CCJ Career Leadership Award: Kevin Tomlinson was born to be in trucking

Kevin Tomlinson seemed destined to wind up in the driver’s seat of a big rig, jamming gears and hauling cattle somewhere on the Illinois Interstate.

Yet somehow, even with both his father and grandfather once successful drivers, Tomlinson didn’t answer when the road came calling.

“I’ve thought about it,” he says, “and I just really don’t know. I guess I liked working on stuff more than driving.”

Tomlinson, who now serves as director of maintenance for South Shore Transportation, was introduced to trucking before he could walk by his grandfather, Harry Jonson, who co-founded Johnson Bros. Trucking Co., a company that specialized in flatbed and cattle hauling.

The small company quickly started to root itself as a family business beyond just the Johnson brothers.

“My grandfather owned some trucks,” he recalls. “My dad (Tom) drove for him. That’s actually how he met my mom (Barbara).”

Out of the cab and into the garage