JANUARY 2025 – Some people seem to thrive on making others’ lives easier. Team members at the Phoenix Transload Terminal consider Conductor Lester LaCaze to be one of these people.

LaCaze is an operator at Watco’s Phoenix Transload Terminal, where the team specializes in handling food-grade liquids. His helpfulness often starts at first light.

Terminal Manager Wendy Trevizo has seen this plenty of times in the 14 years she’s worked with LaCaze. “He is earlier than usual when he knows it will be a busy day,” she says, “and he stays until we are done with our job.”

Customer Service Representative Cynthia Corona agrees with Trevizo that LaCaze can be an early bird. When Corona arrives for work at 5 in the morning, LaCaze “already has a list to give me with updates: trailers to be washed, new work orders, and stuff like that, even though it’s not his job,” says Corona.

Both Corona and Tervizo cite mechanical expertise as another way LaCaze is a great support to the Phoenix team. “His mechanical knowledge helps us to fix things or at least to have an idea what is wrong with our equipment,” says Trevizo. Corona adds: “He has so much knowledge. He knows how to operate every machine.”

When he’s not running pumps, boilers, or a machine that cleans processing equipment, LaCaze passes along the type of information that makes the day go smoother.

As things change during the day, he’ll pop back inside to Corona’s desk. “Lester keeps me updated with orders that were moved or trailers that got washed that day. And he keeps me updated if we are going to load for other customers besides our regular customer.” She said LaCaze’s efforts help her ensure all paperwork is ready for customers when they arrive to pick up loads and allow her to keep up with creating more outbound loads.

The praise LaCaze’s teammates have for him is plentiful. Descriptors like “always goes the extra mile,” “always with a smile,” and “treats everybody with respect” flow from Tervizo and Corona. So do the phrases “perfect attendance” and “always available to for the team,” among others.

And it turns out that in addition to the volumes of support he gives to his teammates, LaCaze has served his community generously, too: He’s been a pastor for 32 years.

There more you learn about Lester LaCaze, the easier it is to understand how much Trevizo depends on him. As she puts it, “Lester is my right and left hand. It would be very difficult without him.”

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