Dad is headed home with one last load. My father Darrell (Bill) Box spend 45 years driving trucks over the road and local routes. He was always on the road by 5:00a.m. To beat the traffic. Friday April 3rd was no different, about 4:30 he left with his load for Saint Peter and the big freight terminal in the sky. Starting when I was about 9 I would spend summers riding shotgun as dad made deliveries to Colorado, Texas, North Dakota or other places we could get out and back in 3 ...days or so. Dad was not big on "book learning" but could teach practical applications for math like we need to cover 500 miles in 8 hours how fast do we need to go or diesel is $.89 /gallon we get 8 mile to the gallon what is our cost per mile. I passed many hours in the pre-calculator days solving these problems as we drove across the Midwest. I remember my first Christmas after graduating from pharmacy school and dads furnace was acting up. He asked me to go look at it. I asked him what am I going to know about fixing a furnace and he rather seriously asked me what the hell did they teach you in that college? He was always a joker although most jokes were not for mixed company and as the dementia got worse the punch line was made funnier because the setup was wrong and he would realize it but God love him he would stick with it. He taught me so much about myself these last 8 months taking care of him. It will be strange to not have him around to bounce things off of him but at last he will be perfected and no longer suffering. Dad had varied history starting his career in auto repair as a tire technician at a Buckner service station and later working for Gleaner Combines in Independence. He started driving over the road for ABF and then Trans-America before taking a produce route with A. Reich & Sons and later deliveries for L&C Meats. He would describe himself as a Jack of All Trades a master of none. He could rebuild engines, weld about anything, do most handyman tasks from carpentry to electrical and plumbing and was able to transfer that knowledge to anyone willing to learn. Later in life he took computer classes at Blue River Community College and enjoyed using Power Point to make cards and other trinkets to share with friends and family. He is survived by his wife of 32 years Sharon K. Box of Buckner, Son Darrel Box and wife Oletta of Buckner. He is preceded in death by his Step-Father (but only real dad he had) Lawrence J. McNerney, his mother Maude Mae McNerney and brother, Richard Shepherd. Bill was frequently late to family gatherings. His mother’s 100th birthday would have been Sunday April 5th, I like to think he was leaving early Friday to see he made it to her party on time. We will miss you dad.