When I arrived at the Dow Center in Houston in 1981, the operation was large. By 1982, there were nearly two thousand employees there. I was part of an organization involved in projects that reached far beyond Texas. The work was interesting. It was also stressful. A project estimator works with something that does not yet exist. There may be drawings, specifications, equipment lists, schedules, and engineering information, but the finished plant is still on paper. The estimator has to look at all of that information and assign a cost to the future.
I learned. The projects became larger. My experience grew. So did my responsibilities. But companies change just as people's lives change. Eventually, the economic climate changed and Dow began reducing the Houston operation dramatically. The Dow Center that had once contained nearly two thousand employees eventually shrank to roughly 250. I survived those reductions, but my career took another turn. I transferred back to Freeport. Once again, the Gulf Coast became part of my life. By then I had learned something about starting over. I had been doing it most of my life.
Thirty Years
My Dow career lasted approximately three decades, and I eventually retired as a Senior Project Estimator. I had come a long way from the teenager who struggled at Brazosport, but professional success did not settle every part of my life. At Dow I met a woman named Tina Edge.