Leo's Towing on Hall of Fame wall

Leo's Towing of Mountain Home has been recognized by the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

A recent donation was made to have the local business added to a plaque that recognizes state-wide towing businesses.

The museum also has other awards that it gives out every year to businesses that are in towing and recovery.

They are nominated for their contributions to the towing and recovery industry, their families and their communities.

Those that are nominated for special awards are invited to Tennessee for special events and their business ends up on a plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Dell Frad, who runs Leo's Towing and his wife Anner, whom Frad refers to "as his bride of many years," were surprised when they opened up a letter from their son and daughter-in-law, which had a picture of a plaque from the museum that showed the name "Leo's Towing" of Mountain Home.

"They just happened to be out in Tennessee, where my daughter- in-law works, and went by the museum. She took a picture and sent us a copy," said Frad.

"I was really surprised to see we were noticed in another state. I have been in the business for a long time and couldn't believe it."

Leo's Towing has been in business since 1972.

Dell Frad, who has run Leo's Towing since 1977, was happy to share some of his "on the job, helping others out" stories.

"About 25 years ago there was an accident on the Interstate. Didn't know what I was getting myself into, except that a big rig needed to be towed. Got to the scene and boy was I surprised to see some cattle parts spread all over that I had to crawl through to hook up chains."

Another memorable incident occured at the Crane Falls boat ramp where there was a lot of slime in a water. A mans' truck couldn't grip the cement and decided it wanted to go backwards and ended up in the river.

"We had to find a rowboat to get to the truck and hook it up. I happened to see this gentleman again at a local auction and made a joke to him about if he happened to purchase his own 'pontoon' to help out if he gets stuck again," Dell replied with a grin on his face.

"I don't understand sometimes on the calls I go on, why some people think their trucks can go past signs that say 'Road Closed' or 'Snowmobiles only'.

"I was called up to Fall Creek and had to save one of these trucks that did not even have traction on it. It was pretty stuck, so I decided to take a movie film of it. The guy didn't think it was funny, but I did and said it was because those big signs at the bottom of the road pretty much said this is not a good idea."

Leo's has made many contributions to the community and helps everyone when he can.