Gerald Pelletier

Gerald Pelletier, who was a farmer, started Gerald Pelletier, Inc. SM, which is an affiliate of Pelletier Brothers, IncSM today, after supplementing the family income from as early as the 1950s by hauling logs. Gerald Pelletier, Inc. became incorporated in 1976 and in 1989 took over a wood harvesting operation, which also involved road construction. As each of his sons reached their mid teens, Gerald put them behind the wheel of a truck and when each son came to work in the business, Gerald added another truck to his fleet and the business continued to grow from there.

Photo: Gerald and Lena Pelletier

Lena was born on May 20, 1930 and Gerald was born on November 15, 1932 and both grew up around the Fort Kent area, marrying on October 24, 1953.

Danny Pelletier

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Danny, the first child, was born on April 6, 1954. In his teens, Danny started worked on farms and drove trucks during the harvest in the Fort Kent, Maine area where he grew up. Although he was not due to graduate from high school until June of 1972, he joined the National Guard in January and left for basic training after receiving his diploma. He was assigned to the artillery and stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.He returned and drove trucks for his father's business until 1975 when he went to work for Great Northern Paper as a parts clerk and equipment operator. When the GNP mill sold out to Georgia Pacific in 1990, Danny returned to his father's business, working on road maintenance, patching potholes in good weather and plowing snow in winter. He's now a regular logging truck driver, but he operates everything when it's needed, including loaders, cranes and excavators.

He married Louise Lagasse in June of 1976 and they have two children, Pamela and Matthew. Pamela received a Doctor of Pharmacy while Matthew has joined his father and uncles in the family logging business. Danny says Matthew, "...is a universal man working with the equipment or welding or whatever needs doing. He loves it and is in the woods five days a week!" Danny and Louise are also the proud grandparents of Matt's daughter Emma. And Danny says of himself, "Even being the oldest, I still love what I do, no matter what it takes."

Eldon Pelletier

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Eldon was born April 22, 1955 in Caribou, Maine. Before graduating from high school he began working evenings and weekends for local farmers and then full time for his uncle at his car dealership. After a year, his father, Gerald, put him in a truck with no instruction and he "had to learn fast." After driving for about 10 years, he began managing the garage of seven trucks and log loaders, a role he filled for another 12 years before becoming company president and co-owner with brother, Rudy.

Both now oversee the full range of logging operations, including trucking, road construction, road maintenance, shop maintenance, mill yard log hauling and manage upwards of 70 employees plus many subcontractors. For around 30 years, Eldon and his late father, Gerald, competed in four wheel drive modified truck pulling as members of the Maine State Pullers, the Northern Penobscot Pullers and the National Truck Pullers Association. Eldon is married to Judy Godin and they have three children. Cassie, who has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Rehabilitation Services, and Erika, who has an Associates degree in Medical Assisting and is currently a dental hygienist student who will receive her Associates degree in Dental Hygiene in May of 2009. Ericka is engaged to Jason Linkletter, a police officer with the city of Bangor. Eldon and Judy also have a boy, Aaron. They now have two grandchildren, a girl Kassidy and a boy Carter. Eldon loves to travel and camp in his motor home with his family and also enjoys hunting and fishing. According to Eldon, "Life is great!" 

Rudy Pelletier

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Rudy was the third child born on June 15, 1956.  As a boy, from around the age of 14, he worked for his father part time in the garage in Millinocket during school vacations.  He finally quit school in Fort Kent in his junior year at age 16 to work with him full time.  Though Rudy did not have a license, the logging roads were private so he was able to drive.  These were the early years of the business, known then as Gerald Pelletier, Inc.,  and Rudy was able to partner with his dad and help bring the business along, looking for opportunities such as trucking contracts and the purchasing of equipment for various jobs, always with an eye to other avenues that might expand and grow the business. 

After driving steadily for 15 years, Rudy became foreman of the Fifth St. John camp. This was a turning point in the business when it really began to grow and became more involved in maintaining roads and expanded to harvesting for other landowners.

As the business grew larger with the addition of more brothers, it became necessary to form Pelletier Brothers, Inc. to go along with the father’s company.  To this day Rudy remains committed to scouting for opportunities to grow the company with new contracts, along with co-owner, Eldon.  Rudy married Lisa Daigle on August 4, 1978 and they have two children, Jason, born in 1980 and Loni, born in 1982.  Rudy looks forward to the third generation’s involvement in the business with son Jason and his nephews, hoping they will carry on the success of the current generations and says, “Keep on truckin!” Jason is a camp foreman in 5th St. John, and Loni is a customer service Lead for a cell phone company.

Larry Pelletier

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Larry Lawrence Pelletier was born on September 19, 1957.  He graduated from high school in 1975, joining the Army that same year.  After basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he went to Advanced Artillery Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and then on to jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia   He was finally stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he also participated in jungle training in Panama.

He got out February 28, 1978 and, as his father had a thriving business and he had a week and a half off, his father said, “Come with me”.  He accompanied his father to help move equipment out of the woods.  It was lucky he was there because his brother, Rudy, broke both of his arms that spring and Larry was able to help his father out. Larry has been with the business ever since and was the first to drive the double trailer, a 1980 Mack Flat F Model cab.  He says, “Our father depended upon us to be sure the experiment with the double trailer was successful, making us be sure it worked well because he depended upon it.  After our three year experiment with them, other contractors began to follow our lead and haul with the double trailers.”

Larry has since run equipment at the Fifth St. John base, including the grader and miscellaneous equipment, accepting more responsibility all the time, as well as continuing to drive.  Larry is now the foreman of the Telos base camp and also contracts for other landowners.   He married Tina Daigle on May 21, 1982 and has a son, Dustin, born in 1986 and a daughter, Chelsea, born in 1987.

Gary Pelletier

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The fifth son born on November 21, 1958, Gary first went to work for his dad doing odd jobs in the company garage in Millinocket while waiting to report for basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He had graduated early from high school, enlisted in the U.S. Army early in June of 1976, but was placed on inactive duty until he turned 18 the following February.

After basic training, Gary served first as a heavy equipment operator and truck driver at Fort Campbell, Kentucky followed by a tour of duty in as a truck driver in Kaiserslautern, Germany. In 1980, his father called him on the phone while he was still overseas and Gary remembers to this day having the conversation while lying on his bunk. He asked his father if he should come home to work for the family business or reenlist with the expectation of a promotion. His father said, "Yeah, we have work for you."

Over the next 15 years, Gary worked with his father both to develop the use of double trailers to haul logs and to expand the business into road maintenance and graveling, first for Great Northern Paper and later for their own operations. His job today is to keep the logging roads in shape for trucking which, depending on the season, could mean plowing snow or graveling and grading. The brothers agree that all of the brothers can do most of the jobs in the company but each has fallen into what they seem to do most often. He met and married Diane Guerette on August 6, 1982 and they have three children; Derek, Melissa and Tyler.

Jeff Pelletier

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Jeff, the next to youngest, was born on October 4, 1967. Starting at the age of 10, he earned spending money working in the garage washing the trucks and sweeping the garage. When the brothers showed up with the trucks at night, he would refuel and re-service the trucks for the morning, enjoying it almost as playtime at that age. At 14, he tried to quit school to work in the woods but his parents wouldn’t let him. Two years later, he was finally able to leave school legally, but when his father Gerald refused to hire him he hauled potatoes and wheat for a local farmer in Fort Kent, Maine. At the time, his older brother Rudy gave him a hard time for quitting school but Rudy had also quit school at age 16 to drive trucks, making the two brothers the youngest to drive for the company business.

After four weeks, his father realized Jeff was serious about working for the family business. He hired him to drive trucks with reclaimed wood to the mill all night long on the Golden Road. Though he did not have a license at this time, the logging roads were private. When he turned 18, Jeff was officially put on the payroll, he began hauling wood out of Fifth St. John camp to the Golden Road landing. Here his brothers hooked onto the double trailers and drove them to Millinocket mill. After 10 years at this job, he finally was promoted to haul to the mill himself. From then until now he has been parts manager and shop foreman, doing maintenance on the equipment and road maintenance at the Millinocket facility on the Golden Road. Jeff is a good father to his two daughters Renee and Sophie, saying it is very hard to be a single dad and take care of his daughters, keeping the working hours he does. He hopes for a good future for the family business and his two daughters.

Wayne Pelletier

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Wayne, born April 30, 1969, is the youngest of the nine Pelletier children and started working for his father around age 10. Not old enough to be on the payroll, he would get paid by his father for doing odd jobs around the garage, such as fueling and washing trucks, sweeping the shop or occasionally driving off-road gravel trucks.  He spent summer vacations and school breaks traveling to work in Millinocket from Fort Kent until, after graduating from Fort Kent High School in 1988, he was placed on the payroll and relocated to Millinocket to start work the very next day.  He spent many years driving a logging truck with either single or double trailers in the woods of Maine and Canada.  Eventually as the company grew, he parked his truck and ran a Forwarder in the woods in Maine.  In 1998, he married Sherrie Bouchard.  Soon after his father’s passing in 2002, he returned to driving a logging truck, wanting to keep his father’s legacy alive and he continues to drive the single and double logging trailers today throughout the Maine and Canadian woods for the family business.

Jason Pelletier

Jason Pelletier was born on January 7, 1980 and is the son of Rudy and Lisa Pelletier. He is the oldest boy of the third generation of Pelletier’s in the business. Jason started working for the family business when he was just 13 years old, learning to work with the road crew and their heavy equipment including bulldozers, loaders, excavators, and driving dump trucks. He worked every summer for the family business until he graduated from Stearns High School in 1998. Jason continued his education at the University of Maine in Fort Kent where he was awarded an associates degree in the science of forest technology. After graduation from college, he started working full time for the family business and is currently the foreman at their Fifth St. John base camp operation. Jason is now engaged to his high school sweetheart, Amanda Ripton, and the couple resides in Millinocket.

Matthew Pelletier

Matthew Pelletier was born on October 14, 1981 to Danny and Louise Pelletier. He graduated from Stearns High School and then went on the road to work construction for five years, learning that it wasn’t really what he wanted to do. When his uncle Rudy offered him the opportunity to go work in the woods a few years ago, he took advantage of it and loves it. Matt says he greatly appreciates and respects his grandfather, father and uncles for their hard work and dedication to the business. He hopes to continue in their footsteps and, as a single dad, to be able to give his daughter, Emma, the same opportunities he had growing up.

Aaron Pelletier

Aaron Pelletier was born on September 6, 1986, to Eldon and Judy Pelletier. At just 15 years old, Aaron began working at the Millinocket shop every day after school where he helped his uncles with maintenance and equipment. After receiving his commercial driver’s license at the age of 18, his father decided it was time to put his son behind the wheel of a log truck. During the summer months, Aaron worked with road crews building bridges, resurfacing roads and running various types of equipment. After graduating from Stearns High School in 2005, he chose to continue his education at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor, where he will graduate in May of 2009 with an Associate’s Degree in both Business Management and Civil Engineering Technology. As a summer hobby, Aaron loves to compete with the pull truck with his father and his uncle Jeff. Aaron feels privileged to work for the family business and hopes to one day be as successful as his grandfather and his family has been. 

Dustin Pelletier

Dustin Pelletier was born on March 15, 1986, to Larry and Tina Pelletier. Dustin attended Stearns High School where he played football and helped out at the garage by servicing trucks during summer vacations. After graduating from high school in 2004, he went on to study at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor. With this big step, Dustin was granted more responsibility working in the woods with the road crew and in operating machinery. In 2007, he received his Associates Degree in Machine Tool Technology. Currently, Dustin attends Maine Maritime Academy where he is actively pursuing an education in the Marine Engineering Field. With a love for the family business, he continues to work during the summer in the Telos side of operation with his father Larry. 

Pelletier Pride

For 28-30 years Eldon and his father, Gerald (until he passed away on April 15, 2002), competed in four wheel drive modified truck pulling as members of the Maine State Pullers, the Northern Penobscot Pullers and the National Truck Pullers Association. Eldon is married to Judy Godin and they have three children; two girls Cassie and Erika and a boy, Aaron. They now have two grandchildren, a girl Cassidy and a boy Carter. Eldon loves to travel and camp in his motor home with them and he also enjoys hunting and fishing. According to Eldon, “Life is great”!