Dommer retires after 67 years as road grader

By Valorie Brecht LeRoy Dommer is taking a new turn on the road of life, as he has retired after serving for 67 years as the road grader and snow plow driver for the Town of Unity, Clark County. Dommer, who turned 95 March 1, decided after he pulled a muscle getting into the machine a few weeks ago that it was time to retire.

Dommer has lived in Riplinger since 1956. He spent 27 years as a part-time grader, or the second man for the township; 13.5 years full-time; and another 20-plus years as the second man again.

Dommer grew up in Nebraska. In 1956, at the age of 27, Dommer and his wife Kathryn bought an 80-acre farm in Riplinger. Dommer spent many a morning up early milking cows before going to plow the roads at 7 while his wife finished the farm chores. In 1985, he retired from farming and passed the farm on to his son. He now lives just across the road from the farm.

He started grading roads for the township in 1958.

Please see Dommer, page 6

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO Dommer,

from p. 1

“When I was a kid, I drove a Caterpillar in California for my uncle, farming sugar beets. Well, when they found that out here, the township asked me if I would work for them,” said Dommer.

The rest, as they say, is history. Dommer first drove a Caterpillar with a pull-behind grader that only went 2.5 miles per hour. It took three or four days to do 1 mile of road. Now the township has two John Deere graders with 6-wheel drive and, running both of them, it only takes six or seven hours to do 1 mile.

The township went through several equipment upgrades in Dommer’s time. Dommer used to drive a Warco grader with stick steering. Then the township got a Caterpillar No. 12, followed by a Caterpillar No. 14. The town got its first all-wheel grader in 2003 or 2004.

The town also saw some personnel changes. Dommer worked under three town chairmen: Bernard Newman, Roscoe Meacham, and Wayne Hendrickson. Over his time grading and plowing the roads, Dommer got to know the people of his community well and had some interesting experiences.

“Twice, there were ladies I knew were pregnant and ready to have their baby. I plowed all the way to 13 so they could get to the hospital,” said Dommer.

He also worked during nasty blizzards, making for some long days. The longest he plowed continuously was from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“I had to go over the roads twice because of the drifting in. Years ago, the road was lower so there was lots of drifting,” said Dommer.

The town of Unity has 68 miles of road, which is one of the higher totals of the townships in the county. Dommer and his coworker, most recently Jeff Oelrich, would split up the township, with Dommer doing everything north of the town hall on Division and Oelrich doing everything south of it.

Dommer said his retirement felt bittersweet.

“When the grader went by here other day plowing snow, I sure felt left out. But, you know, you gotta quit sometime, and I guess this is sometime,” he said.

“I enjoyed it. I was always proud of the township of Unity and how we kept our roads,” he added.

Hendrickson praised Dommer for a job well done.

“It’s been really good (having Dommer as an employee). We could really depend on him,” said Hendrickson. “We could call him at midnight, if we had a heavy rain or something, and he’d go out right away and fix it. He’s been a reliable employee.”

Dommer will be celebrated at the Town of Unity’s annual meeting in April.

At right: LeRoy Dommer is shown with the most recent John Deere rig he drove. He has enjoyed operating heavy equipment throughout his life, going back to when he drove a Caterpillar on his uncle’s sugar beet farm in California at age 15.