One of the things Micah Janes will miss most from his late friend and trucker buddy Chad Pegg—outside of the long phone calls to keep him company on the road, of course—are the emojis.
“The biggest thing I miss,” Janes said, “at three in the morning, he would send me stupid little emojis. Like (a ‘hi’ face) or a cup of coffee just to see if I was up and beat him to work yet.”
Before his passing on Saturday, October 19, 54-year-old Pegg worked for Rogers Trucking Company. He drove for them for eleven years making deliveries across the country. Tony Rodgers, driving manager at Rogers Trucking, was a casket bearer for Pegg’s burial in Haven Hill Cemetery last Friday along with Janes. Rodgers says he is still “mourning the loss” of his friend and driver.
One of his favorite routes as a trucker was, according to Janes, took the late trucker through Monteagle, Tennessee. It is a small town of only around 2,000 people, but it was the home of a Chinese restaurant that Pegg adored.
“He spent a lot of money in there,” Janes smiled.
Prior to his career as a truck driver, Chad Pegg served in the United States military and was a proud Army veteran. Whenever he saw another soldier or veteran in public he would made sure to thank them for their service.
Janes remembers Pegg as being someone who always spoke his mind though was not quick to jump to conclusions. If he liked someone, he would go out of his way for them.
“He’s one of the very few people around me where I don’t care what time of night or morning it was, I could call him at two in the morning and either if I stumped my toe or there was somebody trying to break in my house, he was just one of those guys that if you called at two o’clock in the morning, he would be there. He may not want to, but he would be there,” Janes said
His dedication to his friends was frequently seen in Janes’ and Pegg’s trucking careers.
“A lot of times I would be going to Portland, Tennessee—we used to load out of (there)… And he would get down there before I did and he would call the office and get my trailer number and he had my load strapped down and tied down for me when I got there. That’s just the way he did,” Janes recalls.
April Janes, wife of Micah, was also friends with Pegg and had known him since they were around nine. She describes him as, “always (having to have) the last laugh.”
His sense of humor is corroborated by her husband, who remembers how he loved riling April up. “He would come to my house and get (my wife) all tore up and smile at me and then leave. Then he would call me later and ask how my night was.”
Chad Pegg was born on April 29, 1970, in Anderson, Indiana. He was married to Nicole Hobbs Pegg and the couple had two children—Dustin Pegg of Columbia and Ashley Cosby of Knifley. He also had four grandsons and two “bonus” grandchildren:: Kayden Pegg, Bently Cosby, Winchester Cosby, Landyn Cosby, Abel Bennett, and Iris Bennett. He is described as loving his family more than anything, and being an avid fisherman.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com