Employee Spotlight


Duke Bottorff

April 13th, 2022

Duke Bottorff

Congratulations to Duke Bottorff for retiring after 26 strong years, the majority of which were spent as the leadman in our log yard!

In the yard, Duke primarily worked as a front-end loader operator. This involves operating a 988K machine with forks on the front that can pick up entire truckloads of logs in one pass. After unloading, they will navigate to the center of the yard where they will spread the logs out for the scalers to come in and measure for board footage. These tasks were no-brainers for Duke as he had spent most of his career in the logging industry, gaining years of heavy equipment operating experience.

Not only was Duke a logger, but he also competed in rodeos for about 12 years. He mainly rode bulls, but he also participated in the saddle bronc and bareback riding events. You can imagine the mental and physical toughness required for both occupations.

From a young age, Duke recalls his father always bestowing the valuable life lesson of hard work. It’s safe to say that Duke has upheld quite an impressive reputation of being the type of employee that consistently goes the extra mile. CEO, Mike Beckley, states “Duke is someone you can count on, he has always been willing to do whatever it takes to keep things running.”

We hope to still see Duke around as his wonderful wife, Sue, works for us in our accounting department. We will dearly miss Duke and his impeccable dedication to his job as well as his genuine spirit and witty sense of humor. South Coast has been so lucky to have someone that takes immense pride in his work. Thank you for being you, Duke!