Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
Q ..
How did you find the work as a consultant versus the time you spent in the Corps
of Engineers?
A
Everybody, including my wife, thought I was crazy when I retired when I did. I
didn't have any assurance of how much consulting work I'd get. But I had a taste
of it by what I had been doing before so I wasn't really concerned about it. I guess
we would have survived whether I got any consulting work or not. Well, I was free
of the paper work and the routine of working in an office.
I was pretty fortunate even in the office. I didn't get involved in much
administrative stuff. I had my assigned duties, but I pretty much set my own
schedule and everything. So I had a favorable position even when I was with the
Corps. So I never had any great feeling of change, other than that I was a little
freer, I guess, when I was a consultant. But I always enjoyed my work with the
Corps so there was no feeling of relief or anything when I retired. I'd been
perfectly happy with my work.
Q ..
How about the quality of the engineers that you dealt with in these various projects,
compared to the people you dealt with in the Corps?
A
Well, with the Corps, my dealings were almost entirely with hydrology and
hydraulics people. When I was on these consulting boards, although I was a
kibitzer, I was in on the meeting of all of the structural, geologists, and everybody
else. So there was a little difference in the associations. But I don't recall ever
feeling that the Corps people were that I was dealing with were not doing an
adequate job. I think they were all quite capable. Some were more talented than
others, but the organization was such that the chain of command was such that
there's almost always somebody it that knew what he was doing.
Q ..
Well, you worked for a lot of top people, too, though.
A ..
Yes.
Q ..
You keep on mentioning Wendell Johnson and Gail Hathaway. Those are fairly big
names in the business.
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