happy retirement, dad!

Tomorrow is my dad's last day at work for the Indiana Department of Transportation after almost 40 years! His last job as a project supervisor has been a section of I-69 near Washington. I must admit it was thoroughly impressive to see that project progress over such short time span. He's had many different jobs while I was growing up and has accomplished a lot in his time with the state that has really made a lasting impression on many. That was made perfectly clear today at a little retirement send off at his district office.

The picture above is one of his from his most recent job. This shows just some of the equipment the contractor has out on that one job. It is most impressive to drive out on 100 N and see the job and all that has been accomplished in just a few shorts months...mostly done in the fall/late fall and moving dirt as recently as a couple of weeks ago. It's something I know he's really proud of.

I have a lot of memories growing up and visiting his jobs. From the stories that have been told, I was once quite terrified to ride on the dirt. This apparently happened when my dad was working on the Washington bypass project. I don't remember this at all, but that still gets brought up when he's about to take us out for a spin on the job today. The first job of his that I have many memories of was the section of the four lane to Vincennes that he supervised. Maybe this was because he was at this job for several years (as a matter of fact I had the same teacher for third and sixth grade and he was there both times I had her...although he was nearly done when I had her the second time). I can still vividly remember being out on that job. The state has been very lucky to have a guy like him around all these years!

I have made a few observations over the last couple of days. Here they are:

My dad has had several specific and general job offers in the last week or so....while I can't even get one lead on a job. (Let's see, how exactly do I get 40 years experience in so people are knocking at the door with job offers?)
No one actually thought he was going to retire...the most popular question my mom and I were asked today at the retirement shin dig was "So did you really think he was going to do it?" And this was often followed up by them saying they did not until only recently (truth be told my sister and I discussed this a couple of times and once he pushed the date back from October to the end of the year, we really thought the end of the year might turn into March or April).
Even though I already knew this, it was just made that much more evident as his last day draws nearer, he has made an enormous impact on the Vincennes District. I say this not only referring to his jobs and the tangible products he has produced, but also the impact he has had on the people he has taken in and mentored/befriended/fought with/and worked with along the way. He is truly respected for being who he is and doing what he has done for almost forty years and he has really made an impact on those people.

I looked for some pictures from over the years because I know we HAVE to have some from his jobs. He must be hiding them somewhere because I couldn't find any with the rest of our pictures. For now you will have to settle for this one that my mom found for me and after that I am going to leave you a video my dad made (he talented in many ways) while at the I-69 job about a month ago or so. Enjoy.