Irvin Massey:
CLASS OF 1960
Othello High SchoolClass of 1960
Othello, WA
Carbon High SchoolClass of 1960
Price, UT
Robert B. McFarland Junior High SchoolClass of 1956
Othello, WA
Wellington Elementary SchoolClass of 1954
Wellington, UT
Irvin's Story
Aloha I was born one cold morning, March of 1942, in an apartment building near downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. I was the 3rd of 8 children. I was told that my folks did not pay the doctor for my birth, but I was never repossesed, so I guess I was just fun to that point. The folks moved to Park City, Utah where the fourth child was born in 1944. After that we moved to Vernal, Utah where number 5 and 6 was born. I started school there Kindergarten through second grade. We then moved to Wellington, Utah,where I attended 3rd-6th grades. Number seven and eight were born while we lived in Wellington. Then on to Othello, Washington where I went to the 7th & 8th grades at the jr. high and the 9th grade at Othello High. I played football that year and lettered on the varsity team in 1956. Then back to Price, Utah where I attended the 10th grade at Carbon Jr. High 1957-1958. I quit school the following year and bummed around for awhile. I joined the U. S. Navy in May of 1959 and was in untill the early part of March of 1963. What a quick education I got from the navy. They took a very dumb green kid and set the mold for the rest of my life. I became an adult in 3 years and 9 months. I liked the Navy very much, but I could not work in the fire rooms for 20 years. I was a boilerman and that was not for this kid. Well I still was not that smart. I went back to Utah. The pickings were slim and I ended up working for peanuts. I worked for 6 different companies and a couple of snakes before I figured out the state of Utah was not for this boy. I picked up with not much to pick up. I had an unpaid for car and a gas credit card and $60.00. I headed for Oregon. I had heard that they were building the Hells Canyon Dam. I joined the carpenters Union in Baker Oregon and was hired out on the dam. Believe it or not, I did not have a clue of what was to be done to build a dam. I bluffed my way through for a few months and to my suprise I was made lead man on the power house part pf the dam. This was what everb...Expand for more
ody was shooting for. Some times it pays to pay attention. I worked there for a little over a year. I had a pocketfull of money and itchy feet. I though I might try Alaska, so I bought a 22 foot mobil house and headed for Alaska. I ended up in Fairbanks Alaska and went to work right away. This was 1967 and I worked out in the bush and in Fairbanks While working on a building at the University of Alaska, I was made a carpenter foreman. At age 26, I met my wife, Carol, while working in Fairbanks the fall of 1968. We were married March 1 1969. Our only child was born in August of 1970. By this time, it was time to head south like the geese. We moved to the Portland area the summer of 1971, where I went to work for Andersen Construction on the Fremont Bridge. I also worked for a few other contractors in Oregon untill 1974 when I went to work for Andersen fulltime as a foreman for 3 years. Then I became a superintendent. I worked this position until 1984. The job demands were getting to me, so I took a four year sabbatical and moved to Tucson, Az. Carol and I opened up a video rental store. It was fun, but I found out that I was not that great with customers. Something about getting lied to bothered me. I heard every lie that you could possibly have thought of and then some. Why they were late, why the damn thing did not work, and so on. Well, I thought I just as well go back to Oregon after four years . By this time ,our baby girl wanted to fly the coop. So back to the Northwest we did go. Andersen Const. welcomed me back with open arms. and then gave me the worst job they could find. I loved it. I worked for them untill July 2003, then retired and moved to Hawaii. I have been working harder now than when I worked, but enjoying everday one by one. I don't wear a watch, long pants, or shoes.
I take my time doing my projects, and you would be suprised how much fun it can be to build a swimming pool and water fall and pond when you don't have a killer schedule. the cost of materials is high in Hawaii so we do all of the work to save on costs. Aloha for now Irv
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