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NEWS RELEASE
When Donald C. Emond started as a 17-year-old meter reader at UI, his boss had some advice for greenhorns.
“He used to tell us if we complained, ‘There’s no ball and chain on your leg,’” Emond recalled.
Maybe there wasn’t. But something kept him coming back for 50 years.
Emond celebrated his half-century of service with nearly 100 colleagues over coffee and pastries the morning of July 20. His anniversary was July 15.
Todd Blosser, UI’s director of construction operations, presented Don with a certificate of achievement and a basketful of UI memorabilia and other gifts.
“Fifty years working at a company,” Blosser said. “It’s almost unimaginable.”
He pointed out that in 1957, the year Emond started, the Russians launched Sputnik, gasoline cost 24 cents a gallon and “Leave It To Beaver” debuted.
Emond spoke briefly about his career and family, including Connie, his wife of 46 years, and his three adult children. He recounted how he worked his way from meter reader to the line department to field engineering, finally landing in his current role as an underground construction supervisor in Power Delivery.
“UI gave me the career I never dreamed of,” he said. Emond is currently UI’s longest-serving employee.
CEO James Torgerson, President Tony Vallillo and Rich Reed, Vice President-Electric Systems, praised Don for his years of service.
“Thank you very much for all you’ve given to this company,” Reed said.
The United Illuminating Company, founded in 1899, is a regional electric distribution and transmission company. It serves more than 320,000 customers in 17 communities in the greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas.
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