Probably Died Running

 

This is job related memory worth sharing.  I worked for Sinclair Refining Company warehouse for 3 years after my Navy time.  My job was to oversee what was coming and going out of the warehouse.  The next desk was the bulk gasoline clerk who kept up with the bulk petro deliveries to local service stations and metro distributors.  He also directed the gasoline truck drivers where and when to deliver                                 the bulk petro.

One day, about 1966 he told a driver to pump out the gasoline at a closed service station on Piedmont Avenue, near Broadview Plaza and next door to a Shoney’s Restaurant.

The driver was a humble nice little guy with initials W. E.  His nickname was “Pee Wee.”

In the process of doing what he had done many times something went wrong.  Apparently he was somehow splashed with gasoline and somehow, maybe a spark, ignited him.  He burst into flames and  he started to run.

People dining next door Shoney’s Restaurant was horrified at what they just witnessed.  We were too.

I think Pee Wee died while running.

Sinclair changed its name to BP (British Petroleum).