Looking Back on Nearly Five Decades of Engineering, Business, and Service

A Personal Reflection — October 2026

As I look back over nearly 48 years of working in engineering, telecommunications, technology, business, and community service, I find myself thinking less about accomplishments and more about the opportunities I have been given, the people I have worked alongside, the lessons I have learned, and the ways God has allowed me to be part of things much larger than myself.

I have had an interesting career. I have been involved in projects I could never have imagined when I first entered engineering. I have worked with remarkable people, traveled to places I never expected to visit, helped solve some difficult problems, and watched technologies change in ways that once seemed almost impossible.

There have been successes, disappointments, mistakes, and some very difficult seasons. Not everything I attempted worked out. Some decisions were better than others, and some lessons have come at a considerable cost.

But looking back, I am grateful.

The Early Years — Learning to Be an Engineer

My professional journey began in 1978 as a student engineer at Gulf States Utilities. I was still attending Lamar University, working toward my electrical engineering degree, which I completed in 1981.

I became a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas in 1985.

At the time, I could not have imagined where that decision to pursue engineering would eventually take me.

Gulf States Utilities gave me opportunities to work with technologies and infrastructure that were critical to operating a large electric utility. I became involved in microwave communications, fiber optics, telephone systems, supervisory control systems, and the many communications networks required to operate electric power infrastructure.

During those early years, I participated in the modernization of a major microwave network, including a program valued at approximately $13 million. The system included roughly 80 microwave radio hops and was part of a communications infrastructure serving thousands of employees across a large geographic region.

I also worked with early fiber-optic systems, eventually supporting hundreds of miles of fiber infrastructure.

I was fortunate to be given supervisory and leadership responsibilities while still relatively young.

Looking back, I recognize how much I learned from experienced engineers, technicians, managers, and field personnel. Engineering school provided the foundation, but the people I worked with taught me how engineering actually works in the real world.

I learned that a system can look excellent on paper and still fail in the field. I learned the importance of listening to technicians who understand equipment from years of hands-on experience. I learned that reliability, maintainability, and good documentation matter just as much as technical sophistication.

Those lessons stayed with me throughout my career.

Moving Into Larger Engineering Projects

In the early 1990s, my career expanded into engineering consulting and major telecommunications projects for utilities, pipelines, and industrial operations.

Some of those projects were remarkable in their size and complexity.

I had opportunities to work on communications modernization for the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline system, including an approximately 100-hop microwave network extending from the Houston area toward New York.

The work involved helping move communications infrastructure from older analog technologies into digital systems. These were major capital projects requiring coordination across large distances and numerous operating locations.

Later, I was involved in communications engineering for the Gulfstream Natural Gas Pipeline, an approximately 800-mile pipeline project. The telecommunications and SCADA infrastructure represented millions of dollars in investment and was essential to operating the pipeline safely and reliably.

I also had opportunities to work with nuclear facilities, public-safety communications, emergency warning systems, offshore operations, and industrial telecommunications networks.

Some work took me overseas, including projects associated with offshore operations in the Congo.

It was a privilege to work with talented engineers and technical professionals from different backgrounds and cultures.

These projects taught me that good engineering is rarely the accomplishment of one person. Behind every successful system are designers, technicians, construction crews, project managers, operators, and many others whose contributions may never be widely recognized.

I was fortunate to have a part in those efforts.

When I think about the infrastructure we worked on, I realize that much of it was invisible to the public. People seldom think about the microwave systems, fiber networks, and control communications that support electric utilities, pipelines, and industrial facilities.

But those systems matter. They help keep essential services operating.

I am thankful that my career allowed me to contribute to that work.

Becoming an Entrepreneur

Another important chapter of my career was establishing New Signals Engineering Corporation.

After working within larger organizations, I had the opportunity to build an engineering consulting business of my own.

That was both exciting and intimidating.

Running an engineering business required skills that were quite different from designing a telecommunications system.

I had to learn how to find customers, develop relationships, prepare proposals, manage contracts, estimate costs, supervise projects, manage finances, and accept responsibility for the decisions that came with operating a business.

There were times when the business did well and times when things were difficult.

Over approximately two decades, I had opportunities to work with electric utilities, pipeline companies, industrial organizations, and other customers who trusted us to help solve their technical problems.

I remain grateful for that trust.

One of the most meaningful aspects of consulting was being invited into an organization, listening to the problems its people were facing, and helping develop solutions that improved its operations.

I learned that customers generally did not want technology for its own sake. They wanted systems that worked, problems that stayed solved, and someone they could depend upon.

I also learned that technical expertise alone does not guarantee business success.

Financial management, communication, relationships, judgment, and knowing when to say no are essential.

Some of those lessons I learned early. Others, unfortunately, I am still learning.

Electric Cooperatives and Critical Infrastructure

As telecommunications technology continued changing, I had opportunities to work with electric cooperatives and their increasingly sophisticated communications and operational networks.

At Sam Houston Electric Cooperative and East Texas Electric Cooperative, my work involved communications networks, microwave systems, fiber infrastructure, substations, SCADA, advanced metering, cybersecurity, and network operations.

One of the systems I worked with involved approximately 72,000 advanced metering endpoints.

These systems represented an enormous technological change from the utility communications networks I had encountered early in my career.

When I began engineering, analog microwave systems, leased telephone circuits, and traditional radio networks were common.

Over the decades, those systems evolved into digital microwave, fiber optics, Ethernet, Internet Protocol networks, advanced monitoring, and sophisticated cybersecurity systems.

I had the opportunity to work through much of that transition.

There were challenges in keeping older infrastructure operating while introducing new technologies. There were also increasing concerns about protecting operational technology and critical infrastructure from cyber threats.

I came to appreciate that reliability and security were inseparable from responsible engineering.

These organizations also gave me opportunities to participate in technical leadership, planning, and operational decision-making.

I learned a great deal from the people who operated and maintained electric systems every day.

Their work reinforced something I had come to believe: engineering decisions ultimately affect real people. Behind every network connection, substation, control system, or communications link is someone depending on it to work.

Bringing Technology to Rural Communities

Later in my career, I became increasingly interested in the technology challenges facing rural communities.

Having spent many years working with major utilities and industrial organizations, I could see the difference between the infrastructure available to large organizations and what was available to small towns, rural businesses, libraries, churches, and families.

Through ElektraFi and later Evergreen Technology Solutions, I became involved in developing rural broadband networks and providing technology services in Southeast Texas.

We worked with fixed-wireless communications, fiber, microwave, satellite connectivity, business telephone systems, managed IT services, security systems, and other technologies.

Our goal was to bring some of the same engineering principles used in large critical-infrastructure networks into communities that often lacked the resources to obtain reliable technology services.

We worked with libraries, churches, housing authorities, small businesses, public agencies, and individual residents.

Some of the most satisfying moments came when we solved a problem that had frustrated a customer for years.

Helping a rural library improve its Internet access, giving a small business a more reliable telephone system, or providing connectivity to a family that previously had poor service may not sound impressive compared with a multimillion-dollar pipeline project.

But those things matter to the people who depend upon them.

I have often described our mission as rural people helping rural communities.

I still believe in the value of that mission.

However, this chapter of my career has also brought some of the hardest lessons I have ever experienced.

Evergreen has faced serious financial problems, operational difficulties, equipment issues, personnel challenges, and the loss of substantial revenue.

The company has accumulated significant debt, and the consequences of the decisions made along the way are very real.

As I look back, I have to acknowledge that I allowed some problems to continue far longer than they should have. I believed that if I worked hard enough, stayed involved long enough, and found the right solutions, we could eventually overcome the difficulties.

That determination had served me well in engineering for many years.

But determination can become stubbornness. Persistence can become an unwillingness to accept reality. A good mission does not automatically make a business financially sustainable.

I have had to confront the difference between believing in something and managing it wisely.

Some people did not fulfill responsibilities I expected them to carry. Some circumstances were outside my control. But those facts do not remove my responsibility for the decisions I made and the warning signs I failed to address.

I am still working through the consequences.

It would be easy to allow this difficult chapter to overshadow everything that came before it. It would also be tempting to minimize the mistakes because the original intentions were good.

Neither would be honest.

I am grateful for the customers we helped and the infrastructure we built. I am also painfully aware that good intentions, technical competence, and hard work are not substitutes for sound financial management and accountable leadership.

Those are lessons I wish I had learned without such a high cost.

Economic Development and Community Service

Another unexpected direction in my later career has been economic development and community service.

Through my involvement with the Buna Chamber of Commerce and Buna Regional Economic Development, I have had opportunities to work with people who are trying to create a better economic future for our communities.

I have participated in discussions involving industrial development, rail infrastructure, electric power, broadband, workforce development, and business recruitment.

The County Line Rail industrial development has been one of the more interesting opportunities.

After spending decades working on the infrastructure businesses need to operate, I found myself helping communities understand how that infrastructure can attract investment and create economic opportunities.

I have met and worked with economic development professionals, local elected officials, business leaders, state agencies, and community volunteers.

I have also been honored to serve in a state-level advisory capacity involving workforce and skills development.

I appreciate the opportunity to have a voice in discussions that affect rural Texas.

At the same time, I recognize that economic development is a long process. Conversations, proposals, and potential investments are not the same as completed projects and new jobs.

There is still much work to be done, and many outcomes remain uncertain.

My hope is that the relationships, information, and efforts we have developed will help create opportunities for people who choose to live and work in rural communities.

I have also had the opportunity to serve with the Buna Public Library and assist other rural libraries with technology, grants, infrastructure planning, and operational challenges.

Libraries are important institutions, particularly in small communities.

They provide access to information, education, technology, and opportunities that many people might otherwise lack.

I have appreciated the chance to use some of my professional experience to help organizations that operate with limited financial and technical resources.

These experiences have reminded me that the value of professional knowledge is not measured only by what someone is willing to pay for it.

Sometimes its greatest value is found in sharing it where it is needed.

What Nearly Five Decades Have Taught Me

When I think about the scope of my career, I find it difficult to believe how quickly the years have passed.

I have lived through extraordinary changes in technology.

I began in an era when analog microwave systems, telephone circuits, and traditional radio networks were essential parts of communications engineering.

Today, we work with fiber networks, sophisticated wireless systems, satellite communications, cloud services, cybersecurity, and technologies that would have seemed like science fiction when I was a young engineer.

I have been fortunate to participate in that evolution rather than simply observe it.

But the older I get, the more I realize that technology itself was never the most important part of the work.

The people were.

The engineers who patiently taught me.

The technicians who knew how to make complicated systems work.

The managers who trusted me with responsibility.

The customers who placed confidence in my judgment.

The employees and contractors who worked through difficult conditions.

The community leaders and volunteers who gave their time to help others.

I have learned something from nearly everyone.

I have also made mistakes in how I dealt with people.

There were times when I was too focused on completing a project or solving a problem to recognize what someone else was experiencing.

There were times when I believed I understood a situation better than I actually did.

There were times when I should have listened more carefully, asked better questions, confronted problems sooner, or admitted that I did not have the answer.

I can see some of those things more clearly now than I could when they were happening.

I wish I could revisit a few decisions with the understanding I have today.

Of course, that is not possible.

What I can do is acknowledge what happened, learn from it, take responsibility where I should, and try to exercise better judgment going forward.

Learning the Difference Between Accomplishment and Faithfulness

My understanding of success has changed over the years.

When I was younger, much of my attention was directed toward learning, accomplishing difficult things, building systems, developing businesses, and establishing a professional reputation.

Those are not necessarily wrong ambitions.

God has given us abilities, opportunities, and responsibilities, and I believe we should use them diligently.

But I have come to recognize how easily accomplishment can become a measure of personal worth.

For most of my life, when something needed to be done, my instinct was to find a way to do it.

If a system was broken, I wanted to fix it.

If a project was behind schedule, I wanted to finish it.

If an organization was struggling, I wanted to help it succeed.

That approach helped me accomplish many things.

It also contributed to some of my greatest difficulties.

I am learning that responsibility is not the same as control.

I can be responsible for my decisions, my conduct, my work, and how I treat people. I cannot control every outcome, guarantee another person’s performance, or make an unsustainable situation succeed through determination alone.

Psalm 127:1 has become increasingly meaningful to me:

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”

I do not understand that verse as an instruction to stop working or planning.

I understand it as a reminder that my work must remain subject to God, rather than becoming something I expect to sustain through my own strength.

I have spent much of my life trying to be dependable, useful, and capable.

But I must be honest enough to admit that I have sometimes been more attentive to the work I believed God wanted me to do than to my relationship with God Himself.

There is a difference between doing good things and walking closely with Christ.

That distinction matters to me more today than it did when I was younger.

I cannot measure faithfulness by the number of projects completed, the amount of infrastructure built, the size of a business, or the number of responsibilities I carry.

Jesus said in Mark 8:36:

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

That question deserves serious consideration.

I do not want to spend my remaining years trying to prove my value through another accomplishment.

I want to learn to be faithful with what God has entrusted to me, including the responsibilities that are difficult, the relationships that need attention, and the mistakes that require correction.

Looking Back With Gratitude and Honesty

When I look at my career as a whole, I recognize that I have had opportunities many people never receive.

I have helped design and modernize communications infrastructure spanning large portions of the United States.

I have worked on systems supporting electric utilities, natural gas pipelines, industrial operations, nuclear facilities, public-safety services, and rural communities.

I have founded businesses, led technical teams, worked internationally, participated in major capital projects, and helped organizations solve complicated problems.

I have watched technologies I once studied as emerging innovations become ordinary parts of everyday life.

I have also had opportunities to serve in my hometown and surrounding communities, helping organizations and people who may never have access to the resources available to large corporations.

These are experiences for which I am sincerely grateful.

But I did not accomplish these things alone.

Every major project involved people whose skills, knowledge, effort, and commitment were essential.

Many of the best opportunities came because someone was willing to trust me, teach me, recommend me, or give me a chance to take on a responsibility.

Some doors opened that I could never have opened myself.

I believe God’s providence has been present throughout my life, although I do not pretend to understand every circumstance or to know His purposes in every success and disappointment.

I am also aware that some of the opportunities I was given were not handled as wisely as they should have been.

There are decisions I regret, relationships I could have handled better, and consequences I must continue to address.

I do not want to rewrite those parts of the story to make myself look better.

Neither do I want to dismiss the good that was accomplished because some things ended badly.

Both belong to the truth.

What Matters Now

At 68 years old, I realize that I am closer to the end of my working life than to its beginning.

That is simply a fact of life.

I do not know how many more years I will have the health, energy, or opportunities to continue doing the things I have enjoyed.

I still have an interest in engineering. I still enjoy solving technical problems. I still want to see rural communities prosper, small organizations succeed, and people benefit from reliable technology.

There is work I would like to finish and knowledge I would like to pass along.

But my priorities are changing.

I want to be a better husband, a more faithful follower of Christ, a wiser leader, and someone whose presence in the lives of others is a blessing rather than another responsibility they must carry.

I want to be more careful about the commitments I make and more honest about what I can realistically accomplish.

I want to listen better.

I want to recognize sooner when something is not working.

I want to be willing to acknowledge failure without allowing it to define me.

And I want to spend more time with God rather than continually asking Him to help me manage another overloaded schedule.

There is a part of me that still wants to solve every problem in front of me.

Perhaps one of the most important lessons I have left to learn is that I do not have to.

I can be diligent without believing that every outcome depends on me.

I can serve without needing to be indispensable.

I can acknowledge that some things have failed without concluding that my life has been a failure.

And I can appreciate what has been accomplished without using those accomplishments to avoid examining my shortcomings.

A Final Reflection

If someone asked me what I have accomplished during my career, I could give them a long list of engineering projects, communications systems, businesses, organizations, and community activities.

Some of those projects were large, technically challenging, and important to the organizations they served.

I am thankful to have been part of them.

But as I look back now, I find myself appreciating something beyond the projects themselves.

I am grateful for the opportunities to learn, the people who invested in me, the organizations that trusted me, the places I have been, and the experiences that have shaped my life.

I am grateful for the chance to use the abilities God gave me to do work that mattered to other people.

I am also grateful that my life is not measured only by my successes.

The failures, disappointments, difficult relationships, and consequences of poor decisions are part of my story. I cannot undo them, but I can acknowledge them honestly and seek to learn from them.

I have accomplished more professionally than I ever imagined when I started as a young engineering student in 1978.

Yet I increasingly understand that the most important thing about my life is not what I have built, designed, managed, or achieved.

It is my relationship with Jesus Christ and how faithfully I have loved and served the people He has placed in my life.

I have not always done that well.

I am still learning.

I am still dealing with some difficult consequences.

And I still have much to surrender to God.

But I am grateful for the journey, for the people who have shared it, and for the grace that allows me to look back honestly without having to pretend that every chapter was a success.

I do not know exactly what the next chapter will hold.

I hope it includes some more good engineering, opportunities to help people, meaningful time with family and friends, and continued service to my community.

More than anything, I hope it is characterized by greater humility, wisdom, love, and faithfulness to Christ.

After nearly five decades of trying to build things that work, perhaps the most important work remaining is allowing God to continue His work in me.

And for that opportunity, I am deeply thankful.