For nearly the past forty years, a lot of people have come and gone and a lot of things have changed, but one constant in Schad’s warehouse has been mechanic/driver, Gary Bright.
Gary started at Schad in April of 1978. Things have changed a lot since he started. “Back in those days, there wasn’t a lot of training. You learned on the job. Somebody told me, get in that truck and go to Cleveland. That’s how I learned to drive a truck,” he remembers.
One thing that could not be trained was a strong work ethic. Gary remembers working a lot of overtime, and there being a lot more unplanned repairs in the Detroit area at that time. He also remembers himself and the other warehouse guys working as much as it took to get material and equipment to job sites to respond to customer needs. “Whatever it took,” he says remembering late night phone calls and a lot of long days and weekends.
Two people that Gary remembers taught him a lot were Jerry Ransford and R.S. Love. “They recognized I had a knack for fixing things and would put tools and equipment in front of me and told me to see if I could get them to work. That’s how I learned a lot.”
Gary has enjoyed his time at Schad and has fond memories of many of his co-workers. He values the family environment, the fact that he has had an opportunity to learn a lot, and the “self-weeding” culture, “people either work or they don’t work out,” he proudly says.
Gary has a lot of respect for Schad’s second president, Jim Schad, who took a liking to Gary and frequently hired him on the side to do jobs at his home and cottage. He still appreciates when Jim Schad had Gary pull a tree stump out of the ground using Mr. Schad’s Cadillac in order to prevent damage to Gary’s truck. Another memory of Mr. Schad that makes Gary laugh when he thinks about it, is the day that 100 wild turkeys were delivered to the warehouse to be taken up to Mr. Schad’s cottage! 
Gary grew up down the road from Schad’s Detroit office in Melvindale, Michigan. A small city he says has not changed much since he grew up there. He also spent summers in the South with his grandparents where he developed a love of the outdoors that he still has to this day. Gary has two daughters and one grandson who he proudly admires.
Schad thanks Gary for his years of service and hard work. It could not have achieved long-term success without the dedication and efforts of people like him.