After 61 years of working for and running a family trucking business in Rossland, Allan Davies is retiring, freeing up his time for fishing and camping.
Davies’ parents, Ted and Doris, started Davies Transfer 81 years ago in 1935, and Davies has been working for the family business since he was 16 years old. Now at 77 years old, Davies’ brothers have finally convinced him to slow down, but he isn’t giving up on work entirely. Davies has passed on the garbage side of Davies Sales and Service Ltd. to Alpine Disposal and Recycling Ltd., but plans to continue taking BCAA service calls, and responding to lockouts and towing calls, during the winter, as his family is one of the longest running BCAA contractors at 74 years.
But his wife is making a claim on his summer time. She’s created a bucket list for Davies with both leisurely to-dos, like visiting family around the country and going on a camping trip that lasts longer than three days, and things to do around the house and yard.
A history of hard work
When he first started working for the family business, Davies delivered groceries after school and picked up mail from 15 mailboxes around town and delivered it to the post office. Once he’d finished school, Davies started driving freight trucks from Trail to Rossland, and when his brother Ron branched off with this own moving and storage business, Davies also started driving for him, making trips to areas across BC.
In the ′70s, Davies started building his own side of the business, purchasing the Royalite Gas Station, which was next to where the Rossland Fine Wine Store is now, and opening a Jeep dealership. Allan ran the dealership, which offered local mountain dwellers much-needed four-wheel drive vehicles, for over 20 years, before taking on towing and running the service station full-time. He also started a contract plowing sidewalks for the City of Rossland.
In the mid-’80s, he started collecting recycling at his shop, with volunteers and individuals with developmental disabilities sorting the recyclables. The operation grew so the City of Rossland built a new recycling depot, which continued for approximately 12 years before the regional district took over recycling operations.
But of course, Rossland residents know him these days because he’s been responsible for the City of Rossland’s curbside and container contracts since 1991, or for the past 25 years, and he’s strived to provide that service with the utmost integrity and friendly customer service.