continued from page 13 One summer, in his teen years, Kyle worked at a service station. Kyle, did you wear coveralls?!! One day, while Kyle was working, some tools were stolen. He felt the responsibility of it. The next day, Kyle came to work with the sum of his earnings for the entire summer to give to the owner to compensate for the loss. He was prepared to make things right with the station owner. There was no price to be put on his good name. And Kyle’s sportsmanship goes beyond being an international master swimming competitor. He is a champion at laser tag! He is a strategic but honest card player and knows how to laugh! He is ever a gentleman. He has mastered the swing rhythm of integrity. Kyle was not yet 40 years old when he assumed the helm of the business as the third generation of Treadways. He had been educated at Stanford. He and I graduated the very same day from two different universities. He is two years younger and graduated with two degrees to my one! Then, he received his law degree from the University of Utah. Now he is two degrees ahead of me. But I still have the two years on him! He had a short period of practicing law, but the “diesel in his blood” brought him to Kenworth at age 27. Mentored for nearly 12 years by our father and other giants in the transportation industry, Kyle has said he still felt unprepared the day our father passed away, and the name on the door changed from Gene Treadway to Kyle Treadway and the desk with everything it contained was now his responsibility. He may have been mad at dad for leaving too soon, for breaking the rhythm, but only for a minute; he didn’t have time for that now. He was at the helm, he was the only one who could see the whole field, and he had a boat to guide. That boat has become a fleet. As dealer principal, Kyle has grown the business from the four locations he inherited in 2000 to 31 stores across the Mountain West and Mid Atlantic, with over 1200 families relying on Kenworth Sales for their livelihood. But, it is no cruise ship. Through seismic economic shifts, construction, staff changes, industry demands, supply chain disruption, earthquakes and a pandemic, Kyle had the 2020 vision to navigate COVID, as all of you did, to adjust and reroute. Kyle has a phrase, “If you can’t fix it, feature it.” This works as well for the support poles painted red in the West Valley parts showroom and for this and that in his own home. It also works for the COVID pandemic. Instead of giving in to all of the swirling anxiety of a maverick virus, with a skilled tech team, Kyle produced a companywide video message to comfort and assure employees that their jobs are secure, that the doors will remain open as an essential business, that the company is thriving. We can not only weather this, but we may come forward as contenders and Olympic champions in this regard! In each week’s video, he would greet and give an encouraging and informed anecdote based on current events or historical significance to inform and boost morale. Soon other rowers or team members would 14
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