Team Member Anniversaries

Congratulations to the following team members celebrating September anniversaries:

1Year: Lisa Adkins, Stephen Anderson, Scott Behn, Kaleb Biffar, Kris Bond, Stephanie Bunger, Carmen Candelo, Eric Caprilla, Todd Cayler, Reagan Chalupnik, Angela Chappell, Rodney Corn, Lucas Culbertson, Robert Dattilo, Felix Delgadillo, Nathan Doyle, Daniel DuBois, David Edwards, John Ellenburg, Hector Franco, Jason Gray, Joshua Gulick, Mark Jeffers, Andrew Koski, David Larue, Henry Legg, Marlon Maldonado, James McKay, Ryan Miller, Leonard Minor, Edem Nyanibo, Nyree Outley, Brian Pruin, Martavius Ray, Patric Raymond, Shawn Schaefferkoetter, Donald Sorge, Saw Taw, Christina Utphall, John Vela, Jesse Warner, Samuel Watt, Allen West

2Years: James Alexander, John Barrows, Thomas Coward, Timothy Davis, Joseph Elliott, Norman Fair, Drew Fitzwater, David George, Efrain Gonzalez, Christie Harvey, Kimberly Hughes, Jeremy Jones, Kyle Jones, Matthew Koester, Jonathon LeBleu, Jeremy Lothridge, Arthur Meade, Lacie Moore, Kenneth Peters, Garrett Pickens, Isaac Poitra, Andres Rivera, Lanny Ross, Nadeia Shemwell, Chad Simpkins, Charles Sizer, Wendy Smith, Zachary Tatum, Anita Van Rooyen, Nicole Waller, Robert White, Willie White, Corey Witherspoon, Sam Yim

4Years: Brian Addis, Katie Bequette, Donald Frazier, Guy Heffington, Tonya Hilton, Robert Jansson, James King, Bryan Leonard, Brian Quisenberry, Richard Thomas 5 Years: Shalae Bastian, Marcus Carlton, Fabiola Cervantes, Corey Davis, Renita Edwards, Erik Gath, Billy Hams, Timothy Keegan, Paul Kotzman, Daniel Mavers, Andy Nielsen, Curtis Olson, Jon Ripley, Anthony Shepherd, Zachary White, Floyd Yeubanks 6 Years: Andrew Beard, David Boissenin, Brad Bourbina, Nicholas Bowers, William Burns, Brian Butler, Daniel Duron, Ryan Esser, Ryan Fayet, Brian Gehlsen, Marcus Graham, Thomas Lundy, Geraldine Mansch, Marty McClendon, James Miller, Anthony Oliva, John Patton, Mark Rainey, Brady Sansom, Jeremy Spates, Charles Spencer, Matthew Tillery 7 Years: Jayson Banks, John Boehm, Brandon Burdick, Valrie Calhoun, James DeGraaf, Brian Freeman, Nick Golian, Terry Gooch, Robert Hiller, Katarina Lawrence, Justin Mead, Booker Sanders, Dylan Skeen 8 Years: Matthew Adams, Dennis Burt, Mickaela Doyle, Jeffrey Ebarb, Amber Gardner, Timothy Humphrey, Aaron Jensen, Dexter Sepulvado, Cody Tracy, Michael Trull 9 Years: Gregory Bartholomew, Everts Batista, Brooke Beasley, Shane Bengson, James Chinowith, Anthony Coziar, Erik DeHoyos, Justin Gaulrapp, Brent Henson, Robert Hill, Geoffrey Holder, John Janikowski, Melissa Jasper, Lawrence Jones, Jonathon Key, Lester LaCaze, Hilda Morin, Zachary Parker, Aaron Tombosky, Eric Turner, Dyke Whitney, John Wiebelhaus, Gregory Wooldridge

10 Years: Courtney Burks, Alan Cheek, Michele Howard, Karzaer Jackson, Timothy Lewis, Keith Singleton, Kevin St Aubin, James Tyler 11 Years: Chad Davis, Kevin Hampton, Brian Kemp, Joseph Knight, Jacob Link, John Walker 12 Years: Derek Brau, Andrea Harville, Travis Hodge, Joseph Magruder, Jeffrey Pierce, Ali Wade 13 Years: Charles Chipman, Shawn Coates, Armando DeLeon, Philip Roberts, David Rotz, Jesus Sanchez

14 Years: Eddie Blackwell, Joshua Jewell, Gerald Lewis, Afton Lundy, Marvin Miner, Lawrence Rapp, Earl Sims, Ron Spencer

Team Member Anniversaries

15 Years: Dale Bright, John Dozier, Robert Godfrey, Je Mon Guerrero, Charles McCall, Leon Norrgard, Ramon Salazar 16 Years: Rick Baden, Joshua Braden, Zachary Henwood, Scott Holmes, Michael Marino 16 Years: Marvin Albritton, Kyle Kozman

17 Years: Robert Powell, Eric Slimp 19 Years: Jimmy Johnson, Gerald Wiser 21 Years: Steven Ayala, Cyril Bangari, Jesus Cepeda, Steven Russelburg, Kelley Scarrow 22 Years: Timothy Hoffman 23 Years: Lloyd Huston 24 Years: Paul Loper 25 Years: Chad Byles 26 Years: Julie Sanchez 27 Years: Carlos Barnes, John Ostrander, Terry Showalter 29 Years: James Belsha 32 Years: Charlie Estes, Bruce Ferrebee, Kenneth Jordan 33 Years: Mary Mauch 35 Years: David Bidleman, Vic McClure, William Norris 37 Years: Charles Faraone

Unique Rail Connection Discovered

Portfolio manager Tony Delserone mentioned in a conversation with Watco CFO Rick Baden that he had a Watco connection through his great-grandfather. His great grandfather worked for a railroad that eventually became what is now Watco’s Pennsylvania Southwestern Railroad (PSWR).

Delserone’s great-grandfather went to southern Pennsylvania around 1900 to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, also known as the Pennsy. In the 1920s, the line carried three times more traffic than any other railroad its size. However, in 1970, the railroad filed for bankruptcy. This, and the bankruptcy of other large railroads, led to the creation of the Staggers Act, a bill reducing federal regulations for railroads and allowing short lines like the Pennsylvania Southwestern to get their start.

Baden sent Delserone a PSWR hat as a reminder of the railroad and the connection to his family.

Delserone recalled that about 20 years ago, he and his family took a ride on a historical steam train that rode the PSWR line. They stopped for lunch by the tracks, and Delserone noticed one of the rails was stamped Carnegie Steel 1898.

“Still in service a century later,” he told Baden. “That was about a year before Andrew Carnegie and his lieutenant H.C. Frick sold out to J.P. Morgan to form the United States Steel Company. Of course, the coke hauled by that line eventually supplied U.S. Steel.”