As published on the "heraldonline" website:
Local surveyor gets award ceremony unlike any other
By Andrew Dys
Almost all of the people who came into the hospice house Monday afternoon for an award ceremony had a sunburn. Work out in the sun your whole life, like Ed Woodward did and all these other surveyors do, your skin turns to leather.
This was an award ceremony unlike any other. There was no podium, no catered chicken dinner. The guest of honor couldn't even attend.
Because Rock Hill's Edward F. Woodward was in Room 2 at the hospice house. The 63-year-old, so good to so many in the surveying trade in York, Chester, and Lancaster counties for more than 40 years, has bone cancer. His wife, Joy, said he's been fighting it for a year and was moved not many days ago to Hospice & Community Care.
Back in May, surveyors from around the state decided that Woodward — “one of the deans of surveying,” in the words of fellow surveyor Tim Kaiser — should be honored with the South Carolina Society of Professional Land Surveyors Life Service Award.
It is the biggest deal in this trade that most people know by those people seen out in the weather, with those yellow tripods, mapping out the land. Woodward's work is seen on so many of the roads people drive on — Interstate 95, S.C. 5, S.C. 274, more.
Woodward, whose father was a surveyor before him, is one of just a few in the state's history who have been so honored — less than 10 around the state.
A regular ceremony was hoped for at a state meeting of all those surveyors later this year, said Rock Hill surveyor Joe Baird, but the clock was ticking.
“It was evident it might not happen, the ceremony, so we moved swiftly,” Baird said.
So the surveyors brought the ceremony right there to the hospice.
They parked their trucks in the parking lot and took time off from work, because Ed Woodward was a good guy and working man and he just plain deserved it.
One who came was Billy Hipp, a surveyor who has his own business because he was taught the trade as an employee of Woodward years ago.
“The best, Ed,” Hipp said. “Great guy, terrific at his business. Knew all the best places to stop and eat, too. Even knew the names of the waitresses or the owners.”
Another surveyor, Bill White, said Woodward took him under his wing when White was starting out, even though White would turn into a competitor.
“He was like a mentor to the younger guys coming up,” White said.
Woodward is one of the founders of the tri-county chapter of the surveying group. He cares about high standards, his peers said, he cares about getting the mapping right.
His wife, Joy, said of Woodward surveying out there in that hot sun, the wet ground or the dust or the red clay: “He had the heart for it. He loved it.”
One lady from the beach, state surveying society secretary Frankie Manhardt, even read a proclamation honoring Woodward. She read how he served in Vietnam.
She read how he was a past member and chair of the York County Planning Commission. She read how he was unselfish to other surveyors, and all these men who knew that and learned from him stood there in a circle in their jeans and boots, or khakis and boots and collared shirts with their company names on them, and listened.
These are blue-collar people who wanted to let someone know how much they cared for one of their own.
Burnett Jenkins, current president of the surveying society of York, Chester and Lancaster counties, presented Joy Woodward with a plaque.
“Thank you all very much,” she said.
“He loved what he did.”
Then, she took that plaque into the room where her husband of 39 years lay in the bed, so she could read aloud to him how proud his peers are of his life's work.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Resourceful Surveyors Help with Rescue
What a story!
Rescued duo adrift off Alaska for 52 hours (AP article on msnbc.com)
From the article (click link above for the full story):
Whitehead and his 50-foot fishing boat, the Larisa M., had been hired by a Bureau of Land Management survey crew. For five years, he has escorted BLM survey crews to ancient island village sites where 25,000 Aleuts once lived.
Whitehead spent Friday moving the crew from cove to cove along uninhabited Amatignak Island, the southernmost point in Alaska. The closest port is Adak, about 120 miles to the northeast and 1,300 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Osterback, 35, joined him on his last trip, to pick up the survey crew and their gear.
As they motored through howling winds toward the island, their 15-foot skiff hit a rock and the motor died.
They managed to row the unwieldy boat around the rocks. In his last radio message to the surveyors, he said someone would need to get to the Larisa M. and radio for help.
Whitehead believed the BLM crew would be able to cobble something together to reach his fishing boat. "They're a pretty resourceful group," he said.
The surveyors fashioned a raft out of flotsam: boards placed on buoys and held together with fishing net.
With makeshift paddles, they reached the Larisa M at 10:30 p.m. local time Saturday and called the Coast Guard, which launched a search from Kodiak Island.
Whitehead credits both the Coast Guard rescuers and the BLM crew for saving their lives.
"They're tough guys and the only reason the Coast Guard came is because they built that raft," he said.
Rescued duo adrift off Alaska for 52 hours (AP article on msnbc.com)
From the article (click link above for the full story):
Whitehead and his 50-foot fishing boat, the Larisa M., had been hired by a Bureau of Land Management survey crew. For five years, he has escorted BLM survey crews to ancient island village sites where 25,000 Aleuts once lived.
Whitehead spent Friday moving the crew from cove to cove along uninhabited Amatignak Island, the southernmost point in Alaska. The closest port is Adak, about 120 miles to the northeast and 1,300 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Osterback, 35, joined him on his last trip, to pick up the survey crew and their gear.
As they motored through howling winds toward the island, their 15-foot skiff hit a rock and the motor died.
They managed to row the unwieldy boat around the rocks. In his last radio message to the surveyors, he said someone would need to get to the Larisa M. and radio for help.
Whitehead believed the BLM crew would be able to cobble something together to reach his fishing boat. "They're a pretty resourceful group," he said.
The surveyors fashioned a raft out of flotsam: boards placed on buoys and held together with fishing net.
With makeshift paddles, they reached the Larisa M at 10:30 p.m. local time Saturday and called the Coast Guard, which launched a search from Kodiak Island.
Whitehead credits both the Coast Guard rescuers and the BLM crew for saving their lives.
"They're tough guys and the only reason the Coast Guard came is because they built that raft," he said.
Friday, June 19, 2009
World's Oldest Surveyor Dies at 113
As reported on the msnbc website:
World's oldest man dies at 113
Japanese ex-land surveyor drank milk every morning and avoided alcohol
TOKYO - Tomoji Tanabe, the world's oldest man, died in his sleep at his home in southern Japan on Friday, a city official said. He was 113.
"He died peacefully. His family members were with him," said Junko Nakao, a city official in Miyakonojo on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Tanabe died of heart failure, she said.
Tanabe, who was born Sept. 18, 1895, had eight children — five sons and three daughters. The former city land surveyor also had 25 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren, according to a statement from the Miyakonojo city. He was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest man when he was 111 years old.
His favorite meals were fried shrimp and Japanese miso soup with clams, the statement said. Tanabe drank milk every morning and read the newspaper. He also avoided alcohol and did not smoke, the statement said.
World's oldest man dies at 113
Japanese ex-land surveyor drank milk every morning and avoided alcohol
TOKYO - Tomoji Tanabe, the world's oldest man, died in his sleep at his home in southern Japan on Friday, a city official said. He was 113.
"He died peacefully. His family members were with him," said Junko Nakao, a city official in Miyakonojo on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Tanabe died of heart failure, she said.
Tanabe, who was born Sept. 18, 1895, had eight children — five sons and three daughters. The former city land surveyor also had 25 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren, according to a statement from the Miyakonojo city. He was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest man when he was 111 years old.
His favorite meals were fried shrimp and Japanese miso soup with clams, the statement said. Tanabe drank milk every morning and read the newspaper. He also avoided alcohol and did not smoke, the statement said.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Suspects Act Like Property Surveyors
Shame ...
Police: Thieves Use Property Line Ploy as posted on Pittsburgh's www.wpxi.com
Seems a couple bad guys are posing as surveyors to gain entrance into homes. Hopefully they will be caught and strung up soon.
If in doubt, ask a surveyor for his business card.
Police: Thieves Use Property Line Ploy as posted on Pittsburgh's www.wpxi.com
Seems a couple bad guys are posing as surveyors to gain entrance into homes. Hopefully they will be caught and strung up soon.
If in doubt, ask a surveyor for his business card.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Bill Signing Ceremony - SF 435
Well, the surveyor's right-of-entry bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on May 26, 2009. I just got some pictures back from the signing ceremony and thought I'd share this one*.
I'm in the middle behind Gov. Culver (in the blue shirt).The text of Senate File 435, the Surveyor's Right of Entry, can be found by clicking here.
Dan
*Photograph by Steve Alexander, alexandersphoto.com
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