Since my retirement, one of my more responsible duties has been to empty all of the waste baskets, in our home, and prepare the trash so that it can be picked up by the Trash Man. When we are in Michigan that happens once each week, but while in Florida it takes place twice as often, so you can see that I am kept busy performing difficult and time consuming tasks that require much thought and preparation.

It is not my intention to discuss my trying and overworked life style, but rather, I would like to discuss an act performed by one of the most diligent and precise individuals that I have ever worked with, Parkie Fawkes. Parkie worked in several different capacities, with the Company, and I think that he was taking care of billings, on the Electrical work, when the Florida job started.

After things got under way, in Florida, I could see the need for a full time Warehouse Man to take care of materials coming in and going out, as well as keeping track of the work units completed, for billing purposes. As it turned out, the powers that be sent Malcombe “Rube” Rahn and put Parkie in Rube’s place, in the Three Rivers Warehouse. That was alright with me, because Rube was a good man also.

The point that I am trying, with such difficulty, to get to is that when I returned to Three Rivers, after the completion of the Florida job, I moved back into my old office and, for the want of a better place, temporarily, or I thought temporarily, I stuck several rolls of “As Built” drawings, of the Florida job, into the waste basket, under my work table, until I could get time to put them away.

Parkie, in his enthusiasm to welcome me home, cleaned out my office, waste basket and all, and before I knew it he had burned the only copies of the “As Built” drawings, of the Cape Canaveral Electrical Distribution System, that the Clifton Engineering Company had. I am sure glad that I gave copies to the Corps, before I left Florida, and that we were never called on to use the copies that I didn’t have.

Now, and for the past several years, that I have had the responsibility of the trash detail, each time that I empty the waste baskets, around the house, I am reminded of Parkie Fawkes, and that is not all bad either.