More than a Job

My granddad worked various jobs early in his career.  He oftentimes worked two jobs at a time to make ends meet.  Then he got his big break.  He was hired in the maintenance department at LeTorneau's.  The company later become known as Wabco and was a competitor of Caterpillar. 

It's founder, one of the great creators of the last century, was a man named R.G. LeTorneau.  He invented and created many of the mammoth earthmoving machines that build our roads, raise our buildings and mine the depths of the earth. LeTorneau who died on June 1, 1969, worked tirelessly over his life to dominate an industry and inspire thousands to greater engineering feats.

LeTorneau did not separate his faith from his work, seeing the creation of earthmoving mechanics as an extension of the play he enjoyed with the world God made. He flew endlessly to the corners of the world to inspire people of faith to work with their minds and hands to better the world, and even bought an old hospital in Longview, Texas to start a university, now called LeTorneau University, one of the most esteemed engineering schools in the country.

Toward the end of his life, LeTorneau used his knowledge to start colonization and land development to assist the poorest of the poor in Liberia and Peru.

LeTorneau taught us more than how to move the earth, but that if we plunge fully into the field that fascinates us, we can change the world through the free and passionate pursuit of our interests, and reminds us that the glory of God is man fully alive.

R.G. LeTorneau personally affected my family.  For the first time in his life, my granddad was able to get ahead when he was hired on by LeTorneau's.  He got healthcare, insurance, and vacation.  Granddad promised Grandma that when he accumulated his first week of vacation, that they were going to travel.  And travel they did.  And he passed that love of travel, especially out West, to my father, who passed that love on to me.