Robert Stambaugh:  

Life I have been real reluctant to do this,(that is signing up for this classmates) but, here it goes. I did not attend any colleges, or join the military I joined the work force the day after I graduated, hiring on with Jefferson County Road and Bridge department as a truck driver/laboror. After about a year and a half I got a promotion to equipment operator. I operated a road grader for 2 years. I worked out of a shop real close to my parents house in Deer Creek Canyon called Critchell shop. Three years into this I bought a house down off Sheridan Blvd and Morrison Road at 20 years old. It was tough at that time financially so I took on a second job at Seven Eleven working at Zuni St. and Evans as good friend a fellow classmate Tom Haye as my manager. I did that for appoximately a year then quit. Three years into my job at Jefferson County I applied for a job as a trainman for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. In 1978 on July 1 I married a girl to whom I had dated for almost 4 years and her name was Christina A. Hudson, and I might add we are still married. In August of that same year and two years after my application the railroad called me, I interviewed and got the job. I have been there ever since in a matter of speaking but even though I never left the property I have worked for the Southern Pacific and now for the Union Pacific railroads. Mostly the same position which encompasses several crafts to which most people have little understanding as to what it is I do. It pays fairly well for a person with no college degree and I attribute that to the fact that it is union, and I am dedicated to the union cause. I was elected for two terms as the Local Chairman representing the Yard employees. A year into my second term I resigned, it is very demanding on your time and your home life. One of the big things was the railroad has been doing a lot of hiring in the last 8 years or so and understanding our agreements and work structure is dif...Expand for more