No, that's not James Dean you're seeing, but our own Design Technician, Rich Martin, circa 1972!

When I first started working full-time at MacKay & Sposito in 1986, the company was tucked into a narrow office space at 110 E. 17th Street in downtown Vancouver.  There was a small front office where Wanda, the secretary, sat with her trusty typewriter and ‘80’s vintage telephone.  Behind her was a narrow hallway that led to the main office area where most of the employees were located.  It was nothing fancy -- brown wood paneling, brown carpet, brown drafting tables, and black coffee.  Rich could be seen leaning over his drafting table and, without fail, always had a cup of coffee at his side. Oh, and if you took the last of the coffee from the pot, you'd better have brewed some more!

At that point Rich was already a veteran employee that had been with the company 14 years!!  

Rich has always been incredibly hardworking, dedicated, and the epitome of  “lead by doing right”.  I can recall many times he would put in several hours of overtime when we were crunched to get a set of plans done -- working to the wee hours of the night, hand drafting with india ink on mylar.  And then he would show up the next morning to do it all over again.   He would offset his double bacon cheeseburger lunch with a one-hour rampage on the racquetball court.   Believe me, you didn’t want to get in front of his kill shot or it wouldn’t be the ball that got killed.   A few of us also would get together and rent a school gym to play a pick-up game of basketball once a week.   It was another way to blow off some steam (and calories) after work.  

Fast forward a few decades and countless project deadlines and some things are different – but not everything.   Rich still is absolutely committed to doing things right, is always willing to jump in and help where needed, and he is still quick with a laugh about some random news of the day. He doesn’t eat double bacon cheeseburgers anymore, but he does pull together the chili-dog day every month or so (which, by the way, is going on the road to other MacKay Sposito locations this year, so stay tuned).  

Last week, Rich celebrated his 37^th anniversary as a MacKay Sposito employee.  It’s 43 years if you count his time at MacKay and Somps prior to moving to Vancouver.   All this brings me to the title - 85,000.  That’s a conservatively (low) estimate of the total number of hours Rich has worked during his years here.  85,000 – and counting. 

Congratulations Rich!!