Summer 04

Summer 05

Fall 2005

The beginnings of our company date all the way back to 1929. Guy Heavener's coal delivery and custom farming enterprises began to take off as the Depression eased in the late 1930's. He already had found enough work to keep several employees busy. Indeed, the prospects were bright enough that he decided to build a proper place of business, and work at his ventures full-time. On a little lot he purchased along School Lane in Harleysville, Guy began building a home for his business and one for his family, all under one roof. Out of this new location, Guy's business began to grow with new vigor. As his number of coal customers grew, Guy had coal storage bins built beside his house, one each for "stove:' "nut:' and "pea" sizes. Sometimes slower-moving "rice:' "barley," and "egg" coal were stored in piles beside the house. About this time, he also established a dealership in Richfield fuel oil, for which he acquired a 1,000-gallon tank truck. When the opportunities arose, he also sold some cement and fertilizer. These ventures carried the business through the war years. In 1946, Herbert Knechel, Jr. came on board as a full-time employee after helping Guy combine rye in the fall. "I was going to go on my merry way after the harvest," Knechel remembers, "but Guy said, 'No, why don't you stay with me during the winter and run my new oil truck?' He wasn't putting out too much oil at that time yet, so I took over the oil and the gas, and we really built that thing up. People were just starting to change over from coal to fuel oil." In 1951, Guy Heavener, Inc. switched over from Richfield petroleum products to Esso. "Richfield had us on a quota:' Herb Knechel explains. "We had built the oil delivery business up quite a bit by that time, and Richfield couldn't 'up' our quota. We were in trouble that one winter for fuel oil. We hauled it in from all over -wherever we could get a little more. On a couple of those truckloads, we paid three cents a gallon more than what we sold it for. But at least we didn't let customers run out. We were desperate, so that's why we switched over to Esso, who we could depend on." Earl Frankenfield was hired in 1952 to serve as the first deliveryman of the Esso era. The Esso dealership gave the Heavener firm some new visibility. Fuel oil trucks were emblazoned with the Esso and Heavener names, with the Humble Oil Company picking up the detailing charge. Delivery vehicles also acquired roof ornaments in the shape of plastic dogs, emblematic of Esso's highly touted "Watchdog Service." "They were made out of fiber-glass' explains Earl Frankenfield "and we bolted them through the roof of the cab. Heavener's didn't care for that too much." "But they were good publicity," says Herb Knechel. "You even got kids working for you, asking their mommies and daddies to get oil from that truck with the dog on the roof. Earl had a leash around the dog's neck, which he took in through the window, and it looked just like he had a dog tied up there. He'd be at some of these farmers' places pumping gas and the dogs would throw a fit." Walt Kerr, who drove oil truck in his "little-bit-of-everything" role, tells a story about "coming down through Norristown after picking up fuel in Bridgeport one winter day. It was snowing like everything:' he recalls, "and a lady who was passing by stopped and really chewed me out for having that dog up there in that weather!" Guy Heavener, Inc. circa 1955 was a company with a lot of irons in the fire. At one time or another, it dealt in grain, gravel, cement, sand, fertilizer, turkeys, soybeans, bricks, sandstone, buckwheat, coal, gasoline, pumice, and even string beans. "Everyone pitched in to do whatever was needed, and we put in some long days:' Herb Knechel remembers.