By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The world is a different place than it was in 1971. In September of that year, Gary Demel began his long career as a Barton County employee. Demel did a little of everything for the Road and Bridge Department, working as shop foreman since 1988. That run came to an end with a retirement luncheon on Friday, Nov. 18.
"It's time for me to step back and let some younger person in there," Demel said. "I like to believe I did a good job. I saved the county a lot of money by performing the maintenance and all that stuff on the equipment."
A lifetime resident of Great Bend, Demel took a county job straight out of high school. With just a high school diploma, he did the dirty work first, shoveling asphalt on his first day out.
Demel was learning on the job while the Vietnam War raged on in Southeast Asia. Demel's birthday of Oct. 6 was called in the draft lottery in 1970. With the war winding down, Demel served stateside with basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., and almost two years in Fort Riley. Following that, Demel spent a year with NATO forces in Turkey. "It was a very good experience," he said. "It builds character and makes a man out of you."
Demel returned home in 1975. With an ongoing embargo, jobs were scarce, and Demel still had a position with Barton County. He returned to county employment, using the GI Bill to further his education. He earned an associate's degree from Barton Community College, majoring in business and general science.
"I took probably over 130 hours at the college," said Demel. "It moved me up the ladder. I just kept moving up the ladder, learning new things from truck driving to operating equipment. One day they asked me if I wanted to become a mechanic."
Some mechanic courses paid off, and Demel assumed that role in the late 1970s. He stayed in that position until he was promoted to shop foreman in 1988. As a working foreman, Demel helped maintain more than 80 pieces of self-propelled equipment, plus other large equipment like an asphalt plant and dredges. He also helped purchase new equipment and said two of the first three trucks he helped purchase in 1990 are still in use by the county - the other one was in a crash.
"My job was to bring in equipment that was dependable, long-lasting, low maintenance, and then perform the maintenance on them, and run the shop and yard," Demel said.
Over time, Demel picked up an additional role, marking graves and performing some of the maintenance at the county's then newly-acquired Hillcrest and Golden Belt cemeteries. It was complicated work, he said, because no two cemeteries are alike.
Naturally, technology changed over the course of five decades. Demel and staff purchased manuals for new equipment and received some maintenance training from the vendors. They sampled oil from vehicles and machines to perform preventative maintenance.
"A lot of the equipment we had, outside of Venture, nobody else in Barton County has that equipment, so the maintenance people would have to come out of Wichita, Springfield, Mo., Kansas City, Denver," Demel said. "We learned that aspect of maintaining the equipment."
Then again, some jobs were just a little too dangerous. The 480-volt asphalt plant required an electrician, and other big jobs required some outside help. "It's a very simple world when you think about it," said Demel. "You learn what you can, and you know your limitations and try not to step outside the box."
Outside of work, Demel and his first wife raised four kids. Being a county employee allowed Demel to watch his kids grow up. His first wife passed away, and Demel remarried 12 years ago. He looks forward to enjoying the country life in his new retirement.
"I've lived in Great Bend all my life, and I'm looking forward to moving to the country," he said. "I built a garage out there, and I want to tinker and spend time with my grandkids and kids. We both have extended family so I have plenty to keep me busy."
The key to Demel's long career as a county employee: being a big talker. "I think that's how I survived, being able to talk to people and being able to get along with people," he said. "Basically, that's what you have to do if you're going to work in a job like shop foreman for a highway department. You have to be able to get along and communicate and pick up ideas. A lot of my knowledge was experienced first hand, and it worked out very well for me."