It takes a big truck to tow a big heart.
That’s why all those rigs were present at Smith Funeral and Cremation Care in Westover on Saturday morning.
That’s why the machines were idling, with their drivers behind the wheel, and that’s why everyone was paying particular attention to the flatbed in the front.
Said rig was the one that was going to transport Charles Joseph Lee Hicks — everybody called him “Corky” — to his final resting place at Cedar Grove Cemetery, just over the state line in Mount Morris, Pa.
The 68-year-old Maidsville man died last week from injuries sustained in a car crash.
He was a skilled mechanic who turned wrenches forever. For 10 years, he was a driver for Ervin’s Towing, where he had a way of linking friendships with his co-workers and their families.
While tow truck drivers and their profession can be maligned, it isn’t always about clandestine, after-hour repossessions.
No one really enjoys hooking up a car a college student parked where he wasn’t supposed to, on a Saturday night.
Besides, who shows up when the transmission decides to fall out on Interstate 70 just past Columbus?
Or when the “check engine” light goes on and the starter just keeps clicking — no matter how many times you turn the key?
Corky, those friends and co-workers said on the day before his services, was someone who always showed up, during work hours and otherwise.
He was a good buddy to hang with, they said, for casting a fishing line in the water, or tracking a deer in the woods.
When it came time for the funeral visitation and the service and the sendoff to the cemetery, all those friends and co-workers huddled up for a second.
A hearse wouldn’t do, they said.
So, they lined up a flatbed, and called other towing companies in the region to ask if they would want to be part of the procession. Almost everybody said yes.
Two of Corky’s sons, Adam and Charlie, who also work at Ervin’s, were amazed.
“Everybody wanted to do it for the old man,” Adam said.
“It means a lot. I can’t really put into words.”
He and Charlie did put it into action on Friday, however.
Both were on the job at Ervin’s that day, waiting for the dispatch calls to come in.
The boys would work until noon, they said.
They were doing it out respect to their employer, who was gracious and generous during the ordeal, they said.
There was something else, Adam offered: It’s what his hard-working dad would have wanted.
After the service, the pallbearers came out and the precious cargo was secured.
The full-throated rumble of big machines caught the air, and everybody steered onto the road to take Corky home.
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