Has it really been 20 years already? I’ve been asking myself that since July … July 12 of this summer to be exact. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago when I received a 20-year continuous service award that it all became real.

Back in June of 1995, I had no idea that the University of Washington was even building a facility out here. I’m still not sure why I didn’t know about the construction up on the hill then, perhaps I didn’t read the paper as much as I do now or maybe nobody wrote about it much. Or maybe I just had my head in the sand, I’m not sure what the reason was.

Before coming to the University of Washington I was working for the Forks Community Hospital in maintenance and saw a lot of changes there. It was during that time that the new surgery suite as well as the new radiology department along with the new ER and labs were constructed.

The new generator also was installed while I was working there.

Lots of changes, however a new change was about to take place.

Right around the beginning of June of 1995, my wife and her sister-in-law were hired by the general contractor to come in as construction was being finalized to clean up the place. They were just starting a janitorial business and this was their first big job.

Truth be told, and I will get into trouble if I don’t mention this, but the reason I was hired here at the ONRC was because of my wife. She lets me know it a few times a year just to keep me humble.

While cleaning up here, the construction foreman mentioned to her that the university was getting ready to post the position for the maintenance mechanic here at the facility.

She brought me home an application and said, “You should go for it.” So as I filled it out it dawned on me “What if I got the job”? If I took this job, it would be the first time I had ever left another place of employment to take another job. All of the places I have worked at since graduating in 1982 either closed or the job ended.

I came up here with the application I had filled out and met the then director, dropped it off and really not expecting to hear much back, I looked around for a few minutes and went home.

I got a call the next week to come for an interview, I was pretty nervous as most of us are, but I got through it and again I left not really expecting to hear much, and then three days later I got a call and was offered the job, and the rest as they say is history.

I had mixed feelings about leaving the local hospital. I mean, what if I was quitting a job that I already liked to go to one that I didn’t enjoy? Who would I be working with? Would they like me? Would I live up to the expectations that I wrote down in my application? I had more questions bouncing around in my head than answers for sure.

And then there was the fact that the job was only a 70-percent position at about 5.5 hours a day. I talked to a few people and we crunched the numbers and as it turned out I would make as much here at 70 percent as I did at the hospital at 100 percent. So money wasn’t really an issue and in just a couple of months they would move me to 100 percent. While I enjoyed all the folks I worked with at the hospital, I took the leap and accepted the job here.

For about three weeks I worked four hours a day at the hospital and five at the Olympic Natural Resources Center in order for the hospital to replace me in a reasonable amount of time. So here we are 20 years later and as I look back and think about the years it really has been a great place to work. There have been a few retirements over the years and as of August I became the longest lasting employee here.

I’m right at that age where I’m too old to be looking for a new job and too young to retire, and why would I want to retire from here right? So I guess I better not mess it up huh? I appreciate the University of Washington every day for letting me enjoy a great job here in my small town.

It’s the best of both worlds: I have a great job where I grew up without all of the other stuff that goes along with being over in the big city. I was telling someone from Seattle the other day that I saw another car on the way to work, I mean, come on, that right there is worth more than any amount of money … well almost.

I’m not sure what the future holds for me here at the ONRC, but as far as it depends on me ,I’m sticking around for as long as I can.