Did someone make a significant difference in your life but never knew the impact they made and how much you appreciate it.
I’ve been listening to a podcast named My Unsung Hero hosted by Shankar Vedantam. He also hosts Hidden Brain.
It’s reminded me of a couple of unsung heroes of mine.
When I was finishing my Junior year in High School in Louisville my history teacher told me that her husband was leaving the Kentucky Highway Department to begin his own civil engineering firm. Her name was Mrs. James and she knew that I was in a drafting class.
She told me that I should talk with her husband about working part-time for him. She also recommended a student named Barbara who had artistic skills. Barbara and I were the firm’s first two employees.
I sold the paper route I’d been delivering for three years and had my first experience working on a company team and seeing how things were designed and built.
The new business was named Budd James and Associates. Later it became part of a larger company named E. Lionel Pavlo.
Barbara and I worked after school from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm Monday through Friday. I helped with surveying on Saturdays.
After I began college, I worked full-time during the summers. I also came home and worked during Christmas and Spring Breaks. There was no spring break beach time for me.
I surveyed in Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, and Louisiana. This led me to work for two other engineering companies in Lexington while I was in college.
Mr. And Mrs. James are my heroes for providing me with that opportunity. I wish I had told them that, but I never did. They are unsung heroes.
I was working full-time for the second Lexington-based firm when my next unsung hero appeared. That firm was Parrot, Ely and Hurt Engineers and his name was George Ely. I’ll talk about him next week.
Thanks for listening.
