by Paul V. Arnold

Sometimes I have this urge to turn MRO Today into Life magazine for just one issue. I’d make it into a picture book.

Life can tell a story like no writer or editor can. Pictures introduce you to people. Pictures put you at the scene. They bring events, emotions, personalities to life.

If this was my Life issue, here are the pictures you’d see:

• Portland State University professor Lee Buddress composing himself, his hands on his face, trying to make it through his presentation at the NAPM – MRO Group conference in Nashville, Tenn. It was Sept. 11, and 10 minutes earlier, he and a crowd of fellow conference attendees stood in front of TVs by the hotel coffee shop, watching hijacked airplanes destroy the World Trade Center.

• Rex Gallaher coming about as close as a human can come to levitating. The U.S. Postal Service maintenance leader was speaking on the subject of mentoring to a full classroom at SMRP’s conference Oct. 8 in San Antonio. Gallaher was a glowing ball of fire, pride, passion and sheer contentment.

• The mesmerized crowd listening to Gallaher’s speech. No one was writing down notes. They didn’t want to miss a single word. Maybe they believed that they, too, could fly.

• Brad Peterson, looking as if he had run a marathon, an hour after the first-ever SMRP certification exam (see Page 14). As the group’s certification director, he had spent a sizeable chunk of the last seven years developing the certification program and the test. While Peterson looked like he ran 26 miles, you could tell personal satisfaction could have taken him another 26.

• Pillsbury maintenance technician Denise Augustine, her eyes lowered in humility and fighting back the smile to end all smiles, holding a plaque proclaiming her a member of MRO Today’s second annual MRO All-Pro Team and as the magazine’s 2001 Pro of the Year (see Page 20). Her facial expressions and attempt to hide them showed what the honor meant to her. All the hard work, all the extra time, all the sacrifice was worth it.

• Me and purchasing professionals Patricia Cabell, Cathy Neidner and Ed Lachey taking a Lincoln Town Car on a beautiful fall drive through the eastern and Midwestern United States (see Page 30). Sunny day, 60 degrees, puffy clouds. The leaves turning orange and yellow. Leather seats, power package, nice acceleration. Sweet.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. I hope you got six from these 400 words and thought that they were worth it.

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