LP Gas Hall of Fame inductees reunite

March 16, 2022 By    

Editor’s note: This column was originally published in our September 2021 issue. It has been updated with details about the Class of 2022 induction ceremony, scheduled for April 23 in Nashville, Tennessee.


In her own words, Nancy Coop is “charged up” – about her home remodeling project, developments with Women in Propane, her role with Cetane Associates and the LP Gas Hall of Fame.

Coop and her fellow inductees – Doug Auxier, Richard Barker and Joe Rose – were less than a month from taking the stage at the LP Gas Hall of Fame dinner in 2020, when COVID-19 halted life as we know it. But the wait to honor this class of inductees is nearly over.

The LP Gas Hall of Fame induction dinner will return April 23 at the Omni Nashville Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee – the night before the National Propane Gas Association’s (NPGA) Southeastern Convention & International Propane Expo.

Coop, who will become the first woman in the Hall of Fame, says the wait “probably adds a little more to that treasured feeling you get when you think about this happening.”

On the move

At the outset of the pandemic, the only thing on Coop’s mind was moving with her husband, Tuck, from the San Francisco Bay Area to a small beach town in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. A damaging water leak in the top floor of their two-story house led to repair work and a major remodeling project.

Coop also shifted her work with Women in Propane into overdrive by supporting two big initiatives over the past year: association engagement and taking what has been a national organization – and an NPGA business council focused on advancing the industry’s workforce – to the states. Women in Propane also developed a new website that will help it improve communication with members.

Coop’s passion for her new director of marketing position at Cetane runs deep – it’s “being able to shout about something you believe in,” she says about a chance also to use creativity and technology while working with some terrific colleagues.

In her downtime during the pandemic, Coop admits to binging on Netflix – specifically “Call My Agent!” – and developing a virtual workout routine.

Connecting from anywhere

From one side of the country to the other, Rose says little has changed for him during his semi-retired lifestyle – except for maybe one thing.

“Zoom changed everything,” says the former state executive of the Propane Gas Association of New England.

Rose became familiar with the video conferencing software as a way to communicate with customers (he’s a goodwill ambassador for Lin’s Propane Trucks). He also found Zoom useful for church services (he’s studying to become an Episcopal priest).

Rose and his wife, Audrey, also have hunkered down in their RV during the summer months in Vermont.

“As long as you have an internet connection, you can Zoom from anywhere,” Rose says.

Two weeks before the pandemic hit, Auxier and his wife, Jan, left on a trip to Africa. They returned home amid a different way of life but had made memories for a lifetime.

“To see an elephant in the wild standing 3 ft. in front of you is kind of different,” Auxier says. “It’s like an open-air zoo, but it’s real.”

Auxier, president of Auxier Gas in Batavia, Ohio, stays busy with the propane business and on his farm, the latter giving him “a chance to play with my big toys.”

He still has a love of flying, drag racing and, during the pandemic, he developed a liking for puzzles.

Barker, meanwhile, has spent time in Florida with his wife, Donna, and with family in Indiana – where he drove the development of an underground propane storage cavern while with Silgas.

This group will finally come together, bringing the industry together, to celebrate.

Tickets for the LP Gas Hall of Fame are available here.

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