Thomas Martin:  

Since the 1995 reunion I have moved twice and retired twice. ASARCO moved me to Tacoma, WA in 2000 to manage the remediation of a former smelter site, Then, without notice, they gave me the golden handshake retirement in November 2002 due to the company’s financial situation (they filed for bankruptcy 3 years later). I wasn't ready to retire and didn't want to work in non-ferrous metal industry anymore. I took the opportunity to explore other careers. I talked to a lot of folks about different careers. Ironically, about two weeks after I retired, the local public utility put an ad in the paper for someone to manage the implementation of the renewed Federal license of their largest hydroelectric project. While I had no electric utility experience, I did have considerable experience in dealing with state and federal regulatory agencies and with the public, so I applied and got the job. They knew the bulk of the work would be in the first 8 or 10 years which would fit with me retiring again at 65. It was a great 8½ years with a great boss (my first female boss) and co-workers- all of whom were fish or wildlife biologists. I was able to mold the position as I saw fit and was pretty much left alone to do it. This got me involved with salmon recovery as we had three endangered species, fish hatcheries, wildlife management, park design and expansions, and cultural resources- all completely new to me. The job also provided us many trips to Washington D.C. for the annual National Hydropower Assn. meeting which occurred at cherry blossom time every year. In planning for retirement, we decided to retire in the Texas Hill Country. Both of our children and families lived in Dallas, but that was not for us. To that end, we bought some property outside of Marble Falls, Texas (near Austin) in 2007. In a fortuitous move, Beverly and I decided to not wait until we retired to travel to Europe. I had been to Germany on business, but Beverly had not been to Europe. We managed to take in Ireland, England, Spain, France, Switzerland and northern Italy before Beverly was diagnosed with ov...Expand for more