St. Henry, Ohio, heading to pay my final respects to Bill Wilker, CB handle: Milkman. I was unsurprised by the jam-packed parking lot and the half-hour line of mourners. Remembered for his soft-spoken baritone and his witty way with words, Bill Wilker rested in his casket with a trucker's cap and custom-engraved plaque commemorating the 3-million-plus accident-free miles that earned him a spot on the 2018 "America’s Best Drivers" team:
The National Association of Small Trucking Companies
2018 Driver of the Year
Presented to: William Wilker
In Recognition of Your Outstanding Service to Moeller Trucking
--David Owen, President
It took me back to 2011, when at a fuel pump in Walton, Kentucky, Bill walked up to me, knowing I was the new guy, introduced himself and asked me to join him and his son, Lee, for dinner.
“He never said no,” observed a daughter-in-law beside the casket. “Weekends, holidays, whenever they called, he went.”
Bill Wilker's survived by his wife, Marlene, and children and grandchildren you can read about at this link.
In my own 2018 Overdrive profile of Bill Wilker and Lee, the 3.3M-mile safe hauler lamented, “I said I would never stay on the farm. I still can’t figure out how to leave.”
But the work ethic he acquired growing up on a West Central Ohio dairy farm served him well as a trucker, and made him one of the great heroes of my own trucking life.
“There’s three things you don’t mess with in Mercer County,” he told me that first night. “You don’t mess with our religion, you don’t mess with our guns, and you don’t mess with our alcohol."
Bill was one of those guys that just made you stand up a little straighter when you saw him around the yard. He always wore a collared shirt.
“I’ll tell you what’s getting these guys pulled around the scales," I can still remember him saying. "It’s their cluttered dashes. You should never go through a scale with a cluttered dash.”
Seeing him all dressed up, with that rosary in his hand, I couldn’t help but try to stand a little straighter.
When Long Haul Paul profiled Bill Wilker and son in 2018, the father was looking ahead to coming off the road after many years in this Peterbilt 386, among other units. Asked for advice for anyone starting out, the Milkman offered this: "Don’t be scared to ask questions. Too many think they know it all. Hell, I’m still learning stuff today. Most of the time, the other drivers will be glad to help you.”
Bill Wilker, born Feb. 8, 1954, passed Thursday, Oct. 15. His surviving family noted that those wishing to honor Bill’s life can do so with a memorial contribution to the Cancer Association of Darke County, or to EverHeart Hospice -- more at this link. Our condolences to the family.
