We have our first reservations for the reunion! And the neat thing is, they are from “alumni” at opposite ends of the Employee Number spectrum.
Our first responder was Paul Kielhold, Employee #78. He worked at AIS from 1980 – 1985, and was around for The Great Move (from Crestline to Redlands in early 1985). He dropped by the office recently; Toshie, Debbie, Ed, Janet, and John Menke got a kick out of seeing him after all these years!
Paul lives in Yucaipa. He and his wife Jean have 3 daughters: Alison (25) and twins Michelle and Julie (22). He can be reached at: Paul.Kielhold@verizon.net, or at 909-856-0954.
After leaving AIS, he worked at San Bernardino County for 5 years, Lilburn Corporation for 15 years, a year at Michael Brandman Associates, and two years at LSA Associates before becoming self-employed in 2008.
For notable travels, he mentions a Danube River cruise. And for “favorite AIS memories,” he lists Fat Albert (see the previous post on pranks) and the Alaska Land and Resource Mapping (ALARM) project.
Speaking of memories, here’s one sent in by Betti (MacGregor) Kabot (we don’t have her employee number, but we know it was two digits):
“One of my memories of AIS is putting a bunch of office equipment including a large copier in the back of my Subaru hatchback and racing down the hill thru flames to get away from the Panorama fire.”
Ed Reyes also remembers loading up his car with maps and mylar overlays and taking them off-site. After reading this article about the Panorama Fire, it’s easy to see why AIS took that action.
Anyway, the other person who has reserved to attend the reunion wasn’t even born when the Panorama Fire took place! Sean Granata (Employee #312) joined our staff in 2008 and left a few years later to work down the street at Esri. We’ll look forward to seeing him on June 25!
While we wait to see who else will be attending reunion, we want to share a few excerpts of responses we’ve received over the last few months. They’ll be more to come in the future.
Ken Althiser (#68) said he is “very much interested in a reunion.” He’s been working in the City of Riverside (now Xerox, formerly ACS) for more than 11 years and is a volleyball coach at the high school level.
David Fong (#147) sent his regrets about not attending on June 25: “That week I will be in Hawaii for my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary, but please keep me informed of what’s going on via website/Facebook.” David works at Esri, so maybe some of us locals can see him another time.
Valerie Cribbs (#261) also works at Esri. She’s on the Content Team processing data for the ArcGIS Online website. She said “I often think of you all and wonder how it’s going over there. We would love to come to the reunion…. [She and husband Doug] bought a house in Cherry Valley and have been living there for the last 12 years.” Val also mentioned that she hoped to share some of her favorite AIS memories.
We’ll close for now with these thoughts, excerpted from a message from Brent Mainzinger (#155) in December 2015:
“If I can make it, I will. We are off to China in two days to visit my oldest son, who works and lives in Western China. We will be spending Christmas with him. We are 1.5 years away from being empty nesters. After that, we are ready for a new adventure – we’re pretty done with Illinois…. Those early days at AIS contain a lot of fond memories. You never realize how special a time and place is until it’s over….”
Well said, Brent!
We're halfway through May! Please remember to register by May 31.