10-4 Magazine September 2022

38 10-4 Magazine / September 2022 Though it wasn’t common in years past, women have become part of the trucking industry, and most of them not only do their jobs, but they do them well. Pauline “Polly” Hylton (64) is one of those women who wasn’t born into the industry, but you wouldn’t know it by the way she handles her 6-axle Kenworth dump truck. She is requested on job sites not only because she works hard, but because she is good at it, too! Polly grew up in the Painesville, OH area with no trucking background. In fact, her background is actually in accounting and office work. Her life, as she knew it, started to change when she met KY Hylton, owner of Hylton Trucking, at Morton Salt in Grand River, OH. On September 15, 1979, Polly and KY were married, and in 1981 they welcomed their son, Tony. When Tony was born, the company name changed to KY Hylton & Son Trucking. KY would haul salt in the winter, and the first winter he and Polly were married was rough. That winter was very mild, and he only hauled six loads of salt that whole season. The newlyweds did whatever they had to do to make the truck payment and the insurance premium, including building furniture. KY would haul any kind of load that came available, no matter what time of the day that it was. Most truck drivers started driving as soon as someone could teach them then obtained their CDL at age 18. Not the case for Polly. Polly and KY found a 1970 Mack that was sitting in the weeds. They purchased the truck, that was equipped with twin sticks, for $1,000. After going through the entire truck and repainting it, Polly was behind the wheel learning how to drive it in the summer of 1987. KY taught Polly how to drive and said if she can learn to drive twin sticks, then she will be able to drive anything. Polly admitted that it was definitely a sight to witness when shifting two sticks. She would have her left arm through the steering wheel to shift one stick with her left hand while shifting the other stick with her right. Some might say that she was destined to drive, even though she wasn’t born into the industry, because she caught onto driving really quick. In 1993, Polly came off the road to run another business she and KY started, Kuntry Boy Supply, to sell sand, gravel, and mulch. She continued doing this until 1996, when they added a truck shop called KY’s Truck Repair, where Polly was hands-on in the shop. Over the years, she had worked alongside KY plenty and learned how to pull motors and transmissions. In 1999, KY and Polly decided to sell the two companies and just do trucking full-time, which is when Polly began her paving career. The Diesel Addict: By Stephanie Haas Today, you would see seasoned drivers teaching other drivers how to pave while riding along with them, but not Polly – she showed up on the job site and the crew taught her how. The crews already knew her skill level with the other materials she would haul, so they knew she could be taught and was fully capable of paving. After years of riding along, washing trucks, and helping with shop work, their son Tony started working for KY Hylton & Son Trucking in 2000, driving a 1996 Kenworth T800 6-axle dump truck. In spring of 2003, the company purchased a brand-new 2003 Kenworth W900 6-axle dump truck, which Tony drove through the summer of 2004 when, at that point, he was offered a job he couldn’t refuse at the local township for the road department. Polly took over driving the W900 in 2005 and has been in that truck ever since. GOOD AT IT!