THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603230124
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: Long : 180 lines
Ask Ricky Blunt where he grew up, and he'll probably tell you, ``On a bus.''
More specifically, make that a Franklin Bus Service coach.
As a kid, he spent hours washing buses for his father, Gurnie Blunt, who started the charter company more than 50 years ago. Ricky and his brothers changed tires and cleaned the garage after school and on weekends.
As a young teenager, he tagged along with his father on trips. By his mid-teens, he was at the wheel, driving part time while still in school, then full time after college.
Blunt, 39, is considered by some to be the area's best ambassador. He has carried the Franklin banner to all parts of the country, spreading news of his home to all he meets.
Five years ago, he switched from driver's seat to office chair when his father retired. As president, he has continued the quality service for which Gurnie Blunt has always been known while expanding the business.
The Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce recently recognized Blunt's leadership and presented him the Business Person of the Year award.
He credits his father for much of the company's success.
``He started it with a seventh-grade education and raised nine children, then retired comfortably,'' he said in a recent interview. ``I'm living on the fruits of his labor.''
He believes the award partially belongs to his father.
``I'm going to share it with him,'' he said.
``But I won't give it to him,'' he added, grinning.
Buses always fascinated Ricky Blunt, much like firetrucks thrill many youngsters. The middle of Gurnie and Thelma Blunt's combined offspring - nine children and stepchildren, he was the most likely to take over the company someday.
One by one, all his siblings but one graduated from college and pursued careers such as teaching or business. He, too, dreamed of college, but his father tried to discourage him from campus life. Gurnie Blunt feared an education might lure his next-to-youngest son into a lucrative position elsewhere.
The elder Blunt need not have worried.
In 1978, Ricky Blunt completed his bachelor's degree in business administration at Virginia State College and returned home to the family business on General Thomas Highway outside Franklin.
``I always liked the business,'' he said. ``I guess that was the entrepreneur in me.''
His education and his father's mechanical skills and years of acquired wisdom made a winning combination, he said. Then in 1991, Gurnie Blunt retired and sold the bus company to Ricky and a related medical transport service to another son, Jerry.
Ricky Blunt still relies on his father for advice.
``I got a seventh-grade education,'' Gurnie Blunt said, ``but I know more than any one of them.''
Ricky Blunt said his father, who started out washing cars for $1 a day seven days a week at a Franklin service station, was a natural mechanic.
``When I was driving the bus and had some type of problem, he would tell me to just listen to the engine running.''
His father had started the business by converting a truck into a bus to take Franklin residents to work at the Portsmouth Naval Ammunition Depot in the 1940s. After World War II, he sold the truck and bought an old school bus that he used to take people to Norfolk.
The bus business is still growing. ``I hardly even advertise,'' Blunt said. ``I'm scared to do that. Every year, our bottom line gets bigger and bigger.''
Five years ago when his father retired, the company had five buses and 13 drivers, including full- and part-timers. Today, there is a fleet of nine coaches and 18 drivers.
But nine buses on the road can mean nine headaches. No matter how much preventive maintenance is done, breakdowns occur.
``I've been in my bed many a time and gotten a call at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning,'' Ricky Blunt said.
Learning to delegate authority has been the hardest part of his new position. But he believes his business degree and accounting minor help tremendously in today's technological era.
``As I tell my kids, life is so tough and competitive, you need every edge you can get,'' he said.
Still, there is no substitute for the old-fashioned values his father taught him. There are three secrets to success, he said: ``Treat people right, work hard and put God in the business.''
His faith in God is an essential part of his life.
A member of First Baptist Church in Franklin, he is studying to be a deacon. And he has been a good role model in civic affairs as a member of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors and a past Franklin School Board member and vice chairman.
Last fall, his faith helped him cope with news that he had Wegener's granulomatosis, a rare disease that affects the lungs and kidneys.
He had driven numerous patients to dialysis treatments and had seen how debilitating the treatments are.
``I knew what they went through and I always said I hoped I never had to have dialysis,'' he said.
Now he takes dialysis treatments three mornings a week, and he is thankful for that opportunity.
``They just found a way to treat this disease eight or 10 years ago,'' he said. ``Until then, it was fatal.''
At first, the medicine wasn't helping him and his doctors told him he wouldn't make it. He refused to give up and prayed that night for a miracle.
The next day, a sister called to tell him she had arranged for him to see a specialist in his illness.
``All he did was increase my medicine,'' he said. ``I think the Lord just touched my body.''
His illness has been an opportunity for him to share his experience and his faith.
His co-workers and his family helped him get through the worst part of the illness, he said.
Blunt met his wife, Dorothy, on a bus.
She was a student at St. Paul's College when he drove fans from the Lawrenceville school to a Richmond ball game.
He was smitten when he saw her board the bus, but he had a hard time making headway with her.
``She wouldn't pay me no mind,'' he said.
Finally, she agreed to a date.
A fraternity man with a car, he thought he would impress her. He drove her to Petersburg to his apartment and cooked her a steak dinner, then took her to a movie.
But she refused him even a goodnight kiss on that date - the first of a four-year courtship.
He had always told his mother he would try to marry somebody just like her.
``I did it, too,'' he said. ``She's been a jewel from day one. This job is so stressful, that if I had to go home to a stressful situation, I would have been sick long ago.''
Since his illness, he has tried to spend more time with his family.
``Being sick gave me a whole different perspective on life,'' he said.
Perhaps someday Ricky Jr., 12 - or Deon as he is called at home - or Ricketa, 11, or a niece or nephew will join the business though he encourages them to pursue a career they would enjoy.
``This business is so stressful,'' he said. ``You've got to like it.''
For now, his children help out much like he did as a youngster.
``As long as they stay at my house and eat my food, they're going to have to come out here and work,'' Blunt said.
``My goal is to have the business available for my kids or family when they are ready for it,'' he said.
While driving, he got to see much of the country.
One of his favorite destinations is Florida, particularly Disney World.
``It's nice traveling, good scenery and wide open,'' he said.
His best trip was a 30-day cross-country tour arranged by Gaynelle Riddick of Art Jones Travel of Franklin. Riddick, who nominated Blunt for the business award, always enjoys traveling with him.
The trip took him places he had never been before.
``Every day was a different thrill,'' he said.
One night in Yellowstone National Park, his cabin started shaking. He looked out at a big ball of fur.
``A buffalo was scratching his back against my cabin,' he said.
His trips have also taken him to Washington, D.C., as well as places such as San Francisco and Nova Scotia.
Blunt has spread word of Franklin from coast to coast, said C. Franklin Jester Jr., president of Jester Insurance Co., who also nominated him.
``Wherever he goes, he likes to meet people and tell them about his hometown,'' Jester wrote. ``If we had to pick one person to carry the good name of our chamber far and wide, it would be Ricky.''
He has enjoyed the travels and the opportunity to meet people, both at home and far away.
``I've done some of everything,'' he said. ``The whole thing in a nutshell is the Lord has really blessed the business and blessed me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
Ricky Blunt...
Photos
Jane Lassiter, Blunt and Gaynelle Riddick enjoy a meal.
Blunt manages a fleet of nine coaches.
Ricky Blunt oversees his company's 18 drivers.
While driving, Blunt got to see much of the country. His best trip
was a 30-day cross-country tour.
Greeting passengers and helping with luggage are all part of the job
for Ricky Blunt.
by CNB