Hometown: Niangua, Mo.
Family: Husband Gary Letterman, daughter Carrie Ipock, son Grant Letterman, and four grandchildren
In Town: Sandy Letterman owns Wilson Excavating.
“It was my dad’s business,” she said. Her parents, Cleo and Joann Wilson are deceased now, but Sandy is carrying on the family business in her own way.
Her dad’s picture is painted prominently on both sides of her dump truck.
“He and my mom started the business or I wouldn’t be able to be doing what I’m doing today,” Sandy stated.
Gary and Sandy married in June 1976. Shortly after, her dad called and asked if she could help her mom, who drove a dump truck. Sandy and her brother would drive to the quarry and bring a load home, when she was old enough to drive, so she had some experience behind the wheel.
“We had a little red dump truck with single axles then. We would run and get a load and come back. I didn’t take it to job sites. I just brought it home and they would take it later,” she explained. “Forty-five years later, I’m still doing this,” she laughed. “Put me in an office and it wouldn’t work,” Sandy laughed.
“I just love meeting the people and doing what they need done. And I love to drive; I always have,” she said.
In the Country: Sandy and Gary live on the farm where he was raised. The farm was certified as a Century Farm in 1998.
Sandy’s hours are sometimes daylight to dark.
“After I got done working, we’d do hay, or whatever,” Sandy said.
She and Gary have turned the farming operation over to their daughter and her family, but she is still involved on the farm whenever she is needed. Sandy also hauls whatever rock and dirt they need for the farm. Her favorite time of day is “morning, although it is a rush time, sometimes,” she admits.
“The beauty of it. All the seasons. The cattle on the hill,” Sandy said, naming a few of the things she loves about the farm. “I love animals; I always have.” She especially is fond of cows and horses. Her dad had horses and now she has a granddaughter who loves horses and does barrel racing.
