Hauled to Glory

No one who witnessed Archie Lee Wells’ casket rolling slowly toward the graveyard on the forklift of a garbage truck would question the man’s devotion to his profession. A garbage truck driver for 20 years, Wells succumbed to a malignant brain tumor in December at age 43. Before the end, he made it clear that he should be conveyed to his final rest by the Mack truck he drove for Western Waste Services (WWS) in Twin Falls, Idaho.

“That was his final wish,” Wells’ 21-year-old daughter, Melvina Patterson told the Magic Valley Times-News. “My dad told me from the time I was a little girl that he was not a rich man. He didn’t want to be carried in a hearse.

“‘I’m a garbage man and I want to be carried on the forklift of my garbage truck,’” she said he had told her. A procession of WWS vehicles proudly carried out that last request.

Wells leaves behind seven children, 12 grandchildren and a host of garbage men striving to live up to his legacy.

Source: Magic Valley Times-News