Nate,
Thanks for posting this thread.
I'd like to tip my hat this morning to one of my mentors, Robert G. Brown, PE, PLS, who, at the age of 78, died this past weekend.
Bob was an excellent engineer and a land surveyor, and well respected by his peers. I began working with him in 1998, until his retirement circa 2007, when he sold his business to me, and at which time our work together became less frequent. I remember one of my first experiences working with him - monitoring the drawdown of a water well, and I was supplying him by phone with depth readings that I had observed. Something about the manner in which I was giving him the readings caused him to more or less shout at me over the phone until I supplied him with the data he was looking for. At first, I thought he was being harsh. But, I eventually learned that the reason for his agitation was that I wasn't being clear with what I had observed. And, in a larger sense, one of the many great lessons that Bob taught me was how to observe things in the world around me, how to pay attention to details, and about the importance of evidence. During frequent mid-day lunches, and elsewhere in the field, the subject of our conversations would turn to almost any subject, and I came to enjoy our time together very much. Bob was a good friend. My deepest sympathies extend, in this time of grieving, to his wife, Mary Ann, and to his two daughters Nicole and Alexis. I will miss him greatly.
Al
Cobby Tubbs, Tommie Anderson, Stan Piper, Frank York, and by association, Bill Marum, John Stitzer, Tom Luckow, Gordon McLain, Bruce Small, Ken Zissman, Jeff Hidalgo, John Panchalk, and of course, Bill Bierce...Hat is off, beer held high....
