It's a Small World
Union Pacific is a big railroad, but it is a very small world.
My first year in Omaha, I attended a UP Softball Tournament where the employees came from all around the country. At the game, some of the people were talking about the Maintenance of Way manager in Fresno, California. The manager's brother was one of the players. As I listened, I knew I had to make some inquiries.
That manager's name was Gilbert, and Gilbert happened to be the first employee who greeted me on my first day of employment with the Southern Pacific in Mojave, California, back in January 1978. He was a track foreman at that time, and now, here I was watching his baby brother, the Southern District Tie Gang supervisor from Texas, playing softball in Omaha, Nebraska.
I spent many years of my career working for the trainmaster in Mojave, the superintendent in Bakersfield, and on the maintenance of way bulletins in Monterey Park, California. During that time, I had many conversations with the clerk in San Francisco, who was responsible for employee personnel records. With the merger with Union Pacific, both the clerk and I were moved to Omaha -- and this clerk is now one of my closest friends! We are here together today, and if we had stayed in California, we would never have met.
Yes, it is a very small world!
Thank you, Union Pacific.