After six years of working for Fife construction, a young Larry Overman had his degree and was ready to embark on a new career. Or so he thought. “I use to work in the field on the asphalt crew,” Larry spoke of his first job. “I was only going to do this work while I went to college. Then after I got my degree, my options if I stayed local would pay less than what I was making working in construction.”
At a whopping three dollars and twenty cents an hour, Larry had it made. “I had more money than I knew what to do with. People were lining up wanting to do construction because it paid so much. Now the younger kids don’t want to do this kind of work. It’s too hard.”
At the time, Fife construction didn’t allow family members to work for the company at the same time. Larry’s brother wanted a job, so Larry moved on to Staker Parson because he had more experience.
Larry smiled reminiscing his early days on the job working in the field. He had always enjoyed working outside, but one day an unexpected turn of events landed him in the office. “I was working on the paving crew and I had a serious construction accident,” Larry recalled the details of June 9th, 1978 when his roller truck kicked out of gear while paving on the hill of 20th and Harrison Boulevard in Ogden. “They said I was going about 35 MPH. There was a structure – a bridge and it’s on an angle. The roller has rubber tires on the front. It was ahead of me and there was a 3 inch lip on the structure. The rubber tire hit it, and when it hit the second one, it jackknifed and threw me from one side of Harrison Boulevard to the other. The roller came to rest with me underneath it. It crushed my foot. I was in the hospital for six months off and on; in and out of surgery. That’s when I came into the office. I enjoyed working outside, but I couldn’t do that work anymore.”
Although Larry’s time in the field came to an end, he felt grateful that he got to experience the best of both worlds as an Estimator/Project Manager. “What I always liked about it is that you’re not tied to a desk. When I graduated, the jobs I interviewed for were at banks and places that were total desk jobs. I enjoy getting out and being out in the field and being outside. Not tied right down to the desk. That’s what’s good about this. You’re in the office a lot but then you go out and check on the job.”
Larry said that what makes him feel old is that they are now redoing a lot of projects that he was originally Project Manager on. For instance, his favorite project, Trapper’s Loop is currently being worked on. “That was probably the most fun job because it was so beautiful up there. We put the base and asphalt and everything down. We were up there for the whole summer and there were these moose that hung out there. You would see them off on the hillside. They didn’t wander too far. You would always see them in the mornings. It was fun to watch that job and what it did for the area. It opened that up to where you could get to Snowbasin. You could also get up to Ogden Canyon without having to go through that windy narrow road. It was just a fun job to do.”
Larry plans to spend his retirement travelling and spending time with his grandkids. They play competition soccer and baseball and he likes to travel with them to their tournaments.
After 44 years with the company, the one thing Larry is going to miss most is the people. He has built a lot of great relationships with the cities he’s worked with, as well as other customers, and friendships with colleagues. “It’s been good. It’s a good company to work for.”
The post Larry Overman Retires After 44 Years appeared first on Staker Parson.