Verizon Worker At The End of His Work Line
By Christine Myers
BOURBON � �When I grow up, I want to retire.�
Not the common response to the commonly asked question, �What do you want to be when you grow up?�
However, inevitably, that�s what �growing-up� leads to.
Family-man Randy Christ, age 49, is grown now, has been married for 15 years to Mitzi, has raised a daughter, Christina (Todd) Musselman and has become a grandfather for the first time when Christina and Todd�s son Nathaniel was born. For Christ, a 30-year Verizon Wireless employee, retirement is silently knocking at the door.
Christ�s journey with Verizon began in his hometown of Claypool and the neighboring town of Silver Lake, where he spent five years on a construction crew and another 10 as an installation/repairman. The next five years were spent in the Mentone and Burket areas. The last 10 years, Christ has been working in the Bourbon (Atwood, Milwood) area. If you have had installation work done by Verizon, chances are, it was done by Randy.
The time spent in Bourbon has been enjoyable for Christ.
�I enjoyed being in the area and I�ll miss the people,� he said. �It was nice being in a smaller community.�
There have been some changes since Christ first began. When he started, he worked with open wire located along the railroad tracks running along the south side of Lincoln Highway. Now the old, abandoned wires and poles are just an eyesore, a reminded of days gone by, awaiting removal.
The late �70s and early �80s switched gears and buried wires were the new thing. Over the past five years, yet another change has occurred. In keeping up with the technological ad-vancements, the company has opted for fiber optics cable (or digital service).
Christ�s employment with Verizon hasn�t been very eventful, but he�s not complaining. The steadiness of the position and the company are very appealing. Besides, how many people can say they really like what they are doing?
�I like my job,� Christ explained. �It�s not really that colorful and it�s pretty quiet here and this time of year it�s slow.�
Although he�ll be retiring from Verizon, Christ isn�t saying good-bye to the phone industry quite yet. He plans on working part-time for Butler Commun-ications located in Fort Wayne.
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