Friends from my very early work days at Sandia National Labs ABQ
Image by Dick Thompson Sandian
Bill, Tim and I enjoyed a very special relationship in our early career days at Sandia National Labs. We all joined the Labs as Design Draftsmen as Penn State Associate degree candidates but soon became captivated with computer programming. We enrolled in University classes and soon learned how to construct viable and useful Fortran programs to assist design drafters. We initially focused on printed circuit boards using state of the art available computer technologies. I enjoyed developing Fortran mass property analysis programs that greatly facilitated the calculation of weight, center of gravity and moments of inertia of our principal design subject: nuclear weapons. Sandia was very generous to us with educational aids providing 7 ½ hours off a week with full tuition payments for our Bachelor’s degrees. Ultimately they allowed 20 hours off a week with full pay for our Master’s degrees including tuition and books. I remember that Bill and I were the only two people out of a workforce of about 8,000 that were afforded such a privilege one year.
I remember a lot of camaraderie and respect for each other as we worked as a team using state of the art computer graphics equipment and software. We marveled that we had an assignment that involved so much research because Sandia had a culture that typically relied on advanced degrees for doing such work. To me it was a great privilege to team with such really brilliant people like Bill and Tim and we all loved our Sandia work assignments as we struggled to complete our Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees part time. We are forever indebted to our foresighted management: Director Charlie Bild, Department manage Bob Devore and our first level manger Gino Carli. They were very supportive of us and had tremendous impact on our careers .Of the three of us, I was the only one to stay at Sandia for 41 years, but Bill and Tim left Sandia and flourished at other companies in CAD related fields for many years after they decided to move on to greener pastures. We still keep in touch and it is always a great joy to greet each other periodically and reminisce about our good fortune. Bill and Tim will always have a special place in my memories.
Reunion candid photos are taken each year in the Bob Yuhas home during the course of the annual gatherings of Bob’s friends and former co-workers. His house is located on the south west corner of the intersection of 12th and Marquette streets in Albuquerque New Mexico. This beautiful house is on the historic register and was previously owned by locally famous Architect George Pearl. Typically 60 to 70 people have been attending each year, some traveling from as far away as Pennsylvania and California. Annually Lou Feltz helps with the candid photography.
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