We celebrate another one of Marion’s favorite sons and now a favorite daughter, Dan and Georgia Salisbury.
Dan and Georgia Salisbury are the 3rd generation of Salisbury Trucking. Dan was born into the family of the Milk Hauling Business and Georgia married into this expanding enterprise in 1976 when she and Dan were married. They continued in this business always in the greater Marion area, including Osceola, Clare, and Missaukee Counties. You will see in the interview that Dan and Georgia always tried to involve their children in the family business. Their eff orts culminated in the business being passed to another generation in 2003 when it was sold to their son Josh. Now Josh and his wife Heidi own and run Salisbury Trucking. Josh and Heidi’s children who are working in the family business are now the fifth generation.
Marion Press: Dan tell our readers where you were born and raised.
Dan: I was born in Clare and lived at Lake 13 until I was 5. I was raised in the Farwell area and attended Farwell Schools through my freshman year. When I turned 16 I got my driver’s license and started hauling Milk to Chesaning at night. I was going to school during the day and hauling milk during the night. I did that for a month and decided that was too much I couldn’t do both. I thought making money was a whole lot better deal for me.
MP: You started driving truck when you turned 16. How long have you driven truck?
Dan: I’ve been driving truck for 50 years. This year is my 50th fiftieth year. I started in 1974 and worked for my Dad (Roy) until April 1978 when Georgia and I bought the business from my Dad.
MP: A lot of people in this area will have remembered your father. Tell tell me your dad’s name.
Dan: Roy Salisbury. He built the milk hauling business starting in 1962. In 1962 Dad started hauling bulk (Grade A) milk. Before 1962 hauled canned milk (Grade B) in the Gladwin-Beaverton area. He also had a small excavating business operating with a dozer, dump truck, and backhoe. Dad never moved to the Marion area. However, while Georgia and I were opening the business for my Dad, we were operating it from Marion. When we purchased the business from him, we stayed in the Marion area.
MP: Roy’s father, Arlie, also was involved in hauling dairy products. Tell us about him. Starting in 1927 my grandfather Arlie hauled cream and was centered in the Vogel Center Area. He was a farmer and lived just north of Marion. I am not sure when he stopped hauling cream. And, I am not sure about the connection between my grandfather’s business and my father’s.
MP: How did you meet Georgia?
Dan: Continuing with my father’s business, he became diversified. by hauling pulp wood, and he also had a small excavator business. I would haul milk in the day and at night I would take truckloads of pulp wood to Filer City. At night coming back from Filer City I stopped at the restaurant at the junction of M-115 and 20 Mile. Georgia was a witness at that little restaurant. I would call ahead (on my CB radio) and order my burger and coffee. I would stop and eat my food and get back on the road. We got acquainted at that restaurant. Two years later, on July 16, 1976, within a mile of that restaurant in a church named Pisgah Heights (Chapel Hill) we were married.
MP: Georgia tell me about yourself where did you grow up and where did you go to school?
Georgia: I grew up right here and graduated from Marion in May 1976. We were married in July 76 and we didn’t move far away. Our present house is the third house we have lived in.
MP: You and Dan have been business partners. How long were you in business together, and did you work outside the home at all?
Georgia: We were in business together for 35 years. Plus, I worked at the school (Marion) schools for 20 years. I was 10 years in elementary and 10 years in high school.
MP: Dan, do you have any other businesses besides the milk hauling business?
Dan: In 1989 I started gravel trains and hauling gravel in addition to hauling milk.
Georgia: We kept the gravel train business until 2010 when we sold it to our son Josh.
MP: Dan & Georgia, At what point did you stop the milk hauling business?
Dan & Georgia: We continued to operate the milk hauling business from 1976 when we purchased it from my father (Roy) until we sold it to our son, Josh, in 2003. However, we continued to operate the gravel train until 2010. Now, I continue working for Josh driving for milk hauling and for the gravel train, too. I also operate heavy equipment.
MP: Dan and Georgia, What has been the most meaningful to you? It could be an event.
Dan: It’s kind of nice to see my granddaughter driving an eight axle, that’s kind of neat. It is very meaningful to be working with our son, Josh, his wife, Heidi, and our grandchildren. It is our family working together.
MP: Georgia, I will you the same question. What has been the most meaningful to you?
Georgia: It is wonderful to be around all the grandkids and to observe each one with diff erent but unique personalities and talents. For instance, Nobody shifts and drives like Dan. One day I heard someone shifting the gears in a trunk and I knew that Dan was not there. The shifting was just like Dan’s shifts. I looked out and it was our grandson. I didn’t even realize I could tell the difference in the way people shifted.
When the grandson came in, I said to him, you shift just like your grandpa. And, he said, “Why shouldn’t I, he taught me.” Dan has taught others how to drive but I have never heard the same shifting pattern with anyone else.
I love seeing our granddaughters involved in the business but I hope they do other things also.
Dan: I can see the girls getting involved in the business end of the company.
Dan and Georgia: We always tried to make this a family business. In the earlier years, we even had both kid’s names, Joshwa and Tiff any, on each (truck) fender. We loved to see the business stay a family business.
MP: Dan, in all your travels picking up milk from farmers from Osceola, Clare, and Missaukee counties and other business activities, you have been acquainted with a lot of people.
Dan: I started coming up here with Dad in the truck when I was four. Plus I’ve got cousins here, relatives, Georgia has known a lot of people and I have become acquainted with them. In my travels to the farms, I have become acquainted with several generations of families. My travels started when I was four. I was not only meeting people with my Dad but also with my grandfather and uncles.
MP: You mentioned to me that you were married in the Pisgah Heights Church. Has that remained your church?
Dan & Georgia: We were married in July 1976. We have attended other churches from time to time, but Pisgah Heights (now Chapel Hill) has remained our church. We were married when Rev (Kenneth) Fall was the minister.
MP: Tell us about your faith.
Dan and Georgia: Our faith in God has helped carry us through some very rough times. We are thankful for that.