Member Spotlight: Kent Coen, Nebraska Truck Center


BY TODD TRAUB Contributing Writer


Kent Coen spent some considerable time


on the road as he helped grow Nebraska Truck Center, the truck parts and service company he co-founded in Grand Island 45 years ago. So what does Coen, who retired in


February, want to do with his newfound free time?


Get out on the road of course. “Our plan is to get a motor home or a


camper or some sort,” said Coen, 73, of the post-retirement plans he has been hatching with Jean Coen, his wife of 52 years. “Neither one of us really want to be tied down. I bought a place a long time ago but I want to be on the move. It sort of suits me better.” In some ways, Coen has always been on


the move. He relocated from Iowa to attend business school in Omaha, and after working with Loyd Brown for nine-plus years at White Motor Company’s Omaha operations he partnered with Brown and the late Floyd Hough to start Nebraska Truck Center, opening shop in Grand Island on New Year’s Day, 1970. “We started very small. We’re still small


but it is a hell of a lot bigger than when we started I can tell you that,” Coen said. Te long-time Freightliner and Western


Star dealer has three locations, and as the company grew and technology improved, Coen said, he was able to get out on the road to see to the development of Nebraska Truck Center’s other locations. “A lot of windshield time in Nebraska,”


Coen said. “Every time I would leave a town that evening I would call my wife and catch up.”


Seeing the company grow


has been a source of satisfaction for Coen, but he also takes pride in seeing the young people he has brought into the business develop and prosper, especially the parts and service technicians he has trained. Clearly the affection


is mutual. Recalling his retirement party, Coen said a trio of his most recent hires, all technicians, made a special effort to pay their respects. “Tey waited and waited and waited,” he


said. “Tey all three came over and hugged me and thanked me for what they had been afforded.” Employees also lined up to congratulate


Coen and pay tribute on a YouTube video, which included a recollection by longtime parts man Larry Adams, who remembered Coen and Brown practically hiring him on the spot six months after the company started. “It’s been a great run. I’ve enjoyed


working with you,” Adams says on the video. “Especially I’d have to say I’ve enjoyed all of the things that you taught me over the years. If I thought I was a good parts man you taught me how to be a better one. You taught me how


important customer relations are and I appreciate that. I appreciate everything that you’ve done for my family.” Along with travel, Coen is


looking forward to indulging his passions for hunting with his dogs and sport shooting, as well as tending to the various boards of which he is a member, which includes the board of directors for


the Grand Island Economic Development Corporation. And, thanks to his four sons, Coen has 10


grandchildren to keep him busy. In fact, as he spoke by phone some of them were in to visit from Colorado. “I hope I live long enough to see them


successful,” Coen said. Legacies are important to Coen, and he


hopes in his absence his company continues to take an interest in young people and nurture them personally and professionally. “I hope somebody carries that on,” he said.


“Te way all that stuff begins is you get beyond the numbers game and you go out and touch the field every day. … People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” NT


NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 3, 2015 — www.nebtrucking.com 23


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