R. Fred DeVore is a huge proponent of Life -
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you know, the board game Milton Bradley created in 1860, and ominously (originally) named The Checkered Game of Life. DeVore, 58, is a principal owner of Peterbilt of Wyoming, a fully authorized Peterbilt dealership serving the Casper, Cheyenne, Rock Springs, and Riverton areas. This family-owned, thirdgeneration business has been around since 1949, when DeVore’s grandfather, Stanley, opened White’s Trucking in Casper. DeVore and his brother, Bill (Peterbilt of Wyoming’s other principal owner), bought the business from their father, Stan Jr. in the 90s - and there’s already fourth-generation family members learning the business. So, this whole Life thing… “So, yeah, you and I grew up playing a board game called Life, remember that?” he said. “In the game of Life, you’ve got a choice - you can take the shortcut, or you can go a little longer and land on one of those things that tells you what sort of wages or what sort of rewards you’re going to get - and yeah, you’re going to be a little further behind on that thing, but… you have to, you can’t take the shortcut. I think every kid in high school should have to play that game. “I think about that game all the time. I tried it, when I first started playing, I tried taking the shortcut all the time. You never get ahead by taking the shortcut - you’ve got to put in a little extra work up front. You want to go on and get more education, whether it’s a tech program or a university degree - you just have to get through it, because in this day and age, just having a GED isn’t going to do it.” The main thing, DeVore said, is you really have to get behind the wheel, give it some gas, and experience Life, first-hand.
by Thom Gabrukiewicz, Wyoming Department of Education
“I feel really lucky to have had the upbringing I’ve been given,” he said. “It’s been a good journey for me.”
Growing Up in the Trucking Business
Family businesses have a way of connecting family - and putting life into focus. “When all of our friends were out at the lake, or up in the mountains screwing around, we were here pushing a broom, or working under a truck with a mechanic, running parts - I remember working out here every summer as far back as I can remember,” DeVore said. “I’ve swept that back lot so many times - we actually found out, well, we’d always find money out there, and dad would seed a few bucks out there so we’d find it and get rewarded.” After Stanley DeVore bought out the White Motor Company franchise, he moved the business to the original Casper location on Yellowstone Highway in 1955. The family expanded to Cheyenne in 1994, Rock Springs in 1999 and Riverton in 2011. “It just keeps growing, growing and growing,” he said. The company has seen its share of challenges and change - starting out as a White dealership, then Freightliner. And then, Peterbilt came along. “It’s like selling Yugos, in our opinion, then BMW comes calling,” DeVore said. “We should have done that years ago. It’s made all the difference. Our customers demand a little bit more, and so does Peterbilt. We finally met their requirements, so we went for it.”
