Remembering Don Phipps
OOIDA Director Emeritus Donald Phipps of Madrid, Iowa, died Jan. 16. He was 93. He was preceded in death by his wife, Marlys, who passed away Aug. 10, 2019. Their accomplishments as trucking activists will be remembered as a significant part of the Association’s history.
The early years of OOIDA were times of great effort and sacrifice by people who pushed themselves outside of their personal comfort zones and diligently scrapped for each small victory. Uniform licensing and permitting was one of many issues for owner-operators.
“It’s because of people like Don and Marlys and their work for OOIDA that truckers don’t have to deal with dozens of license plates all over their truck,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer, who also noted that they were instrumental in focusing attention on the problems of lumpers that ended with the lumping statute that remains in existence today.
“The efforts they made helped lay the foundation for following generations of small-business truckers,” Spencer said.
“We (OOIDA) did a lot with a little,” Marlys said in a 2018 interview with Land Line.
Don bought his first truck at 16, served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, and went back to trucking after the war. He married Marlys Westgate in 1958. Don eventually expanded his area of operation and size of his equipment, got his own authority, permits and customers, and continued trucking with Marlys as his co-driver.
They joined OOIDA in 1980, and Don was elected to the Board of Directors in 1982.
Like many of the early board members, Don donated time and effort during the days when OOIDA struggled to exist.
He traveled to Washington, D.C., when needed, and represented OOIDA in many roles that helped establish the credibility of the organization. In fact, he liked to say that whatever OOIDA needed him to be, he was “that guy.” Spencer recalled that at one time the U.S. State Department reached out to OOIDA in search of an owner-operator to go to Russia on a consulting mission shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. OOIDA asked Don if he was up for it. Although the project fell apart, Don was immediately on board.
In 1986, Phipps was a regulated carrier doing business as Refrigerated Transport of Ames, Iowa. Don and OOIDA sued Kentucky over an unlawfully pricey ICC authority renewal fee. The judge’s ruling did not extend to all owner-operators or ICC exempt carriers, but the court agreed the fee was too high. The case wasn’t momentous but was the first of many of the Association’s state lawsuit wins.
Don served on OOIDA’s Board of Directors until he semi-retired in the ’90s. He was appointed director emeritus of the Association in 1994. During his trucking career, Don liked to “run hard” and then take time each year to travel for the pure enjoyment of it. After retiring, he continued traveling around the country with Marlys, sightseeing and fishing.
Don was a member of the Heartland Baptist Church of Ames, Iowa, and a member of American Legion Post 37. He is survived by his son, Harold (Dawn) Phipps of Polk City, Iowa; daughter Janine (Jon) Seibert of Fort Myers, Fla., and many grandchildren, nephews and nieces. LL