Lexington, KY - A motto that Gail Langley Schomp tries to live by is "character is what happens when no one is looking." This motto was put to the test some years back when national news media decided to do a story on some less-than-professional truck stop activities, and, front and center in the televised show, was a Carty & Carty hauling truck and driver. A deeply embarrassed Schomp first terminated the driver, then wrote a letter to the trucking employees, advising them "Carty & Carty is your home and your family. I want you to be proud to be here. I want your wives, husbands, children and significant others to be proud of your association with Carty and Carty, Inc." She also reminded employees that driving a truck for the company was like driving a billboard down the road and encouraged them to think of their families in everything they do: "Just ask yourself, 'would this make my family proud of me?'" Morals matter at her business.
Graduating from Eastern Kentucky University, Schomp had a job offer in Norfolk, Virginia, but turned it down to work in her family's business, Langley Trucking Company in Elizabethtown. The Langleys had a unique policy for trucking companies at the time: hiring women to drive the big 44,000 pound dump/freight trucks. "It was no big deal," Schomp declares. "The trucks had automatic transmissions and women could drive them as well as men." She took over a Langley contract to help build a stretch of I-24 in Western Kentucky, from the Paducah area to Nashville.
"I have seen all sides of the business. Besides keeping the job site running, I changed and fixed tires, bled the brakes, and helped set transmissions," she said. The work was hot and dirty, but she found it very rewarding. After the I-24 project was completed, Schomp worked a few years in Langley's Lexington office. In the early '80s, however, her parents auctioned off the business and retired, at which point Schomp went to work for GTE Yellow Pages, becoming one of the top ten GTE sales representatives in the country. In the mid-80's, Schomp and her husband purchased Carty & Carty from a friend and began the costly process of updating the equipment on their five trucks, which haul commodities and freight as well as mail for the U.S. Postal Service.
If it's summertime, Schomp tries to get away to her houseboat on Lake Cumberland, where she entertains friends and family, listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Fleetwood Mac, Al Green and the Rolling Stones. Her friends might describe her as gregarious, but she says she's more shy and content to observe what's going on. "I'm much better talking to a few friends than to a large group of people."
Strongly influenced by her mother whom she describes as "the strongest and most fearless woman" she's known: "My mother encouraged me to try all types of activities - Brownies, Girl Scouts, piano lessons, sports activities - and to always look for the next adventure. She believed each person has their own story which makes them unique ... and, as a result, I try to get to know people's stories." She'll soon have a role to play in her first grandchild's life story and is thrilled with the idea.
Serving on the executive board of the Kentucky Motor Transportation Association (KMTA), EKU's Foundation Board, and First Federal Savings of Elizabethtown has given her a broad perspective on Kentucky's future. "We need to grow our manufacturing and equine industries and our small businesses to increase employment at all levels in this state." She cites many challenges for her industry: surviving the downturn, safety on the highways, cost-effective benefits for employees, and retaining great driving professionals." She adds, "every child in Kentucky should be able to have an education, go to college or pursue their specialty. That's the only way we'll get ahead."