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From drivers to tank wash to shop personnel, the large room at the Knoxville terminal was filled with people who appreciate Paul Vogado and hate to see him retire. Paul Vogado, linehaul supervisor at the Knoxville service center, was presented with a plaque honoring his 36 years of service. Paul’s wife Denise was glad to be there to celebrate with the group. Denise, formerly an 8th grade school teacher, has been retired for 8 years. Denise says, “Paul will miss the drivers very much. Paul talks fondly about everyone, but especially the drivers, here at Highway Transport.”

Neil Evans presented Paul with a plaque, a book, and a gift card to Gander Mountain. Paul is an avid reader. His coworkers at the terminal signed the hardcover book, which is entitled Old West. Denise explains that for 36 years, her husband Paul worked a schedule of 7 days on and 7 days off. That schedule worked well for their young family because it allowed Paul to be able to keep the kids, take them on their field trips. It also enabled the couple to have quality visits to check on Denise’s mom, who lived to be 99 years old. Working 6:00 pm to 6:00 am, very few people ever saw Paul. He worked that schedule for 27 years. Both children are now Presbyterian ministers… daughter Lindy in Little Rock, Arkansas and son Christopher in Concord, North Carolina.

Now that both Denise and Paul are retired, they can spend more time visiting their children and hearing their sermons. The couple also looks forward to having more time to tour around our immediate area here in East Tennessee + the entire state. Paul enjoys history and reading and is content to be at home and more involved in church. Denise says, “It will be nice for Paul to not have to worry so much about weather and the commute to and from work, but he will always worry about the drivers and how they are doing during times of bad weather.”

To kick off the celebration, Neil Evans spoke to the group saying, “Paul has had a job here that a lot of us take for granted. He has been here from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am, and he is kind of the ‘tip of the spear’ meaning Linehaul gets all of the problems; they are the one-call contact for everything, and Paul has done an excellent job, in fact, him and Don Anders both have. It has been tough to replace Paul, but Paul’s commitment to Highway really shows. The way Paul has trained his replacement, Brian Vinson, Paul has done an excellent job on that. You know, it’d be easy just to cruise the last 6 to 8 weeks of your career, but Paul has done an outstanding job training Brian and really just an outstanding job his whole career.”

Paul Vogado with Neil Evans

Gary Reagan said to Paul, “All those years, you’re dealing with the exceptions, the problems, and you always got ‘em taken care of for us. And you’ve always taken care of our customers, actually both: our drivers and our customers. I just want you to know how much we appreciate that, and I hope you enjoy your retirement.”
Paul Vogado replied,” Thank you, I had a lot of good support over the years, people who were involved in a lot of things like tank wash, getting a piece of equipment out, the shop getting the feasible equipment out, the driver coming out at 3:00 in the morning…so, it was absolutely a team effort. I mean, you know, sometimes looking at details of a shipment doesn’t tell the whole story of what was involved. I had a lot of help and support to get the job done.”

Gary responds, “You know, we do appreciate the fact that you’ve spent the time training Brian, but it is still going to be tough to replace you.”

Paul Vogado shakes hands with Gary Reagan. center: Neil Evans.

Greg Watkins adds, “You don’t see Paul. It’s not that you don’t know he’s there. You know he’s there, but you don’t hear anything. But that’s nice, because sometimes, it’s a great thing because he does such a great job with no problems, and it’s always been great to know that you can go to sleep at night and everything’s going to be good, everything’s covered. I appreciate everything that you’ve done for our family. It’s awesome.”

Greg Watkins and Paul Vogado

 

Cake for Retirement Celebration


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