Trace Wallace, Truck Driver at Livingston Machinery in Fairview, has been a part of the LMC team since March of 2015. Trace and his wife, Patricia, live on a rural acreage near Ringwood, Ok. They have four children who are all grown and have blessed them with several grandchildren.
In his spare time, he enjoys riding his motorcycle with his wife and seeing all of God’s creations. Some of his favorite destinations are the different state and national parks across the country. Trace is looking forward to his 20th anniversary with his wife, in which they will be going on a Hawaiian cruise in June 2023.
Traces parents moved him and his brothers from Stockton California to the Fairview Oklahoma area in the spring of 1968. They made this life changing move to start a custom harvesting business with the help of his uncle. His mom and dad invested their life savings into a C-2 Gleaner combine sight unseen.
From the time Trace was 4 years old until he was 19 years old, Summers and Falls were spent following the wheat, corn, and milo harvest. The harvest spanned from southern Oklahoma to northern Montana and back again. Trace and his brothers were the main crew on the harvest until school started in the Fall. Even after school started, they would work on the weekends and after school to get the harvest in.
Trace started driving a truck from an early age and was first taught by his mother. “Part of my job was to ride with her in the truck hauling grain, helping tarp and un-tarp, and to scoop out trucks when unloading in bins”. When he came of age and got his commercial chauffeurs license, he took the wheel. Traces father then took over and helped him learn to drive tractor – trailer semis.
Trace has been on the road ever since and is celebrating his 39th year of driving a truck in 2021. In that time, he has hauled a variety of cargo including swinging meat, live cattle, grain, hay, refrigerated freight, dry freight, flat bed freight, oversized equipment, and hazardous materials such as crude oil, fuels and acids.
Livingston Machinery became home to Trace when his previous job in the oilfield fell through. He is thankful for Mark Williams giving him the opportunity to join the LMC team and be able to have a truck driving job that allows him to be home at night.
Traces greatest memory with Livingston Machinery took place a few years ago, when hauling hay into northwest Oklahoma and Southwest Kansas to farm and ranch victims of the wildfires that wiped out the area. “I remember seeing grown men and women in tears when they saw the loads of hay coming in”. Having the ability to help these people by being a part of the convey of hay trucks leaving Fairview, are memories that Trace looks back on fondly.
“I have made it my professional mission to be available and get the job done when ever needed, not only for Fairview, but for all the locations. Every location knows that they can call on me at a moment’s notice if they are in a bind.” Even after 39 years, Trace still loves driving and seeing different places of the country and gets great satisfaction bringing in the load.
Visit Trace and the rest of the LMC-Fairview team at our location at 2005 N Main Street in Fairview, Oklahoma.