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CLASS OF 1971
Ashbrook High SchoolClass of 1971
Gastonia, NC
Bynum's Story
After Ashbrook attended NCSU. After graduation was hired by J.A. Jones Construction Company and relocated to south-eastern Washington State to work on the Hanford Project (a huge DOE-managed nuclear facility site). After several years was transferred first to San Francisco then to Los Angeles, working on a variety of different construction projects over several years.
Changed employers and relocated to Seattle, WA, where I worked over next several years for 2 different general contractors, again working on a variety of different projects in the area. Lived in town of North Bend located about 25 miles due east of Seattle and last town going east up into the Cascade Mtns. Continuing east from North Bend in 20 miles there are 3 different snow ski areas right off I-90.
Became an avid snow skier during time living on west coast (multiple ski areas accessible from eastern WA, Lake Tahoe area accessible from San Francisco, Big Bear area and Mammoth Mountain southwest and north east of LA respectively, and of course several ski resorts accessible in both western WA and Canada). Have skied also in Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Colorado. Montana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
During lengthy time period of living in Seattle also became an avid boater. Puget Sound is awesome combined with multiple large freshwater lakes in the area..
In 2001 rehired with J. A. Jones in their International Division. First overseas adventure was as Project Manager on a new U.S. Embassy Compound in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa. Was there for 3+ years. After first few weeks of being in-country there was a government military coup d'etat attempt on President which broke the country into a civil war, which lasted beyond construction of the embassy. Was an interesting 3 years. At least I received a pay bonus supplement for working in a hazardous environment.
J.A. Jones Construction went out of business during this time and its international division was acquired by Fluor Corp. Following embassy project completion I subsequently worked for Fluor on a project at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan (multiple sets of barracks and a joint operations center for black ops), Abu Dhabi, UAE (a planned community to accommodate 60,000 residents), Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia (multiple support facilities/buildings for a large aluminum plant), and Jubail Saudi Arabia (multiple site support facilities/buildings for a giant plastics production plant).
While working overseas I had the opportunity to do some fun international travel, including but not limited to visiting several country's in Africa (Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Togo, Kenya, Tanzania including Zanzibar Island, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Egypt), Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, Oman and Bahrain. Had quite a few interesting and enlightening experiences. The travels in Africa included a few safaris - which were all awesome.
Have also traveled to several different areas in Canada and Mexico - while living on the west coast
After repatriating from Saudi Arabia I moved back to Gastonia and worked in Fluor's G...Expand for more
reenville, SC regional office helping with new North America infrastructure project proposals for about a year. Commuted back and forth. Was moved onto the project proposal development team for the Gordie Howe International Bridge Crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. Proposal office was located in Mississaugua, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, so spent about 1-1/2 years regularly commuting between home and the proposal office. (Became a gold member frequent flyer - for 2 different air lines!) After my part of the proposal was wrapped up I relocated to the Boston, MA area as the 'Vertical Buildings Manager" on the Greenline Extension Project in metro-Boston. (my responsibilities included new stations, traction power substations, maintenance facilities and office building). The Greenline is one of the 5 branches of Boston's light rail system.
In Sep2019 found out I had a constricted aortic valve and needed open heart surgery for replacement. Evidently during the "routine" surgery I went into cardiac arrest twice and experienced multiple complications, both during and immediately following the initial surgery. One of many issues was kidney failure, which required daily dialysis sessions. (Eventually kidneys recovered sufficient to stop the sessions, thank goodness.). Also had a couple of subsequent surgeries for some of the issues. Was in Cardiac Care Unit for several weeks, then ICU for several more weeks, then finally a rehab facility for several more weeks. Following release came home for a couple of weeks then attempted to return to work. Discovered after a few weeks of trying to perform at work as I had before that I still needed a substantial recovery time. Discussed and agreed with supervisors that I would take a retirement during further time of rest and recuperation and see how everything went from there. And then the pandemic hit.
Exercised and rested and got feeling fully recovered, and started looking to re-enter the employment world after the pandemic wore down. Finally landed a new job working as lead construction project manager for a company named Agrify located in the Boston area.
The company develops and constructs cannabis growing facilities for clients who want to get into the business. Agrify's work scope includes providing, installing and servicing patented vertical grow units which are state-of-the-art fully climate controlled for optimal plant growth conditions. It has been a blast so far.
Along the way I was married and divorced a few times and then met a lady (she's Chinese) in Abu Dhabi with whom I became involved. As events sometimes occur, she became pregnant, neither one of us had had kids before, so we went for it. 13 months after the first one was born the same thing happened again. So I have 2 half Chinese/half American boys 22 months apart in age. The older one just turned 12 and is in the 6th grade. The other is 10 and in the 3rd grade. It has been a wonderful experience thus far and the daily interaction as the grow and mature helps keep me feeling young.
Would enjoy hearing from any former classmates.
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