Lee put it. “Even when he was (ill) he still thought about how to get the next load down the road.”
Rest in peace, Mr. Ward. Our condolences to the family. Find more about his life via this link.
Trooper’s tribute to one trucker
Also last Friday, CDL Life highlighted a social media post from the Illinois State Police about a grain hauler who was tailed for miles by a trooper — there was nary a light out, though, don’t worry, no too-short following distance, bald tires or weaving across the center line.
All the “Mama Bear,” whose father was also a grain hauler, saw, as she posted via the Illinois State Police’s Facebook profile, was the driver “doing what you must do all of the time,” she wrote. “Your driving behaviors in that fully loaded semi show a lot about how you must drive all of the time. Cautious. Dedicated. Focused.”
The brief interaction between the Trainor Trucking LLC hauler and the trooper — the trucker by turns wary and concerned to happy, with “delight in your smile [showing] you weren’t expecting a Thank You,” as Mama Bear put it — you can read via the original post.
Don’t be ‘that guy’
If you can help it, anyway. Lord knows the parking situation can be difficult out there, but just as truckers are schooling themselves on how to effectively advocate for better local ordinances and zoning regs when it comes to adding dedicated truck parking, a recently-published guide for community residents of greater Des Moines, Iowa, shows residents troubled by idling trucks on their city streets may ultimately be doing much the same toward a different outcome.
The story leads with the story of Greenfield, Iowa (population: about 2,000 as of the 2010 census), resident Connie Albright and her annoyance at an idling truck somewhat routinely parked during daylight hours near her bedroom at the front of her house, on a residential street — Albright, according to Des Moines Reigster reporter Lee Rood, works nights at a factory and needs to sleep during those hours.
Something to keep in mind next time traditional parking options run out and you’re forced to explore the alternatives….
