Winning Spirit Magazine January - February 2019 | Page 14

COLORADO
A Legacy of Patience, Persistence,
and Confidence
Retired LHM Employee Leaves a Legacy of Learning for His Children
By Livia Horne
My dad often tells us that Larry H. Miller
saved his life. When he first told me this,
I felt a tumble of truth kick up in my own
gut, for I knew he was right, but only then did
I realize how powerful it would be to hold this
honest remark in my own hands.
It was just me and my dad living together
when he began working at Boulder Toyota.
I watched my dad, David “Coach” Hooson,
commit 12 years to a new vocation as a sales
consultant, leasing specialist, and a dedicated
mentor for new employees at Toyota. But never
once did he call himself a car salesman. He was
known as “Coach” to managers and clients alike.
This namesake was adapted from his previous
career as a teacher and track and field coach in
New Hampshire.
Coach has always been a man who honors
and breeds quality relationships. This included
his team at Toyota Boulder, a crew of confidants
(and competitors), who he offered honest advice
and informed feedback to through his learned
education at the office, because he believes
everyone wins if you come together as a team.
Ricardo Hernandez, a long-time friend and
co-worker, has been a sales consultant at the
dealership for nearly 16 years and was the one
who told my father to apply to the company,
giving him an outstretched hand when he
needed it the most. Ricardo recalls Coach being
the first person to answer every question in
their shared classes—this desire to learn was
emulated for his three children because he saw
life as a classroom.
“My father once told
me that Larry H. Miller
saved his life.”
Livia Horne
My father took the job at Boulder Toyota in
part because he refused to sell anything other
than the best products on the market and
because he had us: Allie, Livia, and Jack. Each
day, he set aside his own struggles (a practice
that Ricardo refers to as leaving your problems
outside the parking lot) and stepped into a role
that would allow his hard work to manifest
into an education for his kids. Larry H. Miller’s
Dependent Scholarship Program offers children
of full-time employees financial assistance in
their undergraduate endeavors, as long as they
keep up a solid GPA. In 2008, my dad dropped
me off at Fort Lewis College in Durango,
Colorado, where I would soon receive my
bachelor’s degree in English communications
and graphic design. This journey would shape
my career as it stands today and give me an
avenue to create life-long relationships and
formative experiences that are truly unique
to being an undergrad. Working with this
scholarship program at LHM each semester was
a genuine gift. They ensured I had the tools and
financial backing to follow my pursuits, which
will take me abroad next year to travel across
Latin America to tell stories through digital
content creation.
My siblings and I have interests that span
fashion, art, journalism, social consciousness,
and environmental education—but at the
end of each day, it is our desire to play on a
team, to inspire change, and create empowered
relationships across industries. It is about
community. When my father retired from
Toyota last year, it was a time of celebration
but also of closing goodbyes, for he walked
away from a tribe of trusted peers and a list of
devoted clients that ran deep. But for me, his
legacy is just taking form. A legacy of patience,
persistence, and humble confidence. I carry
it in my open palms—this gift from father to
daughter. ◆
12 LHM Winning Spirit January/February 2019