TThe 
ight House
About Me (1988-1997)
About Me • 1958-1967 • 1968-1977 • 1978-1987 • 1998-Present • Testimony
Before O I continue with the biography, I write briefly about my brother, Ted, and our relationship. I am ten years older than Ted so that means that as children we had a big brother - little brother type of relationship. Although there were (10) years difference in our age, we still had a lot of fun when we were kids. I used to pull him on his "Big Wheel" with my motorcycle, we would wrestle and play all sorts of games.
There was a period of time when we grew apart for a while. It was when I was a teenager and began to drive, date, and run around with guys my own age. I neglected our relationship as brothers for that period and have always regretted doing so. In a few years that "little brother - big brother" relationship was simply a brothers relationship. He past me up in the growth department, so I actually look more like HIS little
brother now than he does mine. Once we were both grown, we got close again and have remained that way. We both are huge cut-ups and are prone to "horsing around". We are best friends. There is nothing we wouldn't do for one another. If one calls, the other is there. We've never had a serious argument, nor been angry with each other for more than an hour or so, if that long. I count myself blessed to have a brother like Ted, especially when I see so much rivalry today. between siblings. Now I will continue with the biography..
In February of 1988, I was laid off from Columbus Electric. This came suddenly and unexpectedly. It also came at a bad time. For the past three months I had been experiencing pain and numbness in my right arm and it had been getting worse. I almost did not choose to continue my insurance coverage because it was so expensive. A coworker who knew how my arm had been hurting, talked me into keeping the insurance coverage.
I visited several doctors and a chiropractor seeking treatment for my arm pain. No one was able to diagnose it even with X-rays, CAT scans, and two Milagrams. Finally, on April 4, 1988 my problem was found by exploratory surgery. I had a ruptured cervical disc. The doctor removed the ruptured disc. I slowly recovered and regained the strength in my arm. It was a good thing that I kept my insurance!
I signed on with a job placement service specializing in placement of technical personnel. Through this service, I held several temporary positions as a Draftsman/Designer. I gained a lot of valuable experience in those temporary positions. Each job was different with it's own challenges and requirements. The assignments varied from a few weeks to a few months. The longest assignment I had was with Electrolux Corp., a manufacturer of floor cleaning equipment in Bristol, Virginia. The whole time I was working in these temporary positions, I was looking for a permanent job.
Finally in March of 1989, I was hired by Raytheon as a permanent employee. Raytheon was a manufacturer of various missile systems used by the military.
One day while working at Raytheon, I noticed something strange about my eye sight. I was seeing distorted waves when I read printed text. I went to the eye doctor to have it checked out and was promptly diagnosed with having an eye disease known as "Presumed Ocular Histoplasmosis Syndrome". This is a condition in which blood vessels in the retina grow in clusters and rupture causing leakage, thus causing distorted vision. There is no cure for the disease, only a procedure to prevent spreading to other areas of the retina. The procedure is to kill the fungus which causes the erratic growth of blood vessels by "zapping" the surrounded affected area with a laser. This treatment does not guarantee that there will not be another "flare up" in other areas of the retina later, it only prevents the treated area from being affected. The disadvantage of this treatment is that the laser. treatment itself leaves a permanent blind spot in a person's vision. Left untreated however, the disease could overtake the entire retina distorting the entire field of vision. I had the laser. surgery in my right eye. Later the disease was found in my left eye as well and I had to have laser. surgery in that eye as well.
Exactly thirteen months from the day that I was hired by Raytheon, I was laid off on April 13, 1990 in a reduction of force decision from Corporate Headquarters. Once again, I went to work as a contractor through that technical job placement firm. In late August of that year, it had been a while since my last temporary assignment and there were no prospects in sight. Unemployment was about to run out. As much as I did not want to, I was considering looking into an overseas assignment. Technical jobs wee abundant for those willing to travel outside the country. I just did not want to leave the good ole U.S.A.! Then I got a phone call from Columbus Electric asking if I would like to come work for them again. In September of 1990 I went back to columbus Electric where I had started my Drafting career in 1981.
For (19) years I had been a Draftsman. All that time I had been "on the board" which means that I created drawings manually, using a drawing board and mechanical drawing instruments. I was good at my job and took a lot of pride in my work. I had even judged mechanical drawings entered in contests made by high school students. Computer generated drawings were now becoming common place in industry and I had no training in Computer Aided Drawing (CAD). Though I had nearly (20) years of experience, my marketability was rapidly diminishing and giving way to inexperienced recent graduates who had received CAD training in school. That was about to change however.
Soon after returning to Columbus Electric, the company decided it was time for them to move into high tech design, so they purchased some computers and a CAD package. They also sent me and the other drafters to a workshop to learn the CAD system they had purchased known as CADRA. I learned the system quickly and came to enjoy designing with a CAD system.
In 1995, Joan left the Holiday Inn where she had worked for about (7) years and came to work at Columbus Electric. In early 1996, the employees of Columbus Electric received a shock when we were told that our company was being dissolved by the larger corporation who owned us (TPI). Some of us were able to keep our jobs by transferring to TPI, but our pay and benefits were negatively affected. I did not have to take a cut in pay but I did loose my medical insurance and had to purchase it on my own which was very expensive. Also TPI had a policy of not giving regular pay raises. They had not given their employees a pay raise in (7) years. I did not want to continue working under these conditions.
