“It’s Been a Great Ride” Leonard Harrison reflects on his 41-year career with HFS
BY adm1n IN Uncategorized On 24-05-2024
In his 41-year truck driving career, Leonard Harrison estimates he’s traveled over 1.7 million miles, making tens of thousands of deliveries – up to 15 a day.
That’s enough for three roundtrips to the moon, or at least to maneuver a big rig around nearly every road in Southern California’s Inland Empire a few times.
“I know it better than my backyard,” he said.
At the end of May, just two days before his 65th birthday, Leonard is trading in 18 wheels for two, with plans to retire and hit the road on his motorcycle.
“There are a few things I’d like to see,” he said. “I’m a racing fan and a sports fan, so I’d like to visit the Indianapolis 500 and legendary stadiums like Green Bay and Yankee Stadium.”
Leonard, a Los Angeles native, started driving trucks for Inter-City Delivery in the early 1980’s after a brief stint in construction. He spent his earliest years in the Orange County and South Bay regions of Southern California, eventually driving an approximately 150-square-mile stretch of the Inland Empire, where he and his late wife raised their son and daughter.
“One year turned into five, which turned into 10, and here I am,” he said. “Everything I have owned and done has been because of HFS.”
Leonard fondly remembers the late Mike Beidleman, former President and CEO of HFS, stopping by to chat about everything from work to family, and now Jim and Mark Beidleman continuing the same open-door policy as the company’s third generation of family leadership. It’s one of the reasons so many HFS employees stay with the company, he said.
Out of more than 15 drivers serving the HFS Montebello Terminal, Leonard estimates that half have been with the company for over two decades. He has worked with over a dozen customers for the same amount of time, he said.
“I’ve gotten to know a lot of people really well,” he said. “We supported school fundraisers for each other’s kids, and now we have grandkids.”
After driving in everything from hours-long traffic detours to transporting 5,000-pound steel coils to making a few unusual stops, including one memorable pickup at a cemetery (for headstones), Leonard said he is looking forward to staying busy in retirement.
“I haven’t woken up without a job since I was 16,” he said. “It’s been a great ride.”
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