Longtime employees Newman, Deloach retire
Longtime employees Bill Newman and David Deloach are retiring from Ripley Power and Light Company.
Newman was hired 31 years ago in September 1994; he will retire this spring.
“I am thankful that Mike (Allmand) took a chance on me all those years ago,” Newman said. “The Lord put me here, and he has led me to do everything he has asked of me.”
Deloach began his career at Ripley Power and Light in November 1985. He left to work for another company for a while but returned to the electric utility in 2005. After working a total of 35 years for the utility, he retired in January.
“It’s always hard to say ‘goodbye’ to employees who have worked hard for our customers,” said Allmand, President and CEO of Ripley Power and Light.
“We wish them the best.” Deloach was hired to run the chipper as workers cleared the rights-of-way. He became a lineman in 1995. In 2012, he was put in charge of vegetation control.
Newman began at the utility as a groundman and also became a lineman. He joined Deloach in vegetation control in 2012.
“One of the best decisions Ripley Power and Light ever made was putting David Deloach in charge of tree trimming with Bill Newman as his senior team member,” Allmand said. “In my 49 years with RPL, I can’t think of any proactive maintenance decisions we have ever made that produced as much benefit as what David, Bill and their team brought to RPL and its customers in reduced outages.”
“These two men are masters at what they do. We refer to them as tree surgeons!”
Deloach’s philosophy about doing a good job comes down to this sentiment: “If you don’t do it right the first time, how will you have the time to come back and do it again?”
Both men, who have many good memories about working for Ripley Power and Light, say they will miss the fellowship with their coworkers.
“We are like family,” Deloach said.
Above: David Deloach, left, and Bill Newman work together to trim back trees and other vegetation away from power lines.