Eddie Ray receives Driver Lifetime Achievement Award

Drive Lifetime Achievement Award

In 1981, a 31-year-old Eddie Ray was working on a farm in rural northeast Alabama. He had little knowledge of the concrete business and never once thought about driving a concrete truck. In fact, he had never driven a vehicle larger than afarm truck. However, that all changed following a conversation with the owners of Kerr Ready Mix in Centre, AL.

On July 7th, Eddie joined the team at Kerr and was quickly introduced to a concrete truck.

“My first truck had twenty gears and it nearly took two hands to shift them,” he laughs, recalling his first truck with the modern trucks we have today.

Of course, there were no creature comforts of air conditioning or automatic transmissions. And like all drivers, Eddie’s number one priority is safety when he gets inside his truck. When talking with new drivers who join the company, he always gives the advice of not getting in a hurry and paying attention to everything that is going on around you.

Eddie’s other reminder to new drivers is to remember that they are the main salesman for the company. How you treat a customer can affect where they might place their next order, and throughout the years he has made it a practice to treat each customer with respect.

During his 40-year career with Kerr, Eddie has assisted with batching and on the pre cast yard but he still loves the interaction with customers he meets when delivering concrete.

Eddie is set to retire this year to spend more time with his wife Carol, their three children, three grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. He also looks forward to having more time to read and do a little fishing.