Mark has worked at Ledwell since 1992, and this year marks his 22nd anniversary.
While he has spent the majority of his years in the Feed Body Shop, he started his career working in the Truck Shop for William Griffin. “William was a good man to work for. About six months into it, I was lucky enough to have my appendix taken from me and Mr. Griffin put me on the ‘sick, lame or lazy’ list and sent me to the Machine Shop to heal up. The Machine Shop looked like really cool work and I wanted in. I spent the next 3+ years working for Boots Thomas”. Mark has spent the last 18 plus years in the Feed Shop where he mostly builds keels for the feed bodies.
“A former co-worker and I were doing something one day when Mr. Buddy rolled up on us. He asked us why we were doing it that way. Instead of us asking him how he wanted it done, in our youth, we proceeded to tell him why we were doing things our way. He politely said, “Oh son, do y’all need me to take y’all down to the other end of the street so y’all can take my name off that sign and put y’alls name up there since you know so much?” The man had a cool way of making a point!”
“A memorable project I have worked on at Ledwell was building a simple table for a co-worker to use to work on. When it comes to pride in my work, I can be a little OCD. My foreman told someone about halfway through my project that when I finished, you would be able to balance a ball bearing in the center of it. So when I finished, I formed a half inch bearing, drew center lines and put it to the test! Not only would it balance, but we dropped it 3 times from about 8 inches high and it stuck dead center every time. I still have the pictures on my phone to prove it!”
When not working, Mark likes to relax with a good friend, a golf cart and an ice chest. He also enjoys shooting. “I’ve always like shooting since I was very young. At 10 or 11 years old, I split a 50 caliber round ball on a double blade axe in competition. 1 shot, 1 time.” Mark and his wife Dyan have two kids, daughter Sophia (8) and son Kik (5).
“Mark is one of our top welders. He makes sure he puts out great parts.” – Mike Harris