For Ken Richards, some of the most defining moments of recent history have been experienced while he was working at Stanley Consultants.
"There are times in history when events happen and you never forget where you were or what you were doing," Richards said. "I'll never forget that when it was announced that President Kennedy had been shot and killed, I was helping with a model of the Mt. Coffee Dam project. I also remember being at work and on the phone with my daughter as she watched and communicated to me the horror the terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York City."
Richards, who interviewed for the job with Marion Nowsyz and Otto Parker more than a half-century ago, remembers as a young "kid" being sent out to deliver a truck with survey equipment somewhere in Illinois. He does not remember the place, but does remember that he had to fly back. It was his first trip in an airplane. He remembers listening and watching as the new Stanley building was being constructed. It was loud and at times, very loud.
What he remembers most of all, and still finds remarkable, is that he has been "been blessed to have worked with some of the most talented people, not only in the company, but especially in my department. I have worked with people who have not, in my estimation, received the recognition they deserve - people who have labored to push the finished product out the door but have not been looked at as part of the team. At times, I have looked at working with them as the best part of the job that I was doing at the time."
Last but not least, he remembers working with and watching "a bright, young, engineer make her way through the company. Traveling her own path, she has become president of this company. Overcoming adversity, she has become an example to both women and men alike."