Yesterday Bessie died. I had known her since I bought the business almost 10 years ago and she’d been with the company since 1997. Today we are celebrating a long life – filled with lots of great memories. She delivered thousands of parts (and a few households) without a single complaint. In the end, she did almost 300,000 miles on an old GM V-8 engine. While I only filled in when our driver called out sick, she was a great truck for our sheet metal business.
My first memory of Bessie was driving in the winter of 2006 on the way to Lowell to visit our caster supplier for server racks. Bessie had a height of 10 ft 4 inches, which she reminded us daily in bold red letters, so bridge clearances were not an issue (or so I thought). Driving through a wintery, dark cemetery in an unknown part of Lowell, I drove under an old railway bridge only to hear the scraping of Bessie’s roof on the underside of the bridge. It sounded like my Titanic had hit an iceberg! I jumped off out of the cab and climbed up the truck to see what happened. Thankfully, some snow on Bessie’s roof had melted forming ice, which rubbed against ice on the underside of the bridge – no damage, but I will remember that sound for the rest of my life.
My best memory of Bessie was when my wife had to work and my 2 daughters had school off. Being the father I am, I thought a day of deliveries would be a great learning experience for them. So I brought along a cooler that doubled as a third seat and off we went to make our Franklin sheet metal deliveries. The whole trip Bessie blared loud pop music, while we bounced along the highway. My girls also got to see inside EMC’s huge assembly area and afterwards we celebrated our on-time delivery with hamburgers and milkshakes. They still remind me of that trip we took (and the lack of middle seat) even now when they are teenagers learning to drive.
Bessie also taught me some things. One dark, rainy afternoon I was returning from a south boston delivery and ran into the Bulrington Mall exit traffic. Naturally I changed lanes to pass the slow exiting traffic, but the state patrolman didn’t like it so he pulled me over. “What’s the problem officer?” I asked since no way I was speeding. I turns out that trucks cannot drive on the left 2 lanes of Rt 128. Who knew? I didn’t! To make matters worse, the officer checks the registration and it had expired! So much for automatic renewal! Now, every year my calendar reminds me to register the truck (and submit the DOT paperwork). But boy was that an expensive lesson.
After so more than 19 years I am so appreciative of all the guys who have taken care of Bessie over the years. Our drivers Henry, Gil, Paul, Juan, Danny, Santiago, and Edinson who did a great job of keeping her safe, driving her well and making sure she got serviced on time. Our auto repair place, Miller Automotive, did an outstanding job keeping her going in her last years. Yesterday she stalled in our driveway, and with a lump in my throat, we knew it was time to let her go. Goodbye Bessie! You will be missed.
from ETM Manufacturing http://etmmfg.com/3646
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