You never know
what life will bring!
About Val
Improving Communications on Maui
Since 1995 and Now Serving Montana
I am often asked how I got into this trade, my younger sister had gone to a telecom training center in Montana to learn the trade and she thought it might be something I would enjoy doing and might be good at. She was right! At the time, it was the only telecom training school available if you were not associated with “the phone company”. They taught the basics of everything from climbing poles to central office wiring. It was a great course and after that I picked up more formal training on various jobs, the rest I have learned by being “thrown to the wolves”. Also, my dad and older brother made a living as machine maintenance techs and I think I inherited their troubleshooting and repair genes.
I started out working on a few good-sized jobs, such as phone wiring at a Denver hospital, service and repair tech for Continental Airlines phone system at the old Stapleton Airport in Denver and worked on a 60-man crew for AT&T and Henkels & McCoy wiring 14,000 new phone jacks for Colorado University. I also worked in the Telcom Division for the utility company in Denver and oversaw a tele-metering project while Denver International Airport was under construction, before moving to Maui. Maui was a culture shock…no skyscrapers to wire and lots of jungle jobs. But what a blessing to get to live on such a beautiful island and do phone work there for over 2 decades. My favorite part of working on Maui was….no freeways, and NO SNAKES!!
I love working for my customers, getting their small business phone systems designed and set up, adding more phones when they grow, and watching people spin off and start their own companies. Sometimes I have to help them downsize due to economic conditions, and then I help them expand when business picks up again! At the beginning of Covid in 2020 I relocated to Kalispell, Montana. I’m so grateful for VoIP technology that allows me to work with my Maui customers from afar to upgrade their outdated phone systems, and it’s great meeting new customers up in beautiful northwest Montana. You never know what life will bring!!