25 Stories for 25 Years
Stanley Gum was born to parents of very humble means. After the death of his father, Stanley left high school to help financially support the family. At just 17, he began working on the dock of Fullmer Trucking in Danville and started driving trucks the following year. Stanley had a dedicated and successful trucking career spanning forty years. He retired from North Penn Transfer in 1991, and spent the next 29 years with family and restoring his antique tractor collection.
Joel Gum remembers the commitment and hard work his father displayed throughout his career: "If we think back to our parents and their friends and neighbors, we see a lot of hard-working people that provided essential services to our community. Our father represents many people from his generation who worked tirelessly to support their families. These people are truly the backbone of our communities."
Stanley's job as a truck driver allowed him to proudly provide for his family and retire at a reasonaly young age. Although he was not able to finish high school or pursue higher education, he strongly encouraged it for his children and others. His commitment to this was evident as his children graduated form college debt-free due to his many hours of overtime and hard work.
After Stanley's passing in 2021, the Gum family felt that creating a trucking scholarship with the Community Giving Foundation was the perfect way to honor his legacy in the field, especially in a time where truck drivrs are desperately needed.
"Over the last several years, we have heard more and more about the truck driver shortage across the country. Our family believes there is an opportunity for students who are not interested in pursuing a degree program to make a good and honest living by entering this career field, just as our father did. If we can help supply locally owned and operated trucking companies with qualified employees through this scholarship, we will see the benefits returned to our local communities," explains Joel.
The Stanley B. Gum Memorial Trucking Scholarship Fund awarded its first scholarship in 2024 to Grant Allbeck, a senior at Central Columbia high School. The award has created a life-changing opportunity for Grant's future.
"It is truly a privilege to be selected for this award. Thanks to the Gum family's generosity, I am now able to pursue my commercial driver's license, which would probably not have hapened without the scholarship. Once I graduate from the five-week course at Professional Drivers Academy, I plan to use my CDL in the agricultural side of trucking. This opportunity has made an impact on my life, just as I have heard Stanley Gum impacted many people during his life."