Substation Repair Worker Joe Bright is retiring from Conway Corporation this month after serving more than 29 years in the electric department.
Bright joined the company as a groundman in 1977 and entered the lineman apprenticeship program one year later. He left the company in 1981 but returned in 1989.
Bright has spent time in numerous roles in the electric department – from service and street light truck crews to hanging banners and Christmas lights. For the past nine years, he has served as a substation repair worker.
“Conway Corporation is a service-oriented company,” Bright said. “No matter what job I was doing, I knew I was getting to help people.”
Bright says he is a jokester and enjoys a good prank with his co-workers, but notes that the work done by those in his department is serious work.
“We know that electricity is no respecter of persons,” he said. “The job we do can be life-changing or life-taking in a second. It is hard work. But you do the hard things because you want to help people. We want to take care of customers.”
Bright said that is where the reward comes from his career – getting to help people and the relationship with co-workers.
“I have had the privilege of working with a great bunch of guys that care,” he said. “I’m going to miss the camaraderie. When your life depends on the person next to you, those relationships matter.”
Bright is looking forward to fishing, gardening and time with his grandchildren.
“It has been real and it has been fun. Now it is time to have some real fun.”
