East Jay man elected top employee for year
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – Freddie Richards likes to drive truck.

He doesn’t mind climbing up two metal steps each day, ones that are about 20 inches apart, and then a third one another 10 inches higher to get in the cab of a dump truck.

“You get to move around a lot,” he said. “You’re not always in the same spot; you’re always going some place different.”

Richards, 50, an employee of the Jay Highway Department, was elected by peers Friday as the town’s Employee of the Year.

“He’s a good worker,” fellow employee George Brown said. “He’s been here 25 years. He’s conscientious about his work. I think he’s pretty quiet. He’s very humble. That’s why I believe he got awarded.”

Highway Department Foreman John Johnson worked alongside Richards for 15 years before becoming his supervisor 12 years ago.

“Fred’s one of the good guys,” Johnson said. “He’s plowed his East Jay route for his entire career, even though he’s had at least a dozen opportunities” to change jobs.

Richards wouldn’t trade his East Jay plow route for another job.

It’s where he lives, where his family lives and where his friends live.

“It’s not bad plowing snow,” he said.

Known as Jay H-7 on the police radio scanner, Richards drives big No. 6, a red Volvo wheeler.

Richards has lived in Jay most of his life, except for the first year of his marriage to Beverly in 1974 when they lived in Farmington.

It’s been good working here, he said. It’s a job not too far from home, and you’re always working around the area.

Richards said there were a lot of other people who deserved to be elected Employee of the Year.

“It’s hard to pick someone,” Richards said. “A lot of other people are good and qualified and need appreciation. Everyone does their own type of job.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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