Ricky Lee Burns has spent his life doing what he calls “professional grunt work.” While he’s rarely made more than minimum wage, his various jobs have given him the chance to see America.
But while Burns has enjoyed his various jobs over the course of his career, his very favorite job in his life has been being a pawpaw.
Burns left Dublin High School in 1988 and got his GED. His first job out of high school was at the Dublin Zero Locker (now Clay’s Processing). Over the course of a year he learned how to butcher an animal, and worked as a deboner.
After a year there, Burns transitioned to working for dairies, first trimming hooves of dairy cattle and then driving a tractor and doing other farm work for Aurora Dairy outside town. He also went back to school at Lincoln Tech, although he did not finish.
In the early 90s, Burns took a job that took him out of Texas and the country. He worked as a rail grinder for a company called Loram in Hamel, Minnesota. The railroads he worked on stretched from Minnesota all the way across Canada.
“We lived in a camp car in Canada for a year,” he said. “It was three months out and then two weeks off. It was a lot of fun. I got to see Canada from east to west on the rails, which is a little different than seeing it on the highway. There were times we were two weeks between towns.”
Burns would often be working in extreme cold conditions, but he adapted. “The cold weather gear up there is a lot different than what we have here in Texas,” he said.
After a year working on the railroad he went to Noel, Missouri to work at a chicken plant that his dad was working at. “A river runs through Noel,” he said. “it was a pretty neat little town.”
Burns stayed at the chicken plant for a year, but then decided to move back to Texas. He got a job at Ballard Milk Company which hauled milk from dairies in the Stephenville areas to larger cities around the state.
He started out washing trucks, but since he had some mechanical experience from his time at Lincoln Tech, he was promoted to the position of mechanic. Soon, he earned his Commercial Drivers License and started driving the trucks himself. “I did that for 20 years,” he said.
Burns had to stop driving when his health began to deteriorate due to the sedentary lifestyle of trucking. Because of his health complications, Burns lost his CDL and had to find a new line of work.
“I found a job at McCurdy Peanuts [near Dublin] for five years,” he said. “And then Daniel Dutton took it over and started the shelling plant. I was the plant manager — I call it that because I was the only person in the whole plant.”
He stayed there until the peanut plant shut down, then hopped around between jobs at a power company and various agricultural operations. Finally, after driving a tractor for Grass Roots Farming in Dublin, Burns decided to retire and be a full-time grandparent.
“I quit my job at Grass Roots and worked on the ranch where we lived,” he said. He and his then wife lived on 86 acres near DeLeon along with his wife’s son and his family, and Burns spent his days entertaining the grandkids.
“I built all kinds of playground equipment, ziplines, a swimming dock and things like that,” he said. “It was the greatest job I ever had.”
His time at the ranch only lasted for 13 years, up until Burns and his wife decided to get a divorce and he had to come out of retirement to work again.
Burns found a job at Farley Farms, one of his previous employers, loading and unloading fertilizers. He plans to continue working for Farley Farms until he can retire again. “If everything works out alright I will be a professional grunt until I’m 75,” he said.
When Burns isn’t working, he enjoys playing guitar and riding a motorcycle. He learned the guitar five years ago and enjoys playing rock and roll like Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath as well as alternative music like Matchbox 20.
Burns also enjoys spending time with his family. His daughter Candace Lee Burns runs the cash store in Stephenville. He also has a grandson and several step-grandchildren.
Throughout his life, the thing Burns is most proud of is raising his daughter. “My daughter, she’s my greatest accomplishment, greatest contribution to this world, and I’m so proud of her,” he said. “Nothing I’ve done even compares to raising her.”
To Dublin graduates, Burns offers the following advice “Stay in school as long as you can,” he said. “Just keep learning. The more you learn, the better off you’ll be.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.