Dave Roberts
A Career of Opportunities
By Linda Norlen
Dave Roberts was born legally blind, but even his own family never understood how bad his vision was.
Dave grew up in Alderwood Manor, north of Seattle, and went to Terrace High School. He worked every summer from age thirteen on and always had an aptitude for machines. He studied in a number of different local programs to gain skills. After high school he went to the Orientation and Training Center run by the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind to learn mobility and blind skills; they also offered a shop class he took. Next he took basic courses at Everett Community College for a year, then a plumbing and pipefitting program at Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center (SOIC), and finally through the Zandy Engineering Schools stationary engineering and refrigeration course. He also acquired boiler experience and custodial skills. Yet, even though he had applied for a few hundred jobs, he did not receive an offer to a single one.
The Lighthouse had an opening for a custodian, so he took it and began in 1985. After a year, “Something happened that turned out to be important,” he says. One day on the job a small baler (a box crusher) broke down. In collaborating with his supervisor to fix the machine, his boss was impressed with the way Dave worked. That led to his recruitment into production in GSA (the side of the company that makes products for the U.S. government) where he learned how to set up machines. He did this for a year and a half.
About three years later, Dave was in a relationship with an employee and had a beautiful daughter. In 1989, his co-worker Cindy Wearstler (now Cindy Van Winkle) organized a huge surprise baby shower for the couple. “The biggest baby shower in the world,” according to Dave, with many generous and useful gifts.
The 1990s were a good time for work, which was booming, but when his daughter was about 2-1/2 years old, her mother left. Single parenting had its challenges, but Dave says he wouldn’t trade away those years for anything. “The love of a small child is profound.” (His daughter Jennifer will turn 30 this year.)
Dave says he learned a lot from Rick Medford on the night shift. When the molding department was created in 1991–92, Dave was one of its first employees. (They made plastic parts for a Hasbro toy.) He worked under many different managers and eventually was a supervisor himself until 1994.
After several years of various jobs in aerospace, Dave moved back to the maintenance department, this time as a Maintenance Engineer Assistant to do preventive maintenance work. Dave also spent about eight months measuring the building and learning AutoCAD and CAD/CAM software in order to make needed evacuation maps of the entire building.
One spring in 2005 when the sun came out, Dave discovered that his eyes hurt. He found out that a cataract had started; a dozen years later, it is much worse. Now he uses a white cane when he goes outside, because he can’t see well enough to make out what car traffic is doing.
Dave left the Lighthouse in 2007 for a two-year period to pursue his education. By the time he finished he was 46 years old and decided to come back to the Lighthouse to work in aerospace production. In considering where he might be today without the Lighthouse, he says that although he might have gotten more education, he likely wouldn’t have gotten as great a job as at the Lighthouse and would likely have had to take something for less pay because of limited access.
Dave has worked in a variety of departments at the Lighthouse. His ability to figure out machines brought him a variety of ways to use those skills, and he feels privileged to have had so many opportunities.
Paul Fletcher was an excellent mentor to Dave, he says, even though he couldn’t or wouldn’t always do what Paul suggested. Dave describes Fletcher as “the king of soft power… quite a magical person.” Dave also remembers Dan Lewis, who left the Lighthouse long ago, but was his supervisor about 30 years ago; Dan was “mellow, skillful, and good with people.” Dave also mentions his current boss, Mike Scheschy as a positive model. Dave observes that the people who are frequently the most successful here are the ones with the best social skills.
Dave recently celebrated his 30th anniversary at the company. “I have made parts for 30 years, which means that anyone who has been on a Boeing plane or anyone who has served in the U.S. military and used a canteen or an easel in the past 30 years has used something I made. I too have served the world. We should all be proud.”