10-4 Magazine / October 2025 59 even has a Green Bay Packers Miller Beer tap in place of the Kenworth logo on the grill. “That was always Jack’s trademark, and we’ve had beer taps on all of our trucks,” said Mary. Married to her late husband Jack for 29 years, Mary told me the story of how she met him. “Of all the places to meet someone, I met Jack while I was broke down along I-80 in Wyoming,” said Mary, continuing with, “Jack had been driving a double bunk Peterbilt for Dick Simon Trucking out of Salt Lake City, Utah (remember the Skunk trucks?) at the time, and after I got off the side of the road, we ran up to the Little America Truck Stop in Little America, Wyoming, and had dinner.” Together for 30 years, Mary and Jack were married in October 1986 at the King 8 Truck Stop in Las Vegas. “Jack and I had been running team together for about a year at this point. We had my 1985 International 9670 at the ceremony, along with a minister there to marry us, and my mom had made my wedding dress,” said Mary. They were married for 29 years of their 30 together, but sadly, Jack passed away on September 11, 2015. “When Jack passed, I received a care package with condolences from the Green Bay Packers, and that meant a lot to me,” said Mary. With over four million safe miles to her credit behind the wheel of a big rig, Mary told me how she began her driving career. “As a young girl, I enjoyed showing dairy cows at the local, state and national level 4H events, and was even on the cover of American Guernsey Magazine when I was four years old,” said Mary, as she began explaining, from a young age, how she had always loved traveling to these events, and this interest led her to the trucking industry. “I started driving in 1978, hauling milk with a GMC 9500 and tanker trailer for my father on our dairy farm, and ran a milk route from Owatonna, Minnesota to Des Moines, Iowa,” said Mary. “I learned how to drive trucks on the farm, and one day, my dad was short of help, and didn’t have anyone to drive the milk truck, so I volunteered, and that’s how I got started trucking,” she said. “My first truck was a 1977 Peterbilt 352 cabover,” said Mary. But one day in 1985, while having the Peterbilt serviced at an International dealership in Utah, a brand-new maroon International 9670 Eagle caught Mary’s attention. “I traded the Pete that day, and after Jack and I got married, we ran the 9670 until 1988 when we bought a Peterbilt model 379,” continued Mary. “That Pete had a lot of problems, so in 1991 we ordered our first Kenworth – a W900L – and I’ve been a
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