A dozen TTI retirees spent much of June 19 at the Riverside Campus reminiscing about their affiliation with TTI. For some, those memories go as far back as 1966.
The former employees were invited to see a crash test (called off, unfortunately, because of rain) and tour other parts of the Crashworthy Structures Program.
Years ago, there was a concerted effort to have regularly scheduled meetings with retirees and, at the request of Agency Director Dennis Christiansen, those efforts are under way again.
“We want you to be here because you are an important part of our family,” Executive Associate Director Jon Epps told the men after they were shown a video about the history of crash testing at TTI. “We would like to have two or three meetings like this each year.”
The retirees told Epps they were happy to have the opportunity to come back to the Institute and said they would appreciate the chance to return again.
The former employees who were able to attend the meeting were:
- Byron Blaschke, Research Engineer, 1993-1999
- Brian Bochner, Senior Research Engineer (currently a working retiree), 2000 – 2010
- Connie Dudek, Professor, 1967-2006
- Quinn Brackett, Senior Research Scientist, 1974-1998
- Ken Ewald, Technician II, 1991-2006
- Sidney Greer, Research Technician, 1966-2000
- Thomas Junek, Technician II, 1972-2002
- Rodger Koppa, Senior Associate Professor, 1973-2001
- Robert Meyer, Research Scientist, 1991-1995
- Charlie Pinnell, 09/01/1976-06/30/1989 Research Engineer, 1976-1989
- Dale Schafer, Assistant Research Scientist, 1966-1997
- Don Young, Assistant Research Scientist, 1985-1995
Members of the executive committee who will work with scheduling meetings with retirees are Epps, Gene Buth, Ed Seymour and Bill Stockton. The next retiree gathering is tentatively scheduled for the fall.