Britt Ripley:  

rchitecture at the University of Arizona I was hired by a firm in Phoenix (where I promised myself I would never work). I was employed by that firm for two years and then was terminated due to work shortages and seniority. I had never lost a job in my entire life and was really bolted by this event. In lieu of going to work for another firm, I decided to go back to school and get my master's degree, of all places, at ASU. To support my growing family of a wife and 2 kids I began doing drafting work (I was not licensed as an architect as I had only fulfilled two of a required three year apprenticeship) and focused on drawing and designing houses in the growing Phoenix area. The first summer was great, working hard and developing a clientele. When school began, I was buried under the strain of school, work, etc. I somehow made it thru that year school and was selected as a legislative assistant to the Arizona State Legislature (I had more latent aspirations of becoming an attorney and specializing in Architecture and Contracting Law). After reflecting for about 10 minutes on the misery of what I had experienced in getting my Master's Degree while working and supporting a family, I decided to pass on the additional school and went back to work, only this time I took a job in a small architecture firm to fulfill my apprenticeship and take my licensing exams. I did this over the next three years, taking and passing my exams in 1978 and opened my own firm in 1979. I practiced as a sole proprietor, with two brief stints at partnership (I can remain married to one woman for 35 years but couldn't manage being with a business partner for stints more than two years!) for over 20 years and then abandoned that course of life to go to work in the corporate sector of society. I somehow figured that I was not fulfilling my greatest potential as a sole practitioner in architecture and accepted a request to full an invitation to work as Area Architect for the LDS Church in Arizona to assist them with critical building and facilities needs. I did this for about two years and then accepted an assignment in the same position for Asia. Our four children were all grown and this seemed to be an exciting challenge. We moved to the Philippines, living just outside of Manila, and settled into one of the toughest and challenging ventures of my life. My area extended from Mongolia to India, and all points between. My employer was behind in their assessed building needs by over 300 buildings. They were averaging nearly 6 buildings a year and falling behind over 50 buildings each year. I took the challenge and buried myself in my work. I saw and experienced things that are impossible to put in writing. It was a phenomenal experience. I meticulously kept a journal, but with all my writings, could only record a fraction of the things I witnessed and experienced. It was one of the most life altering experiences with which I could have ever been involved. At the end of the three years, we had constructed or let the contracts on all of the 300 needed buildings and completed the assignment below the set budget amount. Upon the completion of this assignment, and having been away from family for such a long time, I declined an invitation to extend for another three years and returned to the states, being assigned to Salt Lake City, Utah. That is where everything began to go down hill. I was assigned to supervise maintenance crews over about 30 buildings. After coming off the intensity of my previous assignment, I could not cope with the mundane and boring part of this assignment, and after three years of trying to reset my attitude, quit working for the LDS Church and went back into private practice. That was nearly 3 years ago. I am working with my two sons in one of the most fun jobs ever, doing design and building projects in the Salt Lake area and again having fun and loving what I do.