My husband and Uncle Sonny had something in common, they both loved the river. John has worked on the river for 31 years. He started out as a deckhand working his way up to becoming a pilot. His dream was to work on the big Lineboats after our kid's were grown. He worked in Burlington for P&D Harboe Service for about 6 1/2 years and then we relocated to the Quad-cities where he began working for Blackhawk Fleet for 14 years. He grew tired of working in the same area all the time. He wanted to broaden his horizons and learn new things. He's the only person that Alter Barge lines has allowed to leave the tugboats and go to work for them on their lineboats. He was told last winter that he's their biggest success story. He's worked for them for going on 11 years now and loves it out there. He's gone for 30 day's and home for 30 day's. The kid's and I couldn't be any prouder of him. He's "OUR HERO". Alter Co. also owns Blackhawk Fleet. John has actually worked for Alter Barge Lines for 25 years. He doesn't plan to ever retire. He says the river is in his blood. I thought it would honor Uncle Sonny's memory by putting a picture of the big lineboat at the end of his memorial, along with a special picture of John & I on the Bernard G. Since Uncle Sonny was also a truck driver I put a special picture of my brother Bob Phillips standing next to the truck he drives for Holland. So, he and Uncle Sonny had that in common as well. I got to go on the boat with John a couple of years back and I enjoyed it immensely. He's got to have the neatest job on the planet and he's so good at what he does out there. He's a Captain and loves every minute of it even though it's never easy being away from me and the kid's. It's a very stessful job but he does great dealing with the problems that come up etc. The income is awesome too. He makes more working on the lineboat in 6 months then what he made working on the tugboats down at Blackhawk Fleet all year long. John has always told me that he feels everybody's got a calling and the river was his.