For Immediate Release:
October 6, 2009
Contact:
Kit Wagar
Office of Public Information
573-751-6062
The “I-70 Man” Wins 2009 Older Worker of the Year Contest
Richard Breidenbaugh, a commercial truck driver and former bulldozer operator who helped build Interstate 70, has won Missouri’s 2009 Older Worker of the Year Contest.
Breidenbaugh received his award from Missouri First Lady Georganne Wheeler Nixon at a luncheon last month for him and 11 statewide finalists at Jefferson City’s Truman Hotel.
Breidenbaugh began his full-time job with the Clay County Highway Department at age 64, after retiring as a union “dozer man.” Breidenbaugh would be part of the team that started the highway construction by pushing large quantities of soil, sand and rubble and knocking down trees with his bulldozer.
Besides I-70, he helped build Interstate 35, which runs through Kansas City and northwest Missouri, and U.S. 63, which runs from Jefferson City, to the new Missouri 210 between Orrick and Richmond.
Breidenbaugh spent more than 35 years building highways. But one Saturday night, he knew it was time for a change. “I crawled off my ‘dozer,’ and that was it.”
The following Monday morning, Breidenbaugh was driving a dump truck for the Clay County Highway Department. The department hired him on the spot because of his equipment operator experience. Since then, he has driven all types of commercial vehicles, including tandem flatbed trailers and anything larger than 26,000 pounds. And he has plowed snow and ice from Missouri’s rural county roads in the winter.
These days, however, Breidenbaugh navigates the highways he once helped build in a pick-up truck. On the road by 6:30 a.m., he picks up and delivers highway parts to vendors from Excelsior Springs, Mo., to Olathe, Kan., saving Clay County thousands of dollars each year in freight costs.
In 17 years, the only time Breidenbaugh has missed work was for cataract surgery.
“Richard is the first one to donate sick leave when a co-worker has an injury, the first one to bring flowers,” says Karl Walters, Breidenbaugh’s supervisor.
As for how much longer he’ll continue to work, Breidenbaugh says he’s not sure.
“It’s a day-to-day thing,” he says. “If they’d treat me just a little bad, I’d quit.”
The 19th annual Older Worker of the Year contest is sponsored by the Missouri Senior Employment Coordinating Committee, consisting of the AARP Foundation; Experience Works; Catholic Charities of Kansas City – St. Joseph; MERS/Missouri Goodwill Industries; the Department of Economic Development/Division of Workforce Development; and the Department of Health and Senior Services/Division of Senior and Disability Services.