If Opp residents owe a debt of gratitude to Harold Sorrells for the way he’s worked, they owe him perhaps a bigger debt for the way he retired.

Sorrells, the former owner of MSJ Trucking, said he had an opportunity last summer to sell the company he formed in 1996. But he quickly determined the Atlanta investors would immediately move the company and that didn’t suit him.

Then, he said, “out of the clear blue,” he received a call from a friend asking if he were serious about selling.

Sorrells described Buddy Moore as a “friend of mine for 50 years,” and said the Moore and Sorrells families had vacationed together.

Within a few days, representatives of Buddy Moore Trucking and his family were in Opp to take stock, and a deal was struck when Sorrells was assured the company wouldn’t be moved.

“Those people who helped me build the thing will still have their jobs,” he said. “That’s the way the Lord works. You can’t outdo him.”

Sorrells was honored with a retirement luncheon on the MacArthur campus of LBW Community College Tuesday. Many friends and associates recalled the impact he has had on the community and on individuals.

We join those associates in wishing him a long and happy retirement, and we join the people of Opp in thanking him for working to keep jobs in Covington County, even in his retirement.