Davey Tree Flipbooks

RETIREE CORNER 1949 D.I.T.S. GRAD WORKED BEFORE POWER TOOLS Delbert Tunks' passion for Davey, even 20 years after he retired, remains just as palpable as the day he started in 1947. "Oh my goodness, yes–I certainly look back at my Davey years as happy years. I worked at Davey my whole life. It kept me busy, and it kept me and my family fed," Tunks says. His wife of 66 years, Norma, recalled becoming a "Davey wife" when they married in 1950. "I still miss that green truck," she says. "And I miss the people that worked with Delbert, too." Luckily, Tunks still keeps in touch with his coworkers. "I always felt that Davey people were more like family rather than a company," he says. And it's no wonder. Delbert Tunks worked with the same coworkers for more than 20 years. Plus, he continually learned and grew older– and wiser–with those same people. "By asking questions, watching someone else do it and by doing it myself, well, that's the only way I got my education," Tunks says. Tunks viewed everyone who worked at Davey as teachers, most of them good teachers. He asked lots of questions and kept learning, getting better on the job. In 1949 he traveled to Kent to attend Davey's flagship training program, the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences. "My philosophy was you learned something new every day. If you didn't, the day was lost. If you have any questions, ask 'em! At Davey, someone will always find you the answer," Tunks says. Over the years, that learning paid off. Tunks had a lot of different titles and jobs across the country. "When we switched to power tools, it was supposedly easier, but it was still hard work. You just got the work done quicker." – Delbert Tunks May/June 2016 | 35 your axing, everything," Tunks says. "When we switched to power tools, it was supposedly easier, but it was still hard work. You just got the work done quicker," Tunks says. He also was there when Davey became employee-owned in 1979. "I bought stock right when it became employee-owned because, shucks, it was like you were working for yourself! That's what it amounted to. It was a way to save some money to your own advantage," Tunks says. He recommends others now buy stock at Davey–and plan for their own retirement as well. "Well, you have to look down the road and plan ahead. If you don't, you'll get run over," Tunks says. Delbert Tunks worked at Davey Tree for 46 years from 1947 until his retirement in 1993. During his first few years at Davey, Tunks traveled throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Wisconsin. He did everything from clearing brush and trees for new telephone lines to pruning and even clearing new rights- of-way for oil pipelines. In the late 1960s, Tunks became a general foreman at Davey. In 1973 he transferred to Great Bend, Kansas, where Davey had a contract with a power company. He spent the last twenty years of his Davey career there, until his retirement in 1993. The world around him changed during the 46 years he was at Davey. In 1949 he worked on his first job with power tools. Before that, "everything was done by hand–all your sawing,

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