The Southern Gas Association held its annual Natural Gas Connect Conference in Louisville last week for more than 500 attendees. Chief Operating Officer and SGA board member Lonnie Bellar welcomed the guests to Kentucky and opened the national conference. It featured educational sessions, innovative product and service expos, networking opportunities and LG&E and KU's own Larry "Smokey" Dodson.
Dodson, a senior safety and technical training consultant in Gas Operations, was one of 13 U.S. gas industry employees with 50 or more years of service recognized at the conference. Dodson will achieve his 57th service anniversary at LG&E and KU on June 20. According to records, Dodson is the longest-serving current employee at LG&E and KU -- and in the company's history -- and almost the longest working in the gas industry. Of the employees recognized at the conference, one had 58 service years.
"Smokey's" career at LG&E and KU
Dodson joined LG&E in 1966 as a laborer in Gas Distribution at South Service Center, three days after his high school graduation. It was a time when employees wielded picks and shovels for "back-breaking" trench work, instead of backhoes. And company maps and records were logged with a pencil and paper and stored in metal file cabinets.
Dodson joined LG&E because it was a solid company offering stable work for his family and, like many employees of the day, he had family ties here. Dodson's grandfather, James ("Pa") Workman, was a crew foreman in the Gas Department. Dodson joined that crew, and his co-workers taught him the business. They also nicknamed him "Smokey" because, as a former volunteer firefighter, he would stop work and watch fire trucks anytime they would pass.
Dodson advanced through various Gas Operations jobs -- dump truck driver, pipefitter, mains and service mechanic, assistant service foreman and gas working foreman – and, in 1989, he moved into a training specialist role in Gas Engineering that set the stage for the rest of his career.
His extensive gas operations experience and a lifelong desire to teach made him uniquely qualified to train other employees about safety and the technical aspects of the gas business. However, the company had no formal program, so he collaborated with other utilities to help build the original gas training department from the ground up.
In more recent years, Dodson helped customize a program and the design and construction of East Operations Center's state-of-the-art gas training center. It can simulate up to 90% of field scenarios employees might encounter, so they can practice addressing them in a safe, controlled environment. National and international gas-related organizations have benchmarked the center as a best practice.
Over the years, Dodson has experienced drastic change and improvements in the gas business. "Early on, I was down in a hole cleaning a gas main with my T-shirt and jeans on," he said. "There was no PPE [personal protective equipment] and few rules back then. Gas was blowing everywhere, and sparks were flying. All I could do was run because the mechanisms weren't in place to control it like there are now. So I always tell people change is good, based on my experience."
Dodson is a past member of the Kentucky Gas Association (KGA) Education Committee and the Southern Gas Association (SGA) Distribution Technical Training Committee, and he served as chairman for both. He also was a member and chair of the KGA and SGA Operator Qualifications committees.
In addition, Dodson is the recipient of numerous industry awards, including the KGA's Ernest Murphy Excellence in Training Award (two times); the KGA's Outstanding Service Award; and the SGA's Leaders Make a Difference Award ─ the organization's highest honor for volunteers. He also won the American Gas Association's Milton W. Heath Sr. Memorial Award; and the Kentucky Safety and Health Network's prestigious President's Safety and Health Award.
So, what has kept Dodson working at the same company for nearly 60 years? He draws inspiration from his Pa.
"My grandfather impressed something on me when I was very young. He said, 'If you're happy with what you're doing, then you never work a day in your life.' And I can honestly say — even on the coldest nights, the hottest days, the most trying periods — I've never 'worked' a day in my life. I've loved every day that I've been here."
