First person: Keeping up with change

Clovis native Gary Langford worked as a maintenance technician for Suddenlink for 39 years before retiring in June. He said he saw many changes in the system during his time but most happened in the last 10 years.

Job title: I was a maintenance technician. More or less, I maintained the system and oversaw new construction.

Changes: We had 12 channels when I started. In the late 70s, satellite dishes came onto the scene and we started adding channels with those. We kept adding. Then in the 90s, fiber optics came on the scene and it changed the way we built everything. It brought reliability and a better signal. Then in 2000, we rebuilt the system here and implemented a lot of fiber optics. We added services here like high speed Internet, phone and we have several hundred channels. Technology has changed a lot on the last 10 years. It was changing every day. There were six owners while I was there.

Job enjoyment: I enjoyed the work mainly because it was outside. I got to do a lot of different things. I did construction, service work, tower climbing, dealt with contractors and engineers. The guys I worked with were good guys.

Retirement: I have a few honey-do’s I’m working on. I enjoy hunting and fishing so I’ll probably do some of that. I’ll get back into my artwork. I do pencil drawings and water colors. Haven’t picked that up for a long time. And of course, I have grandkids. We have two in town and three in Oklahoma so we’re going to visit them. I might pick up a part-time job at some point but right now I’m just enjoying it. I thought I’d miss it, but I don’t. I think I did it so long, I was kinda getting tired.

Clovis boy: I was born and raised here in Clovis. I spent three years in the Army. I like Clovis because it is a midsize town. It’s not too big or too small. The people are friendly. My parents still live here, my wife’s parents still live here.

For Greg: Greg, you still owe me a steak.