Head for the Hills Al Hill and his brothers follow in father’s, grandfather’s footsteps


BY STEVE BRAWNER Contributing Writer


Te story of Al Hill and Hill Bros.


Transportation doesn’t start with the brothers. Instead, the company is the latest


installment of a family’s involvement in trucking stretching back to 1932. Tat year, the brothers’ grandfather, Robert Hill, became an office manager for McMaken Transportation. He later moved to RISK of Omaha, Union Freightways and then P-I-E International. At P-I-E, Robert rose to district manager for the company’s Midwest operations, retiring in 1970. Everybody called


him “R.L.” According to Al’s brother, Pete Jr., he was a “hard-nosed trucking executive” who “demanded respect, and he got it.” Meanwhile, Robert’s son and the brothers’


father, Pete Sr., had entered the trucking business. He began working in 1949 for Union Freightways, where he met his wife, LaRue. He later worked for Boss Truck Lines and then, starting in 1962, for Sioux Transportation. Pete Sr. and LaRue gave their seven kids an


idyllic childhood. Te four brothers, Pete Jr., Al, Jim, and Pat; and three sisters, Maureen, Lori and Holly, grew up in an old home without air-conditioning in Omaha’s Dundee


neighborhood. Pete Sr. and LaRue were good parents; her job, Al said, was “chasing seven kids.” “Tey were extremely loving and


humorous,” he said. “Te only time they got strict is when we were late getting home.” All the brothers grew up working the


freight docks, washing and hanging meat hooks, and fueling the trucks. Getting in trouble meant spending the day with Pop. “With seven kids, if you acted up, you got


awakened in the morning, and he said, ‘You’re coming with me,’” said Pete Jr. “He found


PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALLIE KNAPP Continues


NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 4, 2016 — www.nebtrucking.com 15


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