"The Long and Winding Road"

 I met John Pitkethly back in February of 1980. Since then, it has been a Long and Winding Road, but John played an integral part in how my life turned out. He hired me as a Data Analyst I and I started ENSCO on March 17, 1980. And I retired 34 years later, as a Data Analyst II. Just kidding, I was allowed to flourish at ENSCO, and worked on many interesting projects with many unique scientists and software engineers.

John's life: Work, Drinks, Golf, Drinks, Cruises, Drinks, Drinking, Drinks. (and Family throughout)

This is what John looked like when I started work at ENSCO, the DCS Division, in Indian Harbour Beach at Shopper's World. John was 43...

This is what I looked like when I started at ENSCO, I was 22.

When I started, Norm Bush was our Division Manager. Eventually Norm would become the President of ENSCO and John would become Division Manager of the ARS (Applied Research and Systems) and then VP, moving our office to Suntree.

In 1999, John decided to retire and new Divisions were created with Dr. Greg Taylor and Al Siegel taking over as Division Managers. The names and locations are too complicated for this essay, but I do understand why John retired.

Even after retirement, John was a regular at the ENSCO Annual Meetings, one being held in Florida for the two Divisions located in Melbourne and Cocoa Beach. In the photo are Dr. Bob Kemerait, Dr. Norm Bush, and my great boss John.

In my memories of the 19 years working for John, the one that made me realize I had found a great company was in my initial year. Our offices were located in Shopper's World, and there were not lots of local restaurants in 1980. One of John's favorite was the Mather's Bridge Restaurant on the southern tip of Merritt Island. I went to lunch with John and my immediate supervisor Clay Hatley. Mathers had a outdoors deck on the Banana River and served lots of fried seafood, and of course beer in pitchers. John ordered a pitcher for the three of us. After drinking it with lunch, John said we shouldn't go back to work tipsy, so he ordered another pitcher. Next thing I knew it was quitting time so we headed back to the office.

I did get to travel for work with John a few times. Two times were just John and I, both were related to the same project.  I was working on a chemical spill model we had named EGRESS. We were using the ESRI Arc/Info product to display the spill on a map. 

The first trip was to the ESRI annual meeting in Palm Springs California. We did get to golf on a course just below the home of Bob Hope. We did hit a sushi place and I ended up using my week's per diem on that one meal. Luckily, John put the meal on his account as a business meal; we did talk work. I was able to meet with some Senior programmers of ESRI. The end of week party had Zydeco music from Louisiana.

The second trip was to San Antonio Texas. The Census group had maps of the country available that we may be able to use in the EGRESS. They had a small conference held in a hotel across the street from the Alamo. Remember that place. John and I walked down to the famous River Walk, and ended up in an Irish Pub drinking Guinness. Guess whose idea that was...not me.

ENSCO held at least two company picnics a year. One time we ended up at Bob Post's home on Merritt Island where we continued to drink. My dad was till alive then and I took this picture of my Dad having a beer with John. It was my Dad who saw the ad in the paper for the ENSCO job. My resume was slim since I was just out of college, so I put my experience as a dishwasher at Middlebury College and the Dog Team Tavern in Vermont. John always kidded me that they only hired me because they liked the name of that restaurant...

I mentioned that John liked to golf. For many years, "Uncle Radar" would visit from Louisiana for a few days of golf at many different courses. I still have the hats John made up for the occasion. That is Uncle Radar in green, and John in white. Driving range at Cocoa Beach Country Club.

I also played in a foursome with John, Bob Austin, and Gaylen Drape. We played all the local courses and we did a few trips to Disney. Here is John putting on the same practice green the PGA used for many years, including Tiger Woods.

Here is Bob, Gaylen and John on the Disney Magnolia course.

On retirement, John had joined the Suntree Country Club as a member. As a non-member, I could play one round a month, usually with John, Norm Bush and Al Siegel, all from ENSCO. They were former President and VPs at the company, I knew how to drink with an important crowd...

This is a great shot of my first two bosses at ENSCO, and I considered great friends too. This was taken after golfing at the Suntree Country club.

I mentioned that John liked to cruise. His wife Rose was not a big fan so John usually went with his sons. One time I did a cruise with just John and then I did a week long with John, David and Scott. Here we are at the Margaritaville in Falmouth Jamaica. I kept swearing a lot until they told me the name was not Foulmouth. 

In the very center of the picture on the far side, you can see David drinking and his dad reading from his Kindle. It was a great cruise and I appreciated I was treated as part of the family.

After I retired, we went on a search for good, cheap places to have a few drinks. One of my favorites was in Satellite Beach and was called Whiskey Beach. Here is John enjoying a Guinness with our friend Ken Horton. Too bad, Whiskey moved to the Cove and was not the same. The bartender we liked quit so that is when we headed for new places.

We finally found a home at Lou's Blues. When we started going there, Lou was still the owner. Then he sold it to the current owner Mike. In this picture you will find Mac Monroe, Jim Austin, Peter Fusco, John P, and Ken H. I was the sixth member of this motley crew.  Sad to say, but three members have died in the past year. I am tired of doing these posts on losing my drinking buddies. I am a little nervous too, that maybe we were jinxed or something. But the reality is, we are all getting older and sooner or later we die. I just wish it was a little later for this group of friends.

When Jim Austin died, we met at Lou's for a few beers in his honor. Sadly, this was the last time I saw John at a bar. He is drinking his Guinness, and me mine.

Today, April 8, would have been John's 88th Birthday. A group of us are planning to show up at Lou's for a beer. Happy Birthday John!

There will be a funeral mass for John at Holy Name of Jesus in Indiatlantic on April 25. The mass is at 11 AM and a group get-together at Lou's afterwards. 

They will be expecting us, too bad John won't be going. But his spirit will.

As I was writing this post, I kept thinking of other stories I should share. Hopefully, you get the gist, John was a part of my Long and Winding Road.

About Title

This is probably my favorite song by the Beatles...

"The Long and Winding Road" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. When issued as a single in May 1970, a month after the Beatles' break-up, it became the group's 20th and final number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

The main recording of the song took place in January 1969 and featured a sparse musical arrangement of piano, bass, guitar and percussion. When preparing the tapes from these sessions for release in April 1970, producer Phil Spector added orchestral and choral overdubs. Spector's modifications angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in the English High Court for the dissolution of the Beatles' legal partnership, McCartney cited the treatment of the song as one of six reasons justifying the split. Later versions of the recording with simpler instrumentation were subsequently released by the Beatles.