Gene England may be almost 87, but his driving skills defy his age

One of the many pleasurable things we on The Trucker editorial staff get to do is talk with both truckers and leaders in the industry.
It’s rare when we get to talk with someone who wears both hats.
Such was the case recently as we prepared this issue’s article in our ongoing “Conversations with …” series.
C.R. England is a name synonymous with the refrigerated transportation segment of the industry.
It’s hard not to notice the brilliantly painted red tractors pulling the white trailers with the familiar crest and “England” adorning both sides of the trailer.
Well, 99.9 percent of the tractors are painted red.
There’s at least one white tractor and it belongs to Gene England, the almost 87-year-old patriarch of the company who still gets behind the wheel occasionally. Well, maybe more often than occasionally.
England’s father C.R. England founded the company, and after Gene and his brother Bill returned from World War II, they “took it to another level” as the popular saying goes.
For the article that appears on Page 8, we interviewed Gene England, who continues to hold the title of president, and his son Dan, who is chairman of the board and runs the day-to-day operations of C.R. England.
We asked Gene to describe the first mechanical reefer units and here’s his response, put the way only an industry veteran with a good sense of humor could do it:
“We were hauling bananas out of El Paso; we bought the first mechanical units. These things were so rare. We bought this trailer that was equipped with this mechanical refrigeration [unit] and it was a nightmare if there ever was one. It was kind of a Mickey Mouse deal. It had an air-cooled four-cylinder engine that hung under the belly of it. It would let you down often times. I remember one trip where I was pulling bananas out of El Paso and this unit just plain wouldn’t run. So I opened the vents and came home. The unit was underneath and the coils were up in the front end of the trailer. At the time, we had some units that were cooled like the railroad does with an ice bunker in the front and a putt-putt engine and really for bananas it was better than refrigeration.”
While preparing our article we ran across an article published about one year ago in The Salt Lake City Tribune by Paul Beebe, who graciously gave us permission to use the information in his story.
Beebe described Gene England’s personal rig and other facets of his current life:
“Here’s another way Gene England sets himself apart. Most of the company’s trucks are painted red. England’s rig is white; ‘King of England’ is painted on his door. The passenger door says ‘Queen of England’ in honor of wife June who goes along for the ride.
“Strangely enough, she’s as comfortable on these trips as she is at home. And she’d rather be with me,” England said.
“A few days ago, the couple got home from an eight-day run to Laredo, Texas, Pascagoula, Miss., and Dallas. An average day was 500 miles, with time out for fuel stops and food.
“The journey to Laredo was to haul cargo to an England distribution center in the south Texas town. The Pascagoula run was for business, too, but of a different kind. When he gave up running the company, England felt unmoored. So he and Bill established a business inside C.R. England that supplies cars to the company for sales and recruiting projects.
“It also furnishes vehicles to drivers who buy them through a payroll-deduction plant. The benefit sometimes needs a bit of arm-twisting to make it work.
“There are occasions when drivers default, and that may be the reason I needed to get to Mississippi,” England said.
“England is 14 years older than the next oldest driver on C.R. England’s payroll. That doesn’t concern Chad England, who runs the company’s safe driving and recruiting programs. His grandfather has passed a battery of tests for vision, hearing, cognitive function and strength. When Gene England is home, he walks two miles a day and when’s he’s on the road, he and June split meals in order to keep their weight down.
“Earlier this month, he underwent a road test administered by an automotives technologies instructor at Utah Valley State College.
“Not to our surprise, nor to my dad’s surprise, he came through just fine,” Dan England said.
When we called Salt Lake City a couple of days after our interview to recheck a few facts, Dan England said his father had hit the road again, heading to the eastern U.S. with cargo in tow.
“And he’ll come back with something. He never runs empty,” Dan England said.