Celebrating a Legacy with Utility

The Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company family was saddened to learn of the September 17th passing of Jon Loring Sr. One of Utility’s longest-tenured and valued dealers, Jon joined a then-one-year-old Utility Trailer Sales Southeast Texas as a salesman in 1971. Jon was just 30 and had no prior knowledge of trailers at the time. Jon and his wife Mary had a young family—Leslea was six, Melissa was three, and Jon Jr. was not yet one—and the job didn’t provide nearly enough at first to support his family. But he enthusiastically took on the challenge and never quit. He became a natural fit in the trailer industry and with perseverance, bought in as an owner of the dealership in 1978.

Jon Sr. was proud to be a Utility dealer and was an integral part of growing the business to 10 locations throughout the Southeast and West Texas region. Utility Trailer Sales Southeast Texas celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020 and employs more than 300 team members today, including the next two generations of Lorings.

“Utility and the Bennett family gave my dad and our families an opportunity that we are all grateful for today,” Jon Loring Jr. said.  “Dad would shake his head in disbelief as he saw our growth, never dreaming all this would happen. He simply was trying to make a living for his family. Little did he know, he built a legacy for generations to come.”

Today, Jon Jr. is President, Leslea serves as Director of Advertising, and Melissa heads up the Trailer Finance and Accounting Department. Three of Jon’s grandchildren, Megan, Tyler, and Luke, also work in the family business across the dealer’s Safety, Sales, Trailer Finance, and Accounting operations. “As evident by his children and grandchildren enthusiastically embracing the family business and making our greater Utility family such a big part of their lives, Jon Loring Sr. was a strong family man,” Utility Trailer President and COO Steve Bennett said. “Jon was a pleasure to work with and a true champion of the Utility Trailer name. He took care of his customers, earned the respect of his employees, and was a true salt-of-the-Earth type of guy that I know his family and our Utility family will dearly miss.”

“I pray that I may live to fish until my dying day. And when it comes to my last cast, then I most humbly pray, when in the lord’s great landing net and peacefully asleep, that His mercy I be judged big enough to keep!”