Harold Stunkard

Harold Charles Stunkard (June 28, 1909 – June 30, 1995) was an American truck driver who won the Oklahoma Motor Carrier Association’s Driver of the Year award in 1960.

Early Life
Stunkard was born on June 28, 1909 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at his pioneer family’s farm. He was the second of four children born to Charles Stunkard and Mary Belle Gibbons.

Harold attended school up through the eighth grade.

In 1930, Harold met and married his wife, Dorothy Slankard, and they would remain married for 65 years.

Early Career
As a young man, Harold’s life focused mainly on farming but when money got difficult during the Depression, he started hauling produce with his father-in-law, W.O. “Pop” Slankard. During their time together, they grew their operation to eleven trucks and trailers. The business was located in Tulsa, but it either flourished or died with their major customer, Safeway.

Trucking Career at Hugh Breeding, Inc.
Around 1938, Harold pulled out of the partnership with his father-in-law and brought two trucks and trailers as a Lease Operator to Hugh Breeding Inc. For Breeding, he mostly hauled barrels and cases of petroleum products.

In 1942, Stunkard halted his trucking activities, selling one truck and trailer back to his father-in-law and taking one tractor back to his father’s farm. He would work with his father raising wheat and corn for the duration of World War II.

After several short-term stints at Breeding in the late 1940's, Stunkard returned to work there full-time in 1952 (at the Founder's urging) as a Lease Operator and he serviced a long-time Hugh Breeding customer account located in Fayetteville, Arkansas for a couple of years.

Subsequently, Stunkard made frequent trips to New Mexico, providing service on Hugh Breeding Inc. contracts with the U.S. Government’s nuclear program. He hauled solvents and other fuels to two different remote locations north of Albuquerque.

Rendering Aid at the Scene of Accidents
Throughout his trucking career, Stunkard was cited for rendering service at the scene of several highway accidents.

In 1937, he was the first person on the scene when five persons were injured – three fatally – near Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He administered emergency first aid to the victims until professional help arrived.

In 1947, an accident in Missouri found Stunkard in a life-saving role when he rendered aid to four critically injured teen-agers.

He was also credited in 1950 with preventing a serious explosion near Pittsburg, Kansas when he stopped his tractor-trailer and extinguished the flames in an automobile which caught fire on the highway.

Oklahoma Driver of the Year Award
Harold Stunkard was named “Driver of the Month” for Oklahoma in June 1960, and later that year in November, he was honored as Truck Driver of the Year by the Oklahoma Motor Carriers Association after completing more than two million miles of accident-free driving. He was presented the Driver of the Year Award by Clifford Phillips, district supervisor for the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Retirement
In 1962, Harold Stunkard retired from Hugh Breeding Inc. after 19 years of service.

Stunkard resumed farming, raising both cattle and crops. He was a member of the First Christian Church in Jenks and a member of the Masonic Lodge.

Harold Stunkard would pass away in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 30, 1995 at the age of 86 following a lengthy illness.