Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9004010030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TONY STEIN Landmark News Service
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium
Then Hochstetler, a 62-year-old Mennonite, walked briskly back to his yellow Bergey's Dairy truck, stepped up behind the wheel and quoted one of his favorite old hymns - "Hallelujah, 'tis done."
Done was his 46-year career as a milk delivery man. He retired recently. "I've served my time," he said with a grin. "I'm not even on probation any more."
Actually, Hochstetler could add another year to his association with the dairy business, when he worked inside at Yoder Dairy. Either way, that's longer than anyone at Bergey's or Yoder's or Miller Dairy, the only three in South Hampton Roads still delivering door-to-door.
The chunky, bustling man with the quick smile who spent almost five decades delivering milk makes one startling admission. He doesn't care for the taste of the stuff. Never did.
"When I was a child, I would only drink it with sugar in it," he said. "Now, I only drink chocolate milk, and that's just once in a while."
An Ohio native, Hochstetler moved to Chesapeake with his family when he was a child. In September 1943, when he was 15, he left Great Bridge High School to work on a Yoder's truck. It was wartime. Boys were needed to do men's jobs.
He learned one lesson quickly in the job that begins as Hampton Roads shuts down for the night and ends with the first rush of morning traffic. "The first thing I learned was to set down the bottles quietly," he said. "If I didn't, the customers let me know it."
Two years later, he became a driver for Yoder's and delivered for them until 1976. He tried day work inside because his first wife had multiple sclerosis and he thought a day schedule would help with the situation. It didn't, and he went to Bergey's as a driver in 1977.
His first wife died in 1986. His second wife, Ruth, is office manager at Yoder Dairy. "We have been drinking Bergey's milk and Yoder's orange juice," Hochstetler said. "Now we'll drink Yoder's milk because my wife gets it as part of her pay.
"I've never had to pay for milk for 47 years."
Hochstetler's "day" began about 11 p.m., when he arrived at Bergey's. He drove a meandering route that served about 110 customers. Each of them was listed in an order book on the dash of his Ford delivery truck, a 15-year veteran with almost 300,000 miles on the odometer.
Hochstetler, one of three Bergey's drivers, delivered to a total of 225 customers. Half of them, homes in Chesapeake, got their deliveries Monday and Thursday nights. The other half, scattered through Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake, got deliveries on Tuesday and Friday nights. Weaving through the subdivisions took Hochstetler about 75 miles on each route.
He would get home about 8 a.m., nap from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., do household chores, then nap again from about 7 p.m. until work time.
And though he's quick with a quip, he's short on yarns. "I guess," he said, "I should have written them down."
But cruising dark and lonely nighttime streets meant there were times when he was first on an accident scene. "I would do what I could to help and then call the police."
Once, he alerted a family to a fire in their house. Another time, he helped a woman who had lost her key crawl through a window. And - he grins - there was the time he walked up to a porch and couldn't help noticing through an open, unshaded kitchen window that the lady of the house was cooking breakfast in the altogether.
"I put down the milk fast and got back to the truck," Hochstetler said.
During his travels, Hochstetler would listen to the radio, either news or music on a Christian station. "I would sing along if I was sure no one could hear me," he said.
"I never did too much deep thinking because I never wanted to get distracted and make a mistake. The reason I've liked what I've done is that I am able to get my work done without being dependent on what someone else does. I get the milk out and take care of my customers and that's all they ask."
And, on that night of retirement, he had gotten out the usual quota: about 340 half-gallons of regular milk, 12 half-gallons of chocolate and a smattering of orange juice and eggs.
There wasn't any hooplah about his retirement at the dairy. "He has been extremely dependable," said his boss, route manager Harold Bergey. "He's not a man for fuss, so we'll give him a little bonus, a card and a thank-you."
Hochstetler just says, "I've got too much to look forward to at home." He does woodworking that includes making models of milk trucks, and he plans a lot of gardening. He will travel, too, with plans to visit his three grown children.
He will also work his way back to regular hours. "I will probably wake up in the middle of the night for a while," he said. "I will think about the new man out there, and I will smile to myself and go back to sleep."
by CNB