Bill Weikel, the Director of Surveying at Bryant Engineering, is retiring after almost 50 years in his field. While he hasn’t spent the entire time at the same company, he has spent the majority of those years in the local community.
In April of 1973, Weikel went to work at Johnson, Depp, and Quisenberry. He has worked in nearly 30 states throughout his career, gaining experience that made him a valuable asset to the community.
Weikel’s experiences include working for several different companies and even owning his own for three years. His work spanned from pipelines going over the Appalachian Mountains and Rocky Mountains to a job located near Niagara Falls.
“I was working as a surveyor and diver, doing hydrographic work on pipelines. I enjoyed it,” he said. “The biggest part of the work was Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi — I literally went all over the country.”
Weikel became licensed in 1985, working for more than a decade to gain enough knowledge and experience to take the test. After being licensed for 36 years, he reflects on some of the local projects he worked on.
“Primarily, I have worked in the Daviess County and Owensboro area. I always felt blessed to be working for a community as good as the one here,” Weikel said. “It always meant a lot to me.”
From Towne Square Mall to the Owensboro Health HealthPark, Weikel said he still remembers some of the larger jobs he completed.
“I thought it was a huge job at the time. We redid Veach road, creating a two-lane blacktop which made it a whole lot nicer and a whole lot safer,” he said. “I have also worked on the Owensboro Riverfront, and the new hospital, which was a huge job. One of the first jobs I was on was Towne Square Mall.”
Perhaps Weikel’s most memorable experience as a surveyor was helping to solve a missing person case. While working near the Detention Center in Henderson County, Weikel remembers seeing several police cars and unmarked vehicles show up on the land he was surveying. After some investigation, Weikel found out from the detective that an elderly woman had gone missing.
“As their shift was wrapping up, I decided I was going to stay out there until I was 100 percent sure she’s not out there or I found her,” Weikel said. “Less than 10 minutes later, we found the lady. The doctor said she was 30 minutes from dying and had spent the night out there. We felt good about it and didn’t think much about it, until nine months later, we were invited to receive a ‘Meritorious Achievement Award’ for saving this lady’s life.”
Early in his career, Weikel said his favorite part of his job was working on a survey party and getting to be outside all the time, whether it was in town or in the county. Today, he appreciates the relationships that he has built.
“My favorite part of my job was working with the public,” Weikel said. “People come in and sit down and talk with us about what we will be doing. We find out a little about them and make them comfortable. There are really good people around here if you sit down and get to know them.”
