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Sharing Memories Of Forty Seven Years At The Wheel

photo by provided Shorty and Patti Short have plenty of stories to share including his incredible 47 year career on the road.

photo by provided Traveling the roads of America with often over sized loads, Shorty Short always drives not only for himself but everyone else on the road too.

photo by provided With large construction projects like roads and bridges, Shorty and other drivers will often bring 300-400 loads of concrete to sites all over New England.

photo by provided

Tuesday January 17, 2017

By Cookie Steponaitis

Some people are born to their job and in the case of Clarence ‘Shorty’ Short that may well be the truth. Shorty was raised on a farm in Cornwall, Vermont and lived with the simple reality if it moved and was mechanical you learned to drive it. While it was tradition that people started with equipment earlier in life back in the day, in Shorty’s case he was not much past four when his first encounter happened. “I grew up on Delong Road in Cornwall and the neighbors the Bombards were out loading hay. I couldn’t have been much higher than his knee, but Mr. Bombard picked me up and set me in the seat of their Ford tractor and told me to keep my hands on the wheel and just go straight.” It was an adventure for a young boy and looking back almost half a century the hinting of a career to come. When asked when ‘Shorty’ became his known name, Clarence Short burst out laughing and shared, “We were in the one room school and I was the smallest one in first grade. Kind of built close to the ground. I am not for certain, maybe it was Charlie Towle who first called me ‘Shorty’ but it stuck. Most people today wouldn’t know who you were talking about if you said you saw Clarence Short.”
    Shorty went to the new Middlebury High School in his sophomore year, graduated in 1959 and went to work in Lebanon, New Hampshire when a job opening occurred. He started out as a helper on the route and was sent to two weeks of Tractor Trailer School in Fenton, Missouri and explained it was more about filling out paperwork and how to unload a truck. He began long distance driving hauling house contents for military families all over the United States. “You got a chauffeur’s license at that time,” explained Shorty. “Vermont required no separate license and a driver’s license meant you could drive truck.” Shorty was on the road for often a month at a time and worked for Ray Daniels Moving and Storage and was affiliated with United Van Lines. After delivering a load to his destination that often included Washington State, Colorado, California, Texas and Kansas, Shorty would call into the United main hub and they would direct him out to pick up and run another load. “I had to get pretty firm with them,” shared Shorty. “After I had been gone in the truck over a month and a half I wanted to come home for a bit.” Running alone, Shorty traveled the forty-eight continental United States for years and truthfully has no idea of how many miles he drove at the wheel of 18 wheelers. He averages about 65,000 miles a year in his current position which is a drop in the bucket compared to what he used to run and even the conservative estimate of over 3,000,000 miles is probably a bit short of his actual miles across America.
    Like many truck drivers in New England Shorty also honed his craft working milk runs for local people. “I can’t think of a driver my age who didn’t get his start driving for Bill Holdman,” chuckled Shorty. “I also worked for Ernest Pomainville and drew loads of cream and whey to Ohio and the Midwest.” Feeling himself a part of a great group of people just out there making their living, Shorty recounted stories of having a breakdown and other truckers stopping to help or pulling into Union 76 truck stops for the night and being able to talk with over 200-300 truckers who were coming and going from all parts of the nation. “I did stop at the largest one just outside of Detroit City,” remarked Shorty Short. “The place was so large that you parked a couple of miles from the restaurant, showers and inside facilities. They came to get you with a golf cart and when you finished took you back to your truck the same way.”
    When asked to share his favorite routes in America, Shorty had to think for a minute because he feels there were so many. “There is a beauty to the desert of west Texas that is hard to beat,” shared Shorty. “When the moon comes up it seems so gigantic and the light glows on all the land around you. You can see clearly up to forty miles away and it is simply spectacular.” While Kansas by moonlight is also beautiful, Shorty prefers not to stay in Kansas too long because it is simply flat. If given his druthers to drive any route in America it is the eastern seaboard run on Interstate 95 because it is simply a lot of fun.
    Feeling that good fortune has always been a part of his life, Shorty came back home to Vermont close to thirty years ago and happened to run into Paul Carrara. “I called out to him and said, ‘I hear you are looking for drivers,’” reminisced Shorty with a chuckle. “Mr. Carrara remarked, ‘Do you want to start Monday?’”  Thus began a career with J. P. Carrara & Sons that continues to be more than just a job to Shorty. Whether hauling to Boston, Hartford, Connecticut, Caribou, Maine and up and down some of New England’s most rural back roads, Shorty enjoys every day at the wheel. Currently completing daily runs to Boston, Massachusetts with concrete pieces, Hollow Core, Next beams or oversize loads for bridges, Shorty follows the same approach to driving that has worked all these years. “You are setting up high and you can see,” explained Shorty. “You are not only driving for yourself but for everyone around you as well.”
    Shorty has watched a lot in this trade change over time with forty seven years on the road and is elated to still be with the Carrara family and watched his own children grow. He has been married twenty seven years to his wife Patti and between them there are nine children, twenty-five grandchildren and twelve or more great-grandchildren, but not one truck driver in the bunch. “I had my step-daughter Chantel really hooked on the idea when she was young,” explained Shorty with a grin. “But then she discovered boys and that was the end of trucking.”
    While the rules that govern trucking are changing every year Shorty feels it might surprise the Valley Voice readers to know that all trucking is controlled by the federal government. Shorty does not foresee a day where America will not need truck drivers. “You simply can’t get the trains and planes to the supermarket and behind places of business,” concluded Shorty with a huge smile. “As long as we build and we make things, America will move product on the wheels.” The Valley Voice salutes Shorty Short for his skills, longevity and willingness to share his talents with others when asked. As dependable as they come, Shorty and the generation of drivers who came of age at this time are the backbone of transportation of goods and services in America. When you next drive over a bridge, perhaps give thought to the piece by piece movement of those gigantic concrete and steel pieces over the country and down some roads most would not drive in a regular vehicle. Those are the paths taken daily by Shorty Short and a host of drivers who are on the road day in and out keeping American industry’s products moving.

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