S POT L IGHT


CHANGING TIME After 32 years in trucking, Neal Peterson is a dairyman now


BY STEVE BRAWNER Contributing Writer


In 2010, Neal Peterson was 50 years old.


He had just spent a month establishing a storehouse and distribution center in Haiti after that country’s devastating earthquake, and he realized it was time to make some changes. “Amidst all that, these people were still


happy and vibrant and working together,” he said. “I learned a lot from being down there and seeing them, and what I found out was – and I always knew this, but I got to see it at a higher standard – you create your own happiness.” Among the changes he decided to make


was to get in shape, especially after seeing how the Haitians had survived on one or two meals a day. He started running, lost 70 pounds and now competes in marathons and triathlons. “That’s been more of a 50 years old, you


know, start having your, people say, ‘mid-life crisis,’” he said. “Well, I was too cheap to buy a Harley Davidson. So I bought a pair of ten- nis shoes instead.” Getting in shape isn’t the only way


Peterson’s life has changed these past few years. After 32 years at Deseret Transportation, the trucking company oper- ated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he recently was appointed to manage the church-owned Deseret Dairy. It was difficult to leave Deseret


Transportation, where he started as a diesel mechanic before becoming a dispatcher and then, for the last 13 years, operations man- ager. When he left, he was managing 40 trucks that transported food and supplies from a new 700,000-square-foot warehouse


www.utahtrucking.com


in Salt Lake City to 113 bishops’ storehouses across the country. From those places, the goods are distributed to people in need. “Deseret,” the original name of the state


of Utah, is a Jaredite word in the Book of Mormon meaning “honeybee” that describes hard work and industry, and that’s exactly what happens at Deseret Transportation. The church not only distributes the food, but it also grows it, processes it and packag- es it. The church has its own farms, ranches, orchards and canneries. The food is distrib- uted not only to LDS facilities but also to food banks operated by other religious and charitable institutions, both in America and around the world. In addition to his work in Haiti, Peterson helped supply goods to vic- tims of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. It was more than just a job. “The church doesn’t advertise it that way,


but for me, it was my mission, my calling,” he said. It also may have been his destiny. His


father, Elwood Peterson, owned Magna- based Norwood Transportation, which hauled sand, gravel, road salt and other bulk commodities. For Peterson and his six brothers and sisters, trucking was the only way of life they knew. If they wanted to earn extra money, they cleaned toilets or greased trucks at Dad’s shop. After graduating high school, Peterson


earned an associate’s degree in diesel mechanics at Salt Lake Community College, married his high school sweetheart, Suzie, and went to work for his dad. The opportu- nity arrived after about two years to take his skills to Deseret Transportation, but it meant leaving the family business. “For me, that was difficult making that


Peterson


decision, but it ended up that my father and I (had) an even better relationship than we ever had, and really became more than father and son and employer-employee,” he said. “We became just really good friends.” Peterson spent 12 years as a diesel


mechanic in Deseret Transportation’s full- service shop. At the time, the company had 22 trucks. He was motivated by the work and by the mission, but he felt he had more to offer the company, so he went back to school to study transportation management and became a dispatcher for another seven years. It was a meaningful move. “Now I could see the bigger piece of that


whole picture,” he said. “I had no idea how broad it was about farms and orchards and plants and canneries and international relief and all that. So that really broadened my perspective, opened my eyes and tugged at my heart even more, to be honest with you, because I always knew I was fixing trucks


➥ UTAH TRUCKING ~ Issue 1, 2013 15


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