In November and December, one of the busiest periods of the year for the transportation sector, the Wreaths Across America mission brings drivers together in an effort of unparalleled unity. With a positive, “can-do” work ethic, these professionals make it possible for Americans to honor millions of veterans laid to rest at home and overseas. In 2024, with over 4,909 participating locations, in addition to Arlington National Cemetery, transportation logistics were immense.

Many of these drivers are military veterans and say the truckload of fresh balsam-fir wreaths is the most precious cargo they have transported in their careers. Wreaths Across America shares their stories in the “Trucking Tributes” feature online and on Wreaths Across America Radio.

It’s called a family business for a reason. Everyone pitches in, and Sherri Garner Brumbaugh’s summer job in high school was mowing her family’s lawn and washing the truck. That’s how Garner Trucking got its start: one truck. “Dad paid me a whole 1.70 an hour, minimum wage back in the day. The career path for washing trucks led to becoming a “grease monkey,” then the next job opportunity was a tire man, and then to a mechanic. I didn’t feel that was the career path I wanted to take. I wanted to go into education, and I played in the high school band. I loved music and wanted to embrace that, so I went off to The Ohio State University and got my degree in music education and taught.”

When Sherri met the “love of her life,” she switched gears to begin raising her own family, and she decided to return to help her parents with Garner Trucking. “It was supposed to be temporary, and I kept getting calls from my old principal telling me there was a band director’s position, but I enjoyed working with my dad, and I was able to help him find some efficiencies and cost-savings and he said, “Hey you figured out that project, so how about this…,” she chuckled. “I felt I could be useful, so here I am thirty-six years later.”

Despite a sense of intimidation, working in a predominately male industry, when Vern Garner passed, Sherri stepped up to take charge. She had an exceptional role model in her mother. “It wasn’t Vern Garner’s company, it was Vern and Jean’s,” Sherri explained. “Mom was working right alongside him, at the time when it was really rare to see a woman in the industry. She would accompany him to all the association meetings. In the early days, mom answered the calls that came in, and she dispatched Dad, all from the kitchen table in our home. She knew her stuff. In 1960, while helping establish Garner Trucking, Vern Garner Trucking at the time, she was also taking care of three young daughters too!”  Sherri was impassioned and inspired by watching her parents giving back to the trucking industry. Vern served as ATA Chairman and in 2003 Sherri followed working her way through many associations too. “I found some of my best advocates were men who told me to speak up because I had good ideas. It was challenging, but I did it and enjoyed it.”

Sherri is a tremendous advocate for the trucking industry and her love for teaching never diminished. “I like planting the seed for young women to consider the trucking industry. I look at our HR and marketing departments, my operations and accounting teams. The women in these departments knew nothing about the trucking industry, but we taught them and have given them opportunities for a good income, good training and experiences. I teach at our local university, and when I talk about the supply chain and the trucking industry, I tell them that if they’re going into accounting or marketing, take a pin and point anywhere, inside or outside of the United States, where they want to be, and trucking and logistics are there, and you can do it. It’s the gateway to open a life-long career and happiness.”

For Sherri, happiness involves giving back to her community, and she found that too through the trucking industry. “I was introduced to Wreaths Across America through the TCA (Truckload Carriers Association), and it was supporting veterans that really touched me,” she shared. “We like to stay east of the Mississippi, so going up to Maine wasn’t really in our footprint, but I had several drivers who were veterans, and I knew they would embrace it. I joked with Karen Worcester, telling her it was so funny because we have tracking on our trucks and you could see the primary cluster within a 350-mile radius of Ohio, but then there were these two trucks up in Maine, coming down the east coast, very much out of our footprint, but we got a chuckle out of that. At first, we were doing the runs from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery, but then we had the chance to bring it back to Northwest Ohio.”

It started with Sherri’s son, who needed an Eagle Scout project, so he went out to the Maple Grove Cemetery with a clicker and began counting the veterans’ graves. “He came up with about twenty-eight hundred veterans in our cemetery. It was a daunting task, but he went through all the process an Eagle Scout must do. He raised enough money to put about 600 wreaths down that first year. He coordinated all the volunteers and did all the marketing for the effort. If you’re an Eagle Scout, you want to take on a project that stays with the community. He’s moved on to a different community since, but today, over the course of about ten years, there are now about three thousand two hundred veterans laid to rest in our cemetery, and we’ve covered them all. This year, we celebrate eleven years and that one cemetery has now grown to seven cemeteries in our area, so we’re bringing a full truckload of wreaths back to Hancock County in Northwest Ohio. We collaborate with our veteran service center here and they help us bring together the community. On the day of wreath-laying, it’s unbelievable to see all the people, from young to old, who come out and understand the meaning of honoring our veterans for the freedoms they fought for. It’s really exciting.”

As the mission grows, the Wreaths Across America transportation division appreciates and solicits feedback from the members of the Honor Fleet on how to improve the process for professional drivers and carriers like Garner Trucking. “It’s a whole lot better than it was ten years ago,” Sherri admits. “The investment that has gone into staging the loads and getting drivers in and out has improved tenfold. Of course, the museum and how they take care of the drivers pales in comparison to my driver’s lounge. I have a nice driver’s lounge, but the driver’s feedback who have participated say, ’Man, that Wreaths Across America. They know what they’re doing.’ How well you treat the drivers, that’s the true test.”

Thank you, Sherri and the entire team at Garner Trucking, for your commitment to our veterans through the mission to remember, honor and teach.

If you’d like to join the Wreaths Across America Honor Fleet, you can get started with a click right here!

You can hear more with Sherri on Trucking Tributes, which can be listened to every Truckin’ Tuesday at 10:00 AM and again at 4:00 PM EST on Wreaths Across America Radio and on Tuesdays at 9:00 AM ET / 8:00 AM CT as part of RadioNemo’s Road Gang Radio, streaming at RadioNemo.com , iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Facebook. You can also catch all of RadioNemo's content on-demand on your favorite podcasting platform.

Discover the Trucking Tributes archive playlist on Soundcloud.com