10-4 Magazine August 2022

along and did his own photo shoot that day, as well. I am not sure why we never used these pictures, because I have always loved this truck. Maybe it was just the way it was all supposed to go – these pictures were tucked away on a hard drive for 13 years and were meant to be held and used later to honor our friend’s memory after his passing (cancer took his life on August 9, 2019). Whatever the reason, I think these pictures (and this story) are extra special. Trucking goes back two generations in the Schroyer family, star ting with his grandfather, who owned a small grocery store just outside Celina in Tama, OH. His grandpa used huckster wagons to make deliveries from the store in the 1930s or 40s. When Dave’s dad graduated from high school, he already had two trucks of his own. In the late 1950s, he formed Schroyer Inc. and began hauling livestock and poultry products. The company eventually quit hauling livestock, and made liquid fer tilizer, anhydrous ammonia, and propane their main commodities. Born in 1959 in Canton, OH, Dave is the second oldest of six children. Along with Dave, his older sister Cindy and his younger brother Craig all went on to work in the family business. Most of his other siblings did not get involved, but one of Dave’s other brothers owns his own trucking outfit and does do some hauling for the Schroyer’s business. Dave remembers moving trucks around at nine years old, and at 14 years old he hauled his first load down the highway. Working in the shop from a young age, he got his license at 16 years old, then began driving full time after graduating high school in 1978. The first truck he drove was a conventional GMC 9500 with a 238 Detroit 6-71, hooked to a 5-speed transmission, with a 2-speed rear end. 10-4 Magazine / August 2022 11 While growing up, Dave’s parents were always busy working and never took time off, but once Dave star ted working full time, they began taking vacations and leaving him in charge of the business. Eventually, he took the company over and built it up to 25 trucks. In 2012, with 15 trucks and 15 owner operators, they sold all their trucks and trailers to a company they had been working with since 1986 called Grammer Industries in Grammer, IN (a trucking company that hauls the same commodities the Schroyer’s did for all those years). Retaining their proper ty, Dave and his two siblings were hired on at Grammer as employees, and today they continue to run the operation for them. The family company, Schroyer Inc., does still exists, but today it only has a few trucks that work locally, along with a shop and a couple employees, and over 30 amazing antique trucks. Dave’s love for old trucks came after he and his dad went to an auction around 1980 or 1981 and purchased a 1919 Model T Ford and then restored it. Dave still owns this truck, but sadly, his father passed away in 2008. Other notable trucks in the large Schroyer collection include a rare 1948 Peterbilt with an integral sleeper, a 1931 Kenwor th, a 1928 Model A Ford, a 1915 International, a 1962 GMC