Master Mechanic William Cooley recently retired after 30 years of service with GUC. William worked in the Garage and was part of the team responsible for the routine maintenance and servicing of GUC’s fleet of approximately 338 vehicles and 409 pieces of equipment, which also includes “in-servicing” of new vehicles and equipment (logo decals, safety outfitting, etc.). Our Mechanics not only take care of the daily needs of our growing fleet but assist crews with unforeseen issues that arise when out in the field or on out-of-town emergency mutual aid events. Like our crews, Mechanics also get the occasional after-hours call.  

Over the years, William (along with the others) went through a lot of specialized training on various vehicles and equipment like Altec boom trucks and digger derricks, Vac-Con sewer trucks, Ditch Witch boring rigs and trenchers, and more so that he could do as much work as possible in-house. 

“I’ve seen a lot and made a lot of great friends at GUC these past 30 years,” he said. “Within my first year here, I experienced two hurricanes that affected our area, Bertha and Fran. Then Dennis and Floyd came along in 1999, flooding out our Operations Center and forcing our team to work out of Stokes Farm shop for about six months. Then we did it all over again with the Hurricane Matthew flood in 2016, working out of a garage in Winterville. Through it all, I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with. I will miss it here at GUC which is such a great team.” 

Having grown up in Pitt County, William got into mechanic work through his dad, who was a welder, and his brother, who was into race cars. He worked for Ford for 14 years before joining GUC. 

William now lives in Stokes with his fiancé, Linda, and looks forward to spending more time with granddaughters Addie (10) and Brooke (3), as well as his son, Blake, a Lead Tech for White’s International. He and Linda plan to continue being active at Stokes Baptist Church and to also do more traveling, especially to the beach and mountains, and watching Addie play violin and volleyball. 

 We wish you the best of luck in retirement, William!