[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 26, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING MS. KAREN PARTIN

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                 HON. CHARLES J. ``CHUCK'' FLEISCHMANN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 26, 2025

  Mr. FLEISCHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate and 
recognize Ms. Karen Partin, who, on January 30, 2025, completed 1 
million miles of long-haul driving without an accident.
  Ms. Partin is a professional long-haul truck driver for McKee Foods 
Corporation based in Collegedale, Tennessee. She began her career at 
McKee Foods Corporation in September 1987. Starting in the 
Manufacturing Production Area, Karen first transferred to Shipping, 
then to the Transportation Department Dispatch Office approximately 
eleven years later. Fast-forward four more years, in 2002, she moved to 
Corporate Fleet Safety, where she began to learn about Safety in the 
trucking industry.
  In 2004, Karen chose to work part-time to fulfill her lifelong dream 
of being a long-haul truck driver. Karen returned to school to pursue a 
CDL. Two years later, Karen was a full-time professional semi-truck 
driver, bringing with her an abundance of safety knowledge from her 
time in Corporate Fleet Safety. The American Trucking Research 
Institute confirms that women make up only 8.1 percent of all U.S. 
professional truck drivers and only 2.7 percent of over-the-road truck 
drivers.
  Always a goal-setter, Karen began the pursuit of reaching one million 
safe miles. It is a milestone for every professional truck driver and 
an especially difficult goal for a woman professional truck driver. 
Since her professional driving career began in 2006, Karen has 
continued to further her education, completing, with Honors, a Business 
Management course through Cleveland State Community College. Karen 
recently completed an Advanced Critical Thinking course offered by 
McKee Foods and is continuously completing learning courses through 
LinkedIn Learning.
  Karen is a member of Women in Trucking and She Trucking. Her 
employer, McKee Foods, recently recognized Karen as a Road Team Captain 
with the Tennessee Trucking Association. As a Road Team Captain, Karen 
visits local schools to teach students how to share the road safely 
with big trucks and promote the professional truck driving profession. 
Karen is a role model for young adults, particularly women, to consider 
trucking and logistics as a career.
  Karen promotes a healthy lifestyle for herself and other professional 
truck drivers. She emphasizes the need to stay fit and healthy is vital 
as a long-haul truck driver. Karen is also the proud mother of two sons 
and has one granddaughter.
  I am honored to recognize Karen Partin for completing this unique and 
coveted milestone.

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