Sunday, September 18, 2016

Memories of Conrad Huss

My family was introduced to the Huss's when we moved to Tucson and joined 6th ward. Mercy taught Sunday School and influenced a whole generation with knowledge, enthusiasm, sincerity and unique insight. Conrad enjoyed working with the little ones in the nursery. Their faith and love was evident to me.

My dad always had the highest respect for Conrad and spoke of his excellent reputation in the mining community. I was first introduced to M3 when Conrad took us as part of the career night activity. I think it was for scouts in 1987. He walked us through the building on Ruthrauff and demonstrated the cad stations, which I thought was fascinating. My father, grandfather and uncles were engineers so I was very interested. Conrad showed another path how that could be done. I spoke with about various engineering degrees, trying to decide between chemical/materials like my dad or environmental, which was my interest at the time. He convinced me that I could do both- or anything that I wanted - as a mechanical engineer. I went with it. His influence in that decision had a great impact on my life.
I started working at M3 as a student, after my mission to Germany, while I was trying to finish my degree. I got to see a lot of different projects and disciplines while there. His opportunity taught me many skills I still use and made it possible to finish school with a young family.

Conrad gave good advice. He said not to waste money on expensive cars. He suggested stretching on a mortgage payment because it was a good investment. He was an excellent mentor who stressed the importance of hard work, education and quality work. He was clearly proud of his heritage and his family. He had an excellent memory, which was scary at times because I knew he would also remember my mistakes. However, he was forgiving and had a good perspective. I made a costly design mistake at work, so bad I thought my employment would be in jeopardy. He told me to learn from it and move on. It was a great relief but also a good lesson on how to live.

It was an honor to be invited into his home and eat with him and his family. I joined him as we visited some people in need and then he had me speak to some young scouts about careers and engineering. I explained the lesson that Conrad had taught me, that education and hard work will pay off. It was fun to complete that circle and try to lead another generation into the field of engineering.

Conrad was a great man, and helped to guide and influence my life. I valued his wisdom and good counsel second only to my father. I will miss him.

No comments:

Post a Comment