Saying Good By
How do you measure a man’s days? How do you sum up a lifetime of work and choices and navigating all of life’s unpredicted moments? How do you tell someone what you learned from their life, what it means to your life, and how you will carry that forward?
We will attempt to do that in some measure as Elmhurst pauses to wish our long-time foreman, Wendell Mann, a long, well-deserved, and happy retirement!
While Wendell worked for Elmhurst for 35 years, he started linework 46 years ago. Wendell joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 77 as an apprentice with his childhood friend, Dave Timothy.
Wendell knew he wanted to be in 1 of the trades and work outside. He was working for Shucks Auto Parts when he applied for the lineman apprenticeship program. He and Dave drove the family station wagon to Oregon for their apprenticeship interviews and were selected from a large pool of applicants. Wendell’s first job on the Snake River in Central Ferry was working for Erickson Air-Crane when he was 20 years old. After that, he completed his apprenticeship in construction and got his journeyman’s ticket.
Ticket in hand, Wendell went to Anchorage to work for the Commonwealth Company. This is where he learned to ski. He worked here for 2 and a half years until he earned enough time to qualify for Book 1, which gave him priority assignment opportunities for work through the IBEW.
Not partial to bitter cold working conditions, Wendell moved to San Franciso and worked as a construction lineman. He lived in a studio apartment with a view of the Pacific Ocean. He lived in San Francisco for 2 and a half years and changed out poles. Toward the end of his time, he worked solo inspecting pole connections. This is when he learned to read a map and, to this day, Wendell is known for his ability to read maps in an era where many of us rely on GPS apps. Wendell also met his first wife in San Francisco.
When work was completed in San Francisco, Wendell moved to Boston, signed up with the local union, and worked hot wire with a close friend, Pat Wineman. In New England, all work is done with rubber gloves that can withstand 20,000 volts of electricity. This is considered the most dangerous way to work. Wendell and Pat partnered together and refused to work with anyone else. Their expertise was in demand because they were considered distribution experts (which is a more common designation for linemen from the Northwest), and he knew how to use a hot stick (versus rubber gloves) for working on live electrical lines. The weather in the western states (particularly in rainy conditions), makes it safer to work with hot sticks than rubber gloves. A hot stick is an insulated pole that allows a lineman to test lines for voltage, tighten nuts and bolts, apply tie wires, open and close switches, and do a variety of other work without touching electrified equipment.
Wendell again grew tired of cold winter conditions in New England, and after the third Nor’easter that came through in a single year, he packed up his family, which now included baby daughter, Helen, and moved back to the Pacific Northwest.
After registering with IBEW Local 77 again, Wendell was looking for work. To hear him tell it, he took his baby daughter in, sat her on the counter of the union hall, and told the representative he needed work. Seeing the child clinched the deal, and IBEW assigned Wendell to Puget Power. That job eventually ended (although he was offered another job with Puget Power but without benefits). Wendell then heard about, applied for, and was hired into a job with Elmhurst Mutual Power and Light Company on April 13, 1989. This is also when he moved from a construction lineman to a utility lineman, which came with less independence, more structured company protocols and culture to adapt to, and more stable pay and benefits.
During Wendell’s time with Elmhurst, his second daughter, Hannah, was born in 1996. Hannah is in many of Elmhurst’s pictures as she grew up attending company functions with Wendell.
Wendell says his family’s support has been part of his success throughout his career – they supported all of his callouts. He says when you become a lineman, your family joins the trade as well. He recalls having company for dinner, his small daughters hearing the phone ring would scramble into the pantry to pull food together for him to take on the call. He said he never knew what was going to be in the lunches they packed for him at those times, but he didn’t care and ate whatever they packed.
Over this time, Wendell spent many years as a single father and grew to know when to pass overtime opportunities onto younger linemen so he could create a makeshift Christmas tree out of a dining room chair for the presents he had remembered to buy before that 40-hour snowstorm hit and created widespread power outages.
Wendell is proud of his daughters. Helen played the bassoon and performed with the Tacoma Youth Symphony. Wendell traveled to hear her perform at Carnegie Hall years ago. She is now a paralegal but still plays the bassoon with local groups when she is able. Hannah has worked in healthcare and now works at ServePro.
About 13 years ago, Wendell met the love of his life, Brenda. Brenda is a professional chef (everyone at Elmhurst can testify to her fantastic treats), has studied architectural engineering and design, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration & Management. She is active in the community, especially working with local animal rescue groups. They share 2 beautiful Newfoundland dogs (Norman and Rockwell), a custom travel RV, and the care of Jessie, Wendell’s 93-year-old mother. Brenda has embraced the unpredictability of the lineman trade and has a bumper sticker that reads, “even firemen need heroes”. This is a nod to a fireman calling a lineman to de-energize a structure when working with electrical fires.
When reflecting on this change in his life, Wendell says any regrets have made him who he is. He has played a key role in the development of every lineman on Elmhurst crews and regrets he is unable to finish working with our newest apprentices, Fred and Kevin.
Wendell loves to teach and is known for smooth operations guided by a philosophy of “no yelling, no throwing things out of the bucket, no herky-jerky movements”. He likes to say, “they do not pay me for dangerous work, they pay me for what I know”. He wants younger linemen to think and work smart and safe and eliminate risks. Those who can do this will have longer, safer, and more sustainable careers. (He also says that line work is like “a ballet in the sky”, and none of us can erase the visuals this brings to mind.)
Wendell has worked in recent years to improve Elmhurst culture and communications between “inside and outside” operations by taking Customer Service representatives on ride-along so they can better explain electricity, outages, and new services to customers.
All of us at Elmhurst want to thank Wendell for his years of service, for his good humor, for Brenda’s baking, and for everything we have learned from him over the years. You can drive around Elmhurst service territory (and neighborhoods in Alaska, San Francisco, and Eastern Washington) and see the physical legacy Wendell and his fellow linemen are leaving behind.
We all leave lasting impressions on our colleagues and families, like a stone in water. Our life’s ripples impact those around us whether or not we know it. With this tribute, we are letting Wendell know we appreciate the ripples he is leaving at Elmhurst; we assure him our crews will carry his legacy forward in their own unique ways, and we wish he and Brenda (and Norman and Rockwell) many happy miles on their travels!