Today Dr. Kevin D. West was honored for his 25 years of dedicated service to Milliken and Company. Being the quiet type person he is, Kevin opted to have lunch at a restaurant with a small group of people he has worked with, rather than having a big celebration at work. They invited me to join them, and even gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers (that unfortunately are currently killing my sinuses!! ha).
I was proud of Kevin as I listened as Dr. Riddle spoke about how he was given the charge by Mr. Milliken 25 years ago to find the top computer graphics expert in the world. After an extensive search, they chose Kevin from BYU!! That said alot for the BYU program. (I don't think I had heard that story before-- if I had I had forgotten it.)
Dr. Dennis Riddle (in case you're wondering--he's 6'8" tall!) hired Kevin, & Dr. Michael Locke was his boss for many years too.Milliken flew us to Georgia to "check out the area". I had never been to Georgia, and I remember standing at the airport in the car rental place listening to one of the workers talk on the phone. She spoke with a very Southern drawl, in a high pitched voice and said "Hey baaabe, how ya doin' ?" to the person on the phone. I thought to myself "Oh my, is this how everyone in Georgia talks?" I remember being surprised as we drove from the airport and stopped at the Shannon mall in Union City. Wow, there were real shopping places here. I guess I was expecting that Georgia was not as "progressed" as Utah. Haaaaa. Funny, eh? I just laugh when I think back on that time. They took us out to a beautiful place way out in the country called "Callaway Gardens". We thought would never travel those roads or see that place again. (We have had a seasons pass there nearly every year since we moved here)
Kevin told the people at Milliken that he had 6 months of schooling left to finish his Doctorate, and that BYU had offered him offered a position on their faculty. That didn't deter Milliken, they enhanced their offer and agreed to carpet the Civil Engineering building for free. Kevin accepted the position at Milliken, and we moved to LaGrange, Georgia where he began his employment at Milliken Design Center on January 16, 1984.
Wow, those years have just flown by!!!
Bently was only 19 months old when we moved here. We drove from Utah in our Honda Civic (a DRIVE I have never made since!) It was a cold winter. We lived at the "Days Inn" on Whitesville Road for 8 weeks while we were waiting for a house we bought to be finished being built. Now there are some fun memories... living in a small hotel room with a 19 month old. ha Just how much do you think there was to do all day while Kevin was at work?
Enough reminiscing...
This is the the group that Kevin has worked with over the years.
Milliken has been good to us. We feel blessed to have had good steady employment, and good people to work with all these years. I have asked Kevin how he keeps coming up with new things to do. As several people said today, he has been extremely adaptable. He has been able to write computer programs that have brought Milliken through many changes in technology over the last 25 years.
Way to go Kevin. Not many people stick with their first job right out of College. Thank you for being such a hard worker and for supporting our family.
WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!!
6 comments:
WOW 25 years, Congrats Kevin.
Way to go, Dr. West!
Jackson says:
xxxxxs mfrbx n hyhkmi lokgy7b679b679du85jg5y58nyn8tr uef df tzxmsc c bfjh dbfghfjh 65ynnru7 yo,.dfcx
Wow, thanks Jackson. Nice to hear from you. I'll be sure to pass your message on to Grandpa. :)
Great post mom. That is really nice that dad got to have a small lunch with the people he works with. That is very cute that they gave you flowers too! You should take a picture of them for me if they are still looking good.
I think that is pretty cool that Dad has had the same job all these years. That is so nice that you haven't had to go job searching. I sure hope that Shawn can find something he really enjoys and that he is really good at.
Oh by the way, you said offered twice in the following sentence. I don't know if you want to edit that.
"
Kevin told the people at Milliken that he had 6 months of schooling left to finish his Doctorate, and that BYU had offered him offered a position on their faculty."
I love you!
Jordie
That was fun to read. I remember when I moved here and found out you had been here so long. It isn't that common that people from Utah stay in the SOuth for that long! I am very glad you did!!
off topic....but I know a couple of the people that he works with. Whenever someone says they work for Milliken I never ask if they know Kevin or Charles becuaase that is like asking if you know someone from Canada...so it was funny that I know 2 of those guys. One takes the spin class at the gym and the other is involved in the Cub Scout troop that Nate attends!
Post a Comment