Dad passed away 5 years ago today. I'll just comment on two things.
- I was a guest at someone else's high school reunion Saturday night. Going in, I thought I might know 2 out of the 100 or so people there. While waiting at the bar, a fellow looked over, saw my name tag and said "I knew your father, he was a great guy." This fellow remembered working with dad when he was a student at Sac State 30 years ago.
- A few weeks ago I rode sweeps for a Team in Training run that took me by the Sac State Aquatic Center. If you follow that link (after you're done here, of course), click the 'about us' link and please notice all the agencies involved. The center started when the athletic director came to dad and said, 'we need to do something for the rowing team.' That started a collaborative effort between multiple departments at Sac State, a couple of state agencies as well as federal entities. Every time I've worked in corporate environments you were lucky to have business units in the same division work well together. It's astonishing to me that all these government bureaucracies created something so terrific for their community. Dad and six others were honored at a founder's ceremony at the Aquatics Center the year after dad died. The University Union at Sac State and the Aquatic Center are both tributes to him.
This is from his retirement party in Oct. 1999. It's a graduation cap made from carpet samples related to an addition to the University Union sitting on top of a hard hat. The caption is Honorary Graduate, College of Facilities Management.