After 44 years a member of Local 618 Ted Ganahl has decided to retire. Ganahl was employed by Midco Services which was later sold to G.W. Van Keppel in the 1990s. Ganahl served 35 years as a Local 618 shop steward and since 2002 he also served as Local 618 trustee.

Ganahl was fresh out of the U.S. Army when he started working at Midco’s warehouse. "The parts manager at the time, Ed Yeager, told me to get a haircut and start tomorrow. Two years later I was working at the parts counter and answering parts phone calls, said Ganahl.

From the mid 70s to the late 80s strip mining and road building kept the company very busy. Ganahl recalled working between 50 to 60 hours a week to keep up with the new sales of equipment.

Besides his normal parts duties, Ganahl was in charge of inventory, exchange engines and transmissions, as well as the components associated with them.

Ganahl has always been a very active and loyal Local 618 member and he will be dearly missed, said Local 618 Principal Officer Marvin Kropp. "I have known Ted for thirty years and he will be a Teamster for life and he will always stay active even upon his retirement with Local 618," he said during Ganahl’s retirement party.

"I can say that I won’t miss the work but I will miss my co-workers and the rest of the Van Keppel family that I had the pleasure to work with over the years," said Ganahl.

Ganahl added that his retirement plans are "basically to do whatever I want," which include time with his grandkids, golf, fishing, and maybe even going back to school. "Mostly, I just want to be with my wife [Jackie] of 40 years," he said.

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