As the owner and operator of Gasper's Truck Plaza in Kingdom City, Ron Atkinson has met truck drivers from across the country. Despite learning of places far and wide from those who pass through his business, Atkinson kept his feet planted in Callaway County to run the family business and raise a family with his wife, Cindy, a 1980 Fulton High School graduate. What kept his Callaway roots strong are the relationships he's developed throughout life. For Atkinson, that's what it means to be a Callawegian.
"It all comes back to family and friends and acquaintances and relationships along the road, and how much you value them and how much you realize that you learn from them and how it molded you as a person, whether it's business or personal," Atkinson said. "Where you come from in life has a lot to do with where you end up. And, the rural Callaway County-type atmosphere is a good place to come from."
The Kingdom of Callaway Supper committee selected Atkinson as the 111th supper president for 2016. Dan Tucker, president of the selection committee, said the Kingdom Supper president must be someone who is "outstanding" and an ambassador of the county. He added that the committee switches between choosing a person from the north or south portions of Callaway, and next year's president needed to be a northern Callawegian.
Tucker said Atkinson stood out among the other candidates, crediting his promotion of Kingdom City and business there. Atkinson, Tucker said, is a person who can always be counted on to step up when there's a need.
"Ron was everyone's first choice," he said.
In the past 50 years, Atkinson said he's attended half - if not more - of the Kingdom Suppers. He's received awards when he was a member of various organizations, including the Callaway County Fair Board, which he served on as president for two years. The annual event has been an important celebration for his family - especially for his father, who was president in 1980.
"I always jokingly say that the most important things every year to my father were the Kingdom of Callaway Supper and the Atkinson family reunion," he said.
Being selected as the president for 2016 is one of the greatest honors of his life, Atkinson said.
"Many of the past presidents and people involved in the supper I have known all of my life, and I have done business with many of them all of my life," he said. "Even though it is a small portion in the total population of Callaway County, I feel that that group is the cream of the crop, so to speak. To be associated with that group and be recognized and awarded, being asked to be president means a lot because of the integrity of the group and the tradition."
Atkinson attended Hatton-McCredie Elementary School and later graduated from North Callaway High School in 1971. Growing up, his father had trucks that hauled livestock and grain, and he also sold feed, fertilizer and farm supplies.
After a brief stint in college at the Northeast Missouri University (now Truman State), Atkinson returned home in 1973 to help his father run the truck stop after his grandfather, John Gasper, died. Atkinson operated the towing business and shop.
"Trucks, or the trucking industry, has been our life for at least three generations," Atkinson said. "It's been solely my life. My folks had a combination (truck), and my parents were involved in trucking and farming."
Atkinson bought the truck stop division of the business from his family in 1987, and purchased the remainder of the Gasper's operation in the early 2000s. His business ventures reached outside of Callaway County in 1979 when he established another travel center in Moberly. He built and developed the Days Inn in Kingdom City in 1992, running it for the next seven years. In 2001, he started a propane delivery business.
"(The truck stop) gives you a real perspective - because I deal with customers from all across the country. I would say, in the course of an average day, there aren't too many states that (truck drivers) don't stop in. So you get a wide variety of people, personalities, and I can attribute all of our success and longevity, which I'm very proud of because it's a big corporate world and we're a small owner operation and we're still surviving, from the roots and the basics from Callaway County and the kind of people who are here. It's where all the bulk of employees have come over the years. The values and work ethic that is standard and that I grew up with in Callaway County is all this business is a reflection of."
He added that he hopes to garner enthusiasm and involvement for next year as well as maintain the tradition of the supper.
"As life goes on and the pace gets faster and people move and things change, it's important not to lose that (tradition)," Atkinson said. "No matter where you're from it's important, and you hear famous people say this quote all the time: Don't forget where you came from. It's just one of those events that's a yearly reminder and I think it's important"
In addition to his work on the county fair board, Atkinson served on the Callaway County Tourism Board for 11 years, acting as president for three years. He was also involved in the North Callaway volunteer fire department during its infancy, and served on The Callaway Bank Advisory Board for more than a decade.