This is a three-volume set of books I wrote for Vecellio & Grogan headquartered in Beckley, West Virginia, with subsidiaries throughout Florida. It was my largest challenge-very difficult, but interesting. V&G historically ranks among the top 200 highway construction companies in the world. The founder, Leo Vecellio, Sr. was one of the greatest gentleman I have ever met. His dream since his youth was to record his history and that of the company. He was compassionate, humble, honest and his ethical standards were among the highest. He shared his success with his employees and deeply cared about them. It was my privilege and pleasure to work with him so closely until his death in 1996. I then completed his writing dream working with his son, Leo, Jr.
I started the V&G project by conducting interviews throughout the eastern U. S., many times traveling in V&G's company helicopter throughout Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. I recorded, then typed, some five million words before I started editing and crafting the books. I then shaped Our Partners In Success and the two volumes of Our Highways To Success. Among my highlights during this writing was interviewing many highly respected men such as the great golfer, Arnold Palmer.
I personally reviewed over 50,000 pictures to select approximately 4,000 for the books, then wrote the captions, designed the books including specifications, and finally supervised the printing and binding-some 2,000 of each. The first book contains the autobiographies and biographies of all V&G's old-timers plus vendors from Caterpillar, DuPont and other suppliers. The two additional books contain the histories of all the companies that V&G owns or have owned including huge coal operations in West Virginia, highway construction companies, charter airplane and helicopter services, a large rock quarry in Miami and more.