It is on the coldest of snowy days that Gerry Flannery will most appreciate his retirement. But then, he’ll probably appreciate it on the windiest days of spring and the most humid summer days too.
For nearly 40 years, Gerry’s reported for work for Jackson Energy, “whether it’s been 20 below or 110 above.”
He knows full well that service techs for energy companies are busiest when the weather does its worst, but, as of Dec. 31, 2013, Gerry no longer has to worry about it.
He started the job with Jackson Energy on January 2, 1974, back when it was still Jackson County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, and he’s pretty much made a career out of it.Gerry retired just two days shy of serving the company for 40 years.
When he began working for the electric company, they were still cutting their own right-of-ways with brush-hooks and chain saws. They dug holes for electric poles with posthole diggers and, on occasion, even used a little dynamite.
Now most of that type of work is outsourced to independent contract companies, and all the equipment used is much more sophisticated.
Over the years, Gerry worked his way up from cutting right of ways to building lines. He was one of those who set poles and strung lines to provide service to homes.
In April of 1976, Gerry began work as a service tech. He responded to outages, turned on meters or disconnected them, serviced security lights and did whatever else was required to make sure Estill Countians and residents of surrounding counties kept electricity.
Gerry also worked as crew foreman for a few years. Brent Arvin, a lineman from Estill County, was one of those Gerry supervised. He said Gerry was always very safety conscious.
“He wouldn’t ask you to do anything he wouldn’t do himself,” said Arvin.
Gerry eventually returned to the service tech position where he finished out the last ten years of his career.
Jackson Energy employees have a dangerous job. Not only are they required to travel into the remotest parts of their service areas where the roads are narrow and crooked and the hills steep, but they handle lines that carry high volumes of electric current.
The days the roads are icy are probably the worst, according to Gerry, because it’s hard to get around, and the cold has to be endured too.
Although working with electricity is risky, but Gerry credits the company for stressing safety.
“Jackson Energy has a real safety program,” he said.
Now that Gerry is retired, he plans to spend his days working around the farm with his wife Mary Ann and their constant outdoor companion, a Black Labrador named Chloe.
Gerry and Mary Ann live at White Oak with another faithful companion, a house dog named Spanky.
The Flannery’s have two adult children: Kim Abney and Randy French, and two granddaughters, Malea and Carrie, who visit frequently.
Gerry’s still getting used to the idea that he doesn’t have to go outside in the cold now unless he wants to.
“It still feels like I’m on vacation,” he laughs, “but I think I can get used to it.”
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For decades, retiree ‘kept the lights on’
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