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The Chiefs Last
Ride
Donald
Gorden Glen
February 25, 1945 - July 2,
2006
I
first met Don Glen at the first Alberta Big Rig Weekend in 2003. I
distinctly remember his big smile, firm honest handshake and this
remarkable sparkle in his eye that reminded me of a 10 year old boy
about to pull a prank. I soon learned that the smile and sparkle
were permanent fixtures and, if he was about to pull a prank on
some unsuspecting victim, it probably wouldn’t have been his
first.
Every so often throughout the
weekend Don would come up and ask if we needed any help with the
show. I could see that he was having too much fun with his crew so
I just told him to relax and enjoy himself. That’s another thing I
learned that weekend, Don knew how to have fun.
The Glen Transport crew left
that show with promises of being back the following year and sure
enough they pulled into the 2004 show looking much better than the
year before. It was easy to see that Don also had been bitten by
the truck show bug as he took home the 1st place in Lights, Paint
and Engine compartment trophies for his truck. Brad won the Best in
Show working truck and 2nd place in both lights and paint and he
was quite proud that he had lost out to his Dad.
When Don’s name was called to
receive his first trophy he came up (smile and sparkle intact) and
displayed another of his permanent qualities when he humbly
whispered to me that the trophy really belonged to his son Brad who
talked him into working on his truck and attending the
show.
Again during the show he kept
asking if he could help with the show but again I told him to take
it easy and have fun.
When Don arrived for last
years show he came over and after saying what a great thing he
thought these shows were for truckers and the trucking industry he
again asked if we needed any help with the show. I told him that we
were a little short on volunteers and may need someone in a couple
hours to give our guys that were parking trucks a break. He kind of
chuckled and said, “We can help there too but I know it must be
expensive to do these shows. Do you need any help in putting the
show on?” Realizing what he was getting at I admitted that the
Alberta show would need more support if it was to continue next
year. Showing that generosity was another of his qualities, he
asked me to call him for the next show.
After collecting more
trophies the Glen crew headed home with promises of not only coming
back to the Alberta show but they said they would be at the BC show
too. True to his word Glen Transport became a major sponsor of the
Big Rig Weekends this year.
Then in May of this year I
was surprised to hear that Don had sold Glen Transport to DTC
Chambers. I called Brad and he said that due to some health
concerns Don had decided to retire.
Up to this time, because of
the hectic pace of the shows, I had only managed to have a few
short conversations with Don, Brad and the drivers of Glen
Transport but one thing was always consistent during those
conversations, Don lay all of the success of his company on his
family and crew and in turn they praised him as the best boss,
father and friend that you could have.
I finally had the chance to
really get to know Don this year during the judging of the Best
Lights category at BC Big Rig. (He took 1st place in that
category) I ran into him while heading down Gravel Truck Row,
where the boys from the Island park each year and the light show is
fantastic.
We spent about an hour and a
half together swapping lies and talking about family, friends, and
trucking. He was especially proud of a conversation he had with
David Chambers the week before where David complimented him on the
great crew and organization that he had put together.
We came across Glen Morrow’s
1959 Chevrolet Spartan 80 and Don remarked how one of his brothers
had been killed while driving that same year and model of truck
back in the early 60’s. He said he was in the process of rebuilding
the truck as a tribute to him and that he hoped to bring it to one
of the Big Rig shows when it was finished.
I asked him what he was going
to do now that he was retired and he turned to me with that glint
in his eye and said, “Who said anything about retirement?” He went
on to explain that he and his wife Betty with their son Brad and
daughter Shelley (Daddy’s little girl) were in the process of
starting a custom truck and service business in Fort Macleod,
Alberta. He also said something under his breath about possibly
running a few trucks.
“I know a lot more now than I
did the first time round,” he said, “and besides it would make
Betty and Shelley extremely happy.”
Betty was the love of Don’s
life and they had just recently celebrated their fortieth wedding
anniversary. Don showed his ever present sense of humour by having
“Chief” written on the driver’s door of his truck and “The Real
Chief” written on Betty’s door.
He talked about how important
his family had been in building the business. How hard Betty worked
and supported him in everything he did and how proud he was of how
Shelley had completely taken over all the logistic operations of
the company.
He spoke of how Brad had
inherited his love of trucking and then how Brad took it to the
extreme with his love of chrome, which then rubbed off on Don. This
made them one of the only father and son teams at truck shows and,
as he said, because of Brad’s eye they always brought home the
hardware. After our conversation we parted and it felt like I was
saying good night to a friend that I had known for twenty
years.
The Glen Transport boys were
the last to leave the show at Mission this year and as they pulled
out Don said that he would call me in a week or two and talk more
about the Alberta Big Rig Show.
Sitting around the camp after
everyone was gone I told our crew that I was going to ask Don to be
a Rig of The Month this fall and everyone agreed it would make a
great story.
Less than a week and a half
later my cell phone rang and I barely recognized Brad Glen’s voice.
I asked him if he had a cold and when he said no I realized I was
talking to a big man with a broken heart. Brad told me that his
father had suddenly passed away.
We spoke for quite a while
and to be honest I can’t remember what was said. I then asked about
the funeral and Brad said it was going to be held in the ice arena
in Pincher Creek. He said there was going to be a truck convoy that
would run from Pincher Creek out over the Oldman River Dam and then
go on to Cowley. The route was important to the Glen family because
Don Glen was awarded the contract for the Oldman River Dam and he
was the first contractor on site and the last to leave - five years
later.
Friday night Ben Proudley and
I flew to Calgary and while picking up our luggage we ran into Mark
Brant from Winnipeg who was there for the same reason. We traveled
down to Pincher Creek with Gord Cooper and Oggy Ogden in Gord’s Red
Baron. Motor Rosenau also took his truck down to show his respect
and be in the convoy.
When we pulled into Pincher
Creek there were trucks from B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and
Montana lined up on both sides of the highway and vans were busily
transporting people to the local arena. We got to the arena to find
a large crowd of people milling around and at the front, backed up
to an open roll up door, sat Don’s truck with the familiar old
Steam Engine mural on the back captioned, “The Moving
Train.”
A lone piper played Amazing
Grace while the casket was brought in and placed on the back of
Don’s truck where it rode in the convoy to Cowley. There were
pictures all around and Johnnie McKinnon, who was Don’s shop
foreman for the last twenty-five years, proudly showed me a picture
of the fleet of six trucks that he personally rebuilt with Don to
start the company.
There were many stories of
the things that Don had done and the trailers that he designed that
truly set him apart in the industry. He designed a special trailer
to haul material to the Old man Dam that hauled all the rip rap and
“shot rock” to the project for 3 years. There were six trucks and
trailers on that run. These were the first trailers ever designed
with air scales on air ride suspension (1988).
In 1984 they began hauling
wood chips for Atlas Lumber under Glen Ranching LTD and in 1986
Glen Transport was incorporated. They bought their first new chip
trailers in 1995 which led to them inventing the first 53’ quad
axle chip trailer proving to be the most economic trailer for
cross-border hauling. The business flourished at this point - going
from six chip trucks in 1996 to over 80 units at the time of sale
to DCT Chambers in May 2006.
They undertook the longest
log haul ever done in North America from Rainbow Lake, Alberta to
Columbia Falls, Montana a distance of 2300 kilometres. They also
had the longest chip haul for five years from Meadow Lake,
Saskatchewan to Prince George, B.C. and Skookumchuck, B.C. a 36
hour round trip. In 2000 they signed a 5 year contract making them
the main chip hauler for Tembec Skookumchuck Operations.
(pulp mill) They just renewed that contract for a further 5 years
in February 2006.
Don’s last invention was the
log/chip hauling units that were built in 2003 and work on the
Northern Operations route on a two-way haul. This trailer saved
their customers over $1,000,000 per year by being able to back
haul. These 8 units are still heavily in use now.
But the main thing that Don
will always be remembered for is his compassion and the many people
that he touched. As his son Bob said, “You always had a second
chance with Dad if you were willing to improve and he’d always go
to bat for you when you really needed him. Loyalty, honesty, and
work ethic were the only requirements to work as a member of his
team.”
An example of this is when
one of their drivers, while going through a divorce, turned to
alcohol. Don and Betty took him into their home and over the next 9
months Betty personally nursed him back to health. He continued to
drive for them during this time and for ten more years until he
remarried and moved to B.C. He hasn’t touched a drop
since.
Another driver said he would
never ask you to do anything he wouldn’t do himself. “He’d help you
shovel out a chip truck and then take you for dinner.”
Don’s son Bob said the eulogy
for his father and the first thing he did was walk up to the podium
and while taking off his tie he asked everyone in the arena to do
the same. “Dad didn’t like them and he wouldn’t want us to be
wearing them today,” he said.
Bob Glen said it very well in
his eulogy when he said, “Not everyone can say that their Dad was
their hero, but many who knew him would agree that ours was. If
anyone ever seemed indestructible it was our Dad. He touched the
lives of everyone so deeply and set such an example for living life
that it will be difficult to move forward from here without feeling
a great sense of loss. But Dad would be disappointed if we let our
sorrow affect us adversely in the way we live.”
“As his friends, family, and
colleagues we were truly blessed to have had him in our lives and
to have experienced the profound ways that he affected us. He has
left everyone who knew him a legacy for which we should be thankful
– a curiosity about life, a hunger for knowledge, a passion for the
outdoors, an example of a life whose riches owe little to money, a
sense that anything is possible if you work hard, an absolute model
of what a father should be. These are such precious
gifts.”
Special
Note:
Pro-Trucker Magazine has
created a perpetual trophy to be given in Memory of Don Glen at the
Alberta Big Rig Weekend. This Trophy will be given each year to the
Best in show Truck at this event and will be on display with the
Glen Family during the remainder of each year.
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