For as long as he can remember, Minden’s Tom Prentice Sr.’s life has revolved around maintaining roads across Haliburton County.
The longtime owner of Tom Prentice and Sons said his family is celebrating 100 years of service in the Highlands. At 84 years young, he’s been along for the ride for the long haul.
Asked how he got his start during a July 25 interview, Prentice flipped through an old scrapbook and pointed at two men standing beside an orange bulldozer – his father, Duncan, and uncle, Morgan, who at different times led the company started by their father, W.W. Prentice around 1925.
“That was just right for me to sit on,” Prentice said, pointing to a hydraulic cylinder by the bulldozer’s operator’s seat. “My dad carried an old floor mat on the thing, and I rode hour in and hour out sitting beside him. I remember riding with him when I first started school, but it was probably happening before that. Nobody can say I didn’t grow up with it all.”
As he progressed through school, Prentice knew he wanted to get into the family business. By then, his father had sold most of his equipment to his uncle and gone to work for the Ministry of Transportation. But Prentice knew he had a job with Uncle Morgan when he was ready.
He attended Hal High until Grade 10. During his final year, he said there was a shift towards encouraging students to continue their studies to Grade 12 – something few did back in those days. The idea, Prentice said, was to push students towards lucrative careers rather than menial ones.
“I remember one of the teachers, frustrated with me, one day saying ‘Prentice, all you’ll ever be is a truck driver,’ thinking that was some big insult. I wanted to say ‘well that’s OK, that’s the only reason I’m sitting here.’ If it wasn’t for my father, I’d have been out of there driving a truck already,” he said.
After graduating, Prentice went to work for his uncle at Prentice Roads and Excavating, though by that time the business was pivoting to selling snowmobiles and trailers. Prentice initially had no plans to go into business for himself, but found roadwork fit him much better than selling. He bought his first truck, from his uncle, in 1968, birthing the Tom Prentice and Sons Trucking and Grading that we know today.
It wasn’t a seamless transition – about 18 months later, Prentice recalls his truck catching fire in North Bay while driving one of his usual routes.
When he was back on the road, Prentice routinely drove routes to Wolf Island, Sault Ste. Marie and Elliot Lake. He later took on contracts from a company in Lindsay that did road resurfacing. “I went wherever I was needed… so got to see a lot of the province.”
Prentice bought a second truck in 1989, just in time for his oldest son, Jack, to join the business. By the mid-1990s he’d added three more vehicles – two trucks and an excavator, taking on his other children Tom Jr., Terry and Tony.
When he took over the grading business from his uncle, Prentice said he had contracts to take care of seven cottage roads across the County. Today, the company maintains about 100.
Harking back to some of his best memories, Prentice recalled meeting “the Entertainer” Eddie Shack, a pro hockey player who featured for six National Hockey League teams between 1959 and 1975.
“He questioned me about what it was like being a trucker and stuff like that. We had a good visit. That would have been early 70s, when he was still playing,” Prentice said.
While there were some tough times, Prentice said he was always “too bullheaded to quit.” He’s happy he stuck with trucking – especially now his sons have gotten involved, continuing the family legacy.
“I was surprised they all wanted to work for me, I never pushed it,” Prentice said. “It makes me proud seeing what we’ve accomplished, what my boys have done. They’ve been running the company for some time now, probably 20 to 25 years.”
Not that the patriarch is ready to pack things in – he still has a grading route that takes him across Haliburton County; north to Dorset, south to Kinmount and east of Haliburton village to Loon Lake.
“I get asked frequently when I’m going to fully retire – I just say when my health gives up. I’m pretty fortunate to still be able to get out. If I’m healthy next year, I’ll be on the roads again.”
