FEATURES

DAIRY TRUCK George R. Parmelee
[Ralph Walds, James Thompson, Cornelius C., Timothy Judson, Lyman, Amos, Nehemiah, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John]

VoicesNews.com, June 9, 2010

SPECIAL DELIVERY
Connecticut dairy truck has a new route -- car and truck shows

By Jaimie Cura

Middlebury, CONN.— Bethlehem resident George Parmelee is used to making deliveries. He used to deliver milk and other products with his father for the family business -- Parmelee Bros. Dairy.

His wife Barbara had to make a special delivery of her own on Sunday, May 30. She needed to get his friends and family to the Golden Age of Trucking Museum, 1101 Southford Road, for his surprise 65th birthday party.

He showcases one of his family's trucks in the Golden Age of Trucking Museum, a 1956 Detroit Industrial Vehicle Co. truck with "Parmelee Bros. Dairy Products" lettered on its side. (The truck isn't always at the museum, because the Parmelees take it on the road to car and truck shows.)

The dairy truck draws a crowd when he brings it to a show, George said.. Barbara said that's because of the memories people have of a simpler time. "A lot of people who remember the milkman just go berserk."

While the couple discussed the truck and upcoming show with Voices, George's friends filtered in to another room, where a cake with a picture of the truck had been made for the birthday celebration.

The Parmelee Bros. Dairy was a Bethlehem farm that also served Woodbury and Southbury. For 50 years, the family delivered milk, eggs, milk rose hand cream and shampoo. Then there was the time when oranges were added to the offerings. George said the oranges sold well, but then customers started complaining that the milk tasted unusual: "The acid penetrated the milk, so it tasted like oranges." he said. Lesson learned.

George learned other lessons too, while working with his father: hard work and perseverance. A typical day as a milkman consisted of loading the trucks at 5 a.m. and starting the route at 6 a.m. While George said he was usually done with deliveries at 1 p.m., he would then bottle milk for the following day's deliveries, often finishing at 9 p.m. There were no excuses working for one's family. George said for three years straight, he worked seven days a week. About 1970, he said, he got Sundays off for the first time.

James T. Parmelee (1875-1947) started the dairy business in 1922. Son Earle (1902-1988) was the first driver, delivering milk to homes by horse and buggy. Earle married and left the dairy business in 1927, and brother Ralph (1907-1993) took over the route. By that time, Earle was delivering from a truck. Ralph and his father worked the dairy until 1940, when James retired. Ralph and another brother, Charles (1909-2003), decided to run the dairy business. Three years later, Charles decided to work the farm, and Ralph continued the milk route.

And in 1953, Ralph moved the milk processing, bottling and route delivery business to Sunny Ridge Road in Bethlehem. By then, he was processing and bottling the milk himself. The farm remained on Guilds Hollow Road in Bethlehem. This is where George came in: He joined his father, Ralph, in the business, which had four routes and served more than 600 customers. Ralph purchased his first DIVCO truck in the 1950s, and Ralph and George continued delivering milk until Ralph retired in December 1972.

"Every dairy had their own colors," George said. "Originally, our colors were dark blue and yellow." The colors were changed to cream and green, which are the colors of the 1956 DIVCO.

George placed old milk crates and bottles from the business in the back of the truck, so people at shows see what the truck would have looked like while the milkman was working. He spends his free time restoring vehicles and bringing the DIVCO to shows in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and other states. He is currently restoring a 1947 DIVCO, and acknowledged that it is getting harder to find parts.

George collects all things DIVCO. "I enjoy it as much as he does," said Barbara.

"We probably have everything, " George said, "but you're always looking for that one more."