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Retirement News
'Retirement' Not in His Vocabulary, Even after 50
Years on the Road
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He is able to work the young guys
under the table, says wife, Marsha |
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Larry Bailey, 76, heart attack survivor,
great-grandfather is still driving for Mayflower and like so many of
today's senior citizens he's not ready to retire
by Casey Ellis
Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Mayflower Transit
Nov. 27, 2007 - Larry Bailey pulls up his red socks
as he climbs down from his perch at the driver’s seat of his
67-foot-long Mayflower Transit moving truck. At age 76, Bailey is never
without several pairs of his signature socks – he owns 41 pair.
“For my 41st anniversary with Mayflower, my wife
[Marsha] presented me with the same number of red socks,” Bailey
explained. “Not a vacation, not a television; socks.”
Bailey has no reason to complain, however – Marsha
presented him with a flat screen television for his 50th Mayflower
anniversary this year, a gift he said was “very nice but unnecessary for
just doing my job.”
Bailey hasn’t just “done his job” with Mayflower
Transit since 1957, he has done it without having a single accident
during that time; he’s driven more than 4.5 million miles across the
United States and Canada and has won several Driver of the Year awards.
Just like his radio handle, “Beatle Bailey,” Larry
Bailey has always been a “mover,” whether it is airplanes, logging
trucks or moving trucks. In 1950 he joined the Air Force as a cargo
plane flight engineer in Germany. After the completion of his service,
Bailey returned to his native West Virginia where he earned a living as
the driver of a log truck.
Yearning for a change in scenery, Bailey borrowed
$300 from his grandmother in order to buy his first car – a 1948
Chevrolet truck – made his way to Indianapolis and signed a contract to
drive for Mayflower. Nine years later, at the Mayflower offices in
Indianapolis, Larry met Marsha, who was working in the traffic
department (her job was eventually replaced by a computer) – and they
married in 1967.
The industry has changed in the 50 years Bailey has
been driving. When he began, he received instructions via telegraph – he
relied on Western Union for directions and money. He was instructed only
to place telephone calls in case of emergency.
Driving cross-country without the luxury of
interstate highways was a reality for Bailey for the first several years
of his career. In 1957, he drove an average of 350 miles per day. In
2007, he drives at least 600.
His original truck had no sleeping compartment and
no air conditioning – daunting conditions for a man who enjoys traveling
through the hot and dusty American west. Bailey’s truck today not only
has air conditioning and a place to sleep, but with a lot of storage
space and an $800 leather driver’s seat.
What has also changed since Bailey started driving
is the amount of time he spends at home. While he continues to drive
seven months out of the year, the amount of time he stays at home
between moves is longer – up to a month at a time.
While much has changed, some aspects of the
industry have stayed the same.
“Mayflower guys are still the good-hearted
Mayflower guys they’ve always been,” Marsha Bailey said.
A Mayflower guy, she explained, is someone who is
willing to do anything to help. Larry and Marsha experienced this
kindness first hand a few years ago when they were moving a sergeant
from Camp Lejeune North Carolina. (For three years after their children
were grown, Marsha rode with Larry – she managed inventory and took care
of the home within the truck.) During the move, Marsha noticed that
Larry was sweatier than normal, a tough feat. (“I don’t just perspire, I
sweat,” he said.)
It turned out that he wasn’t just sweating; he was
having a heart attack. Larry was taken to the hospital, leaving Marsha
with the Mayflower truck that she didn’t know how to drive. Some
Mayflower drivers from the area drove Marsha to be with Larry and then
moved the Camp Lejeune sergeant themselves. Bailey went back to work
after only six weeks and hasn’t had a health concern since.
“Larry is still Larry – he hasn’t slowed down a
bit,” Marsha added.
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Larry tying down in 1969 at the San
Diego Rail Yard |
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Speaking of slowing down, how does retirement fit
into Bailey’s plans? “It’s not even a word in my vocabulary; I’ve thrown
the word out of my vocabulary” he has said.
In fact, Bailey is feeling
healthier than ever. In a recent stress test, he passed with the health
of a man twenty years his junior and says that he hasn’t yet seen “every
last curve in the road.”
He remains physically able to do his job by
remaining active – “there’s no better exercise than actually loading and
unloading.”
For a time, Bailey was assigned to move electronics
but requested to go back to household moves because they are more
physically challenging.
“Larry is as strong as an ox,” Marsha explained.
“Even at 76, he is able to work the young guys under the table.”
Bailey makes a concentrated effort to keep his mind
sharp. He does not listen to music or the radio while he drives and is
instead “really able to focus on the road.” He knows how to relax and
paces himself – never working for more than four hours without a break.
Larry knows how to keep himself and his cargo safe - “He doesn’t drive
when the roads are icy and sleeps often,” Marsha explained.
When he’s not on the road, Bailey returns to the
home he shares with Marsha in Anson, Texas, a “town of cotton farmers,”
for whom he doesn’t hesitate to lend a hand in farm work from time to
time.
Larry also enjoys fishing, golf, working with wood
and assisting his wife with the antiques shop they own in their home.
The Baileys are the parents of seven, grandparents
of 13 and great-grandparents of one. When Larry, with his lumberjack
physique and red socks, is asked where his favorite place to drive might
be, he doesn’t hesitate one second in giving his answer. “Home.”
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