“All of the people I’ve come in contact with, over here, they’re just really good-hearted people. I’ve found a lot of friends. I’ve been so blessed.”
Mick Reeve, beloved caretaker of the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s “White House,” retired this month, in his 37th year of service to the Borough.
Mick started his career in the Navy, where he served overseas, travelling to the Philippines, Singapore and the coast of Japan. A machinist’s mate in the noisy, steamy engine room of an old ship, Mick discovered a love of the ocean. His experience in other cultures taught him a deep appreciation of our opportunities and lifestyles in the U.S.
On his return – in 1975 – Mick started working with the Borough, at Kenai Pool, where he was the custodial and maintenance person. He took care of water chemistry and worked on the pumps. He jokes that “they brought me over here after about two and a half years. I was kind of upset, because I was in the best shape I’d ever been…swimming every day, and then I could go up on top of the roof there and get a nice sun tan…”
Career Ace
Mick Reeve retires after 37 years
Let’s start with what you’re going to do next, your plans…
Well my mom lives down in the southern part of Texas, and she’s getting to that age to where I need to spend some more time with her. I’m gonna go down there for a least a month. Well, first I’ll pick up my brother and we’re gonna drive up there; he lives in Houston. So we’ll drive up and we’ll get things cleaned up. I’ll spend some time with her and my brother Randy – he lives there, he’s taking care of her. After that, I’ll probably go back down to Houston. My brother’s got a friend that plays a lot of golf. He’s retired, so I’m gonna go there and send a set of clubs down. Hopefully, it’s not gonna be too hot.
After that, I’m gonna come back up here and play more golf. As much as I can. I’ll have that freedom. It’s gonna take a while to get used to that, not having to work.
How many years have you been working?
I’ve lost count. Thirty five years, I guess, and before that I was in the Navy for four years, so almost forty years.
Were you overseas?
Yeah, overseas twice. The Philippines, Singapore, the coast of Japan. It was a neat experience.
You get to see how other people live, and you get back and appreciate what we have here, back in the States. We’re just so blessed, with everything that we’ve got.
I started out in the engine room. I was a machinist’s mate. It was on an old ship that was commissioned in 1944; it was all steam. Steam turbines, the generators – they were all run on steam. I did that for about two and a half years, and then they talked me into going up as a petty officer in a different area; I went up there and we hit dry dock, and so I had to order all these parts and pumps – that was pretty overwhelming – but at least I got out of the engine room. It was so hot down there, that you could hardly stand it…
And noisy too, right?
Oh, yes. When you had to change out a pump or something like that, you had three people working on it. It was a good experience though - being out on the water, the ocean like that - it was beautiful.
Did you grow up here and then go directly into the Navy?
Actually, I was born in Texas; we moved from Texas to Kansas, then Kansas up to there. We got up here in 1968, my junior year in high school. Then I went into the Navy for four years and came back here. In 1975, I started working with the Borough, at Kenai pool. I was the custodial and maintenance person. I took care of water chemistry, and worked on the pumps if they needed it, backwashing the filters - at that time it was manually done.
They brought me over here after about two and a half years. I was kind of upset, because I was in the best shape I’d ever been…swimming every day, and then I could go up on top of the roof there and get a nice sun tan…
I came over here and started working with an old boy named Shorty; he was probably in his seventies at that point. A really good decent person. He let me borrow some money to get my house.
Wow, that’s very kind.
Yeah, yeah it was.
All of the people I’ve come in contact with, over here, they’re just really good-hearted people. I’ve found a lot of friends. I’ve been so blessed. All the friends I’ve got here, you know; it’s gonna be hard to leave.
You do the night shift. How is that for you?
I haven’t had much social life. If I’m gonna have any type of social life, it’s between the time I get up in the morning until I have to come to work or on the weekends. It’s a great shift for what I do – in the summertime, it’s perfect. I can play nine holes or eighteen holes of golf, and then come to work and do my job here.
Tell me about your relationship with golf; when did you start playing?
It’s been at least twenty years. A friend of mine – actually my ex-wife’s husband – they bought me my first set of golf clubs for Father’s Day, and I’ve been playing ever since. I started out at Russian Jack Park, in Anchorage, and it was a lot of practice. Even when he didn’t want to go, I was over there playing, until I couldn’t stand on my feet anymore.
I was just getting into it and didn’t really know what I was doing, as far as playing, how you played. I kind of waited around on him to ask me to go play. Then he didn’t do it, so I just thought “I’m gonna do it on my own. I’m gonna learn this game and I’m gonna try to enjoy it.”
I’ve been playing ever since then, helping other people get started. That’s what’s fun. Especially when you see somebody up there swinging, and they’re not doing so well – I go over and see if they want some help. Some do. That’s what’s really nice about golf, there’s so many good people willing to help you out. It all comes from good morals, and just trying to help somebody out.
When I first started, you know, even before I got into it, I thought the class of people were just too high class, that it was a rich game, but everybody can afford it. It’s just good exercise, getting out there and playing.
Golf wisdom?
Take a lesson from a pro. I’ve never had a lesson, I just learned the basics from a friend, and I took it from there, but take a lesson from a pro, and get the basics right. They’ll teach you how to grip the club, how to set up for everything, how to putt and how to chip, and those are the basic shots that you make. And you go from there. Hit a lot of balls. Enjoy it. Don’t get serious about it, don’t get upset – be patient. Be patient.
What about career advice? - you’ve had such a solid, long-term run in this job.
You learn to grow with the people that you work with. They’re not just employees you’re working with; you’re working with friends. That’s what you think about when you’re doing the job. You’re taking care of those people, making sure that they’re healthy.
Enjoy what you do. It’s a job; it’s a good job. I’ve been blessed with it and with the people I’ve come in contact with – even if they aren’t friends. Getting out there and meeting people, taking that first step just to help them out in some way or another. You can’t go wrong.
I love people.
I can tell. You have that openness in your face and your eyes.
You’ve also seen the borough go through tremendous changes, over these years. Do you have thoughts about the direction the borough is going or advice to guide the administration?
If they start contracting out jobs, try to make it somebody in this vicinity. Don’t contract out jobs to people from Anchorage or someplace else. Keep the money here.
If they’re gonna do reconstruction, like in bathrooms, or anything like that – if they could go ahead and talk with the custodians, find out what works and what’s easier to clean. It’s simple. Bathroom floors – they put in this tile that collects dirt. They need just regular linoleum or tile so that it’s easier to clean and doesn’t hold dirt. It’s easier and more sanitary.
Has anyone ever consulted you before a building project?
I don’t think folks who are designing projects are thinking at all about how to clean it…
They don’t, because they’re not going to.
When you put sinks in, make sure they’re set so that there’s space between the porcelain in the back and the faucet, so you can get back there – you hardly can get back there to clean.
Urinals – they put one in on my floor here, and it’s got this metal piece that sits in the middle, and you have to take it apart and clean down inside, because it gets disgusting; with the other two, you just pull the mat out and clean it.
Back in the school district, they had a sink back there, with a bucket underneath that thing for twenty some years, every day we had to take it out and dump it. Then I heard that Colette mentioned it to somebody, and it finally got fixed…just before I retire (laughing).
Whoever takes your place – what is your advice to them? Will you have a chance to train them?
Well, if I have to, I’ll come in – I’ll do it on my own time. I think they should get somebody in here that’s done the work. There’s gonna be two positions. And train somebody that’s younger and stronger, so they can do all the snow removal. I am not sorry to leave that; I’m not going to miss that snow removal! Or the vacuuming! I’m counting the days on vacuuming – two more days left! But you’ve got to get all the carpet, especially in the winter. Dirt and sand – that dirt, that’s what’s gonna deteriorate these floors.
Floor mats! Everybody should have floor mats underneath their chairs, because they’re just wearing it out. They spent all that money…
I tell people, “You guys need to get mats! This is new carpeting!” “Well, I don’t want that because my chair slips off the mat.” I can understand that it could be a hassle, but it’s wearing it out. Get a bigger mat – that’s what I would suggest – that you can roll around on and don’t have to move. These are the best mats (gesturing to mine) – they’re hard and solid. They might build up a little more static electricity, but in the long run they last longer and they don’t tear up, they don’t give. The new ones are so thin, that if somebody sits in a chair long enough, it wedges down, then – ergonomically – it’s not good for them.
Spend all that money to do all that work (replacing the carpet), and then it’s not getting taken care of. Everybody gets a mat, I’m sorry.
So you’ve really been the person who’s keeping an eye on the whole building. No one else really has that global view…
I think maintenance should have one designated person to walk through the buildings regularly, talk to the custodian, run through every place that needs to be maintained – especially the boiler room, the bathrooms. Just a person who will manage and just watch what’s going on in there and then make a list of things that need to be done. It shouldn’t be left up to just the custodian, or just for this building. It should be somebody that has the job of maintaining all the buildings.
Just leaving those pencils where they lay…
Yup, totally…