Around Saia
This month's Around Saia features the retirement of ABL Lead City Driver Toney Claxton, W&R Department's Donnie Chapple, WFL Line Driver Mike Bates and OKC Line Driver Richard Young.
ABL City Driver Retires
The ABL terminal recently celebrated the retirement of Lead City Driver Toney Claxton after 24 years of service at Saia. “At small zone terminals, leads like Toney are an integral part of the day-to-day operations and are vital to servicing our customers and the success of the team,” stated DLS Regional Human Resource Manager Kevin Hamilton. “Mr. Claxton will truly be missed at the ABL terminal.” According to Kevin, Toney plans on enjoying his retirement while spending time with his grandchildren and doing carpentry work. All of us at Saia wish you a wonderful retirement, Toney, and the best of luck as you embark on this new chapter of your life!
Pictured left to right are Terminal Manager Justin Boegler; ABL City Drivers Shane Newberry, Toney, Billy Gilbreath, and Gilbert Arrazola; WFL Operations Manager Shane Pool; ABL Line Driver Johnny McWright; ABL City Drivers Aaron Jones and Gilbert Ruiz; and DLS Regional HR Manager Kevin Hamilton.
W&R Team Member Retires
After 20 years of invaluable service to Saia and the W&R Department, Donnie Chapple, retired February 5.
“Donnie was a tremendous asset to the department since joining Saia in 2000,” explained W&R Director Lloyd Rawson. “Besides working as a W&R coordinator and administrative assistant, he was instrumental in monitoring and assisting with the Northeast expansion and was the point-of-contact for claims in researching classification and packaging matters.”
Lloyd explained that even with all this, Donnie’s most valuable role was serving as a mentor and training resource to the department.
“Most of us utilized Donnie’s vast experience and knowledge in freight classification and rating over the years and he will surely be missed,” he said.
Donnie plans to spend time with his family and grandchildren, work on his golf game and continue to follow University of Alabama football.
Congratulations Donnie! All of us at Saia wish you a long and happy retirement!
Terminal Honors Retiring Driver
Employees at the WFL terminal recently honored Line Driver Mike Bates with a retirement party. Mike worked for Saia for 25 years. Everyone said that he will definitely be missed. In return, Mike shared plenty of stories, along with many praises for his coworkers and the company. Congratulations Mike! We wish you many happy years ahead! Enjoy your retirement!
Pictured from left to right, back row, are WFL City Driver Kenneth Oates; DLS Regional Safety Manager Darvin Brinkley; WFL Business Development Executive Shannon Harris; DLS Regional HR Manager Kevin Hamilton; WFL Line Driver Eugene Whatley; Mike, and his wife, Peggy; Brian Hastings; WFL City Drivers Marc Rachel, Trent Newhouse, and Richard White. Pictured from left to right, front row, are WFL Lead City Driver Jimmy Armstrong and WFL City Drivers Kenny Northrip and Billy Hall.
OKC Line Driver Retires
OKC Line Driver Richard Young retired after 38 years of service! Thank you for your years of service, Richard! What an incredible demonstration of dedication! We wish you many enjoyable years ahead!