the essentials The Tarn department had only two female dairy drivers. Anne Marie Gomez was one of them.
Anne Marie Gomez is a pioneer of her time, as she was one of the first female milk truck drivers in the department. Born in 1934, she passed her heavy goods vehicle license in 1960 to help her husband Raphaël Gomez on his tours. Her husband was a driver for a dairy. After an accident, he decided to start his own business in 1959. Later, he bought the Valence Sérénac Andouque tour with at the beginning a small truck which contained around twenty cans of 40 kg each in order to collect between 700 and 800 liters of milk. “It was very physical. We had to hoist the cans onto the truck but it was a real pleasure to see the farmers,” says Anne-Marie. “I was always welcomed with a coffee or soup in freezing weather.”
Anne Marie started her rounds at 2 a.m. The couple’s company expanded ten years later by purchasing two tank trucks of 10,000 and 15,000 liters which they picked up in the Jura, when they bought the Cadalen tour.
They will hire two drivers Jean-Paul Gomez, a now deceased nephew, and Daniel Faget. The sole proprietorship became the Solaigo company (Gomez dairy company) to bring the milk to the dairies of Montauban or Rodez, braving the bad weather seven days a week. After the collection, it was the big meticulous cleaning of the trucks, because it was often necessary to reverse into muddy farms. She always had a truck ahead in the event of a breakdown or accident because tour schedules had to be respected. After Raphaël’s death in 1997, Anne Marie managed the company alone until her retirement in 2000. The couple had lived in Saint-Juéry since 1955. They had two sons, Alain and Jean Claude. Patrick Centelles, deputy town hall, was their accountant for 20 years. Since her retirement, Anne Marie, lively and dynamic, has visited the world with 50 countries to her credit. She also has a passion for bridge which keeps her memory alive. She dreams of being able to take a paragliding flight for her 90th birthday.
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