The Senior Project Manager at the Boissevain Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation office formally retired from his position on March 3.

“It was just time,” Workman stated. “I have been there a long time and there are other things I am doing. It would have been 38 complete years this coming June.”

Workman got his start in the office in 1979; a year after Highways had completed the Riverside Bridge. Finishing high school, he had already got a job at Goodon’s, but  had a few friends – Randy Turner, Wes Morningstar and Craig Pringle - who had got on with Highways. So he changed his mind, went to see then head man Barry Prentice and was hired.

“I actually started before I graduated from high school. I took a few days off to graduate.”

Workman said no one knew what the next day would bring. His friends left, but he stayed on. He started with what all young people there do, gravelling, trucking, flagging. It was an entry-level job, but he moved up as time went on. He said he always kept his training up to date and showed the initiative and drive.

“I just wanted to do better,” he said. “I wanted to do more. I kept up to date so they wouldn’t turn me down. Now you have to be interviewed (for a higher position). Then if you did a good job, didn’t make a lot of mistakes, you could get promoted.”

Workman said over the years he did apply for a couple of positions elsewhere, but being a Minto boy, staying around made sense.

“I really didn’t have a reason to leave. They (other jobs) just weren’t a good fit.”

The position he retired from was responsible for road construction, including tenders, making payments for contractors, making sure everything is up to code. He also worked with people in other parts of Highways like maintenance who were parallel to him. Workman said he liked being more or less his own boss. He said he was there long enough to see #10 Highway rebuilt twice, and added that everything they build needs big time maintenance in Manitoba.

“Weather here is not good to highways,” he said.

Times have changed a great deal since he started. A lot of the work done by head and hand is now done by computer and GPS. They still do surveying, but there is little office work attached to it now. They used to do estimated payments during the summer work period and do the actual in the winter, and Workman said there were sometimes as many as 25 people in the back office doing that work in the cold months. Now it is all done at the same time. There was no air conditioning in the vehicles, and now they are four-wheel drive. Also, contact with the office was a lot different.

“We had two way radios and you could get out of service areas easily. Nowadays, you would never send anyone out to the gravel pit without a cell phone. In those days, there was no way to keep in contact. Working alone has changed. You never really work alone anymore.”

Over the years, Workman worked with a great number of different people. People including, but not restricted to, Clair Burton, Henry Morningstar, Hank Cappelle, Gordon Garry, Arlene McKnight, Clayton Fisher, Harold Hammond, the recently retired Dale Raymer, also of Minto, were mainstays in his work life. However, if there was one person who he owes a big thank you to is his predecessor in his position.

“Eugene Melnychuk, I was under him a long time,” Workman explained. “He was a big influence on me. I tried to emulate him. When things were going on I would try to think ‘what would he have done?’ I would really like to thank him.”

Workman said there are others in the office that could reach retirement in a few months. They might be short of experience at first, but he added there are some young people there who will do fine and move up in time.

He is happy with the work he and his department have done during his years, saying they spent money on the roads in his area – which ran basically from the Saskatchewan border to Crystal City up to #2 Highway – but they were able to accomplish a great deal. He regrets they were not able to completely finish the south part of #10 before he left. But overall, it was a good job, which he is proud of.

His plans include putting more time in at the farm, doing a little travelling and a little golfing.

“I will find something to do.”

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff