Maurice Ampley, Water Resources Pipe Layer III, says the best part of his first 14 years at GUC has been getting to know his co-workers and, like many other employees here, he thinks of them as his work family. 

Maurice works on a Construction and Maintenance Crew of six that handles water and sewer projects involving both large and small diameter mains and valves, as well as service lines. On the construction side, they do brand new main and pipe installations, whereas maintenance involves replacing sections of existing mains, valves, and service lines. 

The day we met Maurice for this story, they were on a maintenance call for a concrete sewer main that had been crushed by a small sink hole. They replaced that portion of the main with a new pipe, installing each end of the new pipe with rubber boots for extra strength and support.  

Maurice’s crew also works with other crews when needed, mostly on bigger projects that require them to work on different sections of a main. When they work with other crews on these larger jobs, they can accomplish the work faster and not have to return multiple days. “This also helps lessen the amount of time that vehicle traffic (in some cases) is interrupted,” he said. 

Before joining this crew, Maurice worked for seven years on a Water/Sewer System Maintenance Crew responsible for conducting routine and preventive maintenance cleaning using a combination truck (high pressure water and vacuum) to clean mains. He has also served as a Lighthouse Observer. 

Maurice says that most of all, he enjoys the people he works with every day. “Seriously, I work with a great bunch of guys,” he said. “Getting to know people on a personal level, understanding their likes, dislikes, habits, hobbies, it’s good, especially with the pandemic sort of closing people off from one another. A lot of people lose sight of the fact that we’re sometimes with our coworkers more than we are our own families, so they are, for all intents and purposes, your work family. I enjoy coming to work, seeing people, speaking with them, and simply being in their presence. The beauty of this job is that we all come here with different skill sets and career backgrounds, so a lot of that knowledge helps us out.” 

Maurice’s professional background before joining GUC was with the NC Department of Transportation for almost four years, and prior to that he served seven years with the U.S. Air Force as a Jet Turbo Prop Mechanic. He also attended East Carolina University for Electronic Media Studies and Pitt Community College for Web & Internet Technology Studies. 

Originally from Alexandria, Virginia, Maurice’s family moved to Oak City, NC, in Martin County when he was four, then to Greenville when he was 16. He was part of the last class to graduate from Rose High School (class of 1992) when it was located in what is now C.M. Eppes Middle School. 

He and his wife, Shani, have four children, Nakiah (22), Nykeriah (18), Ayinde (17), Aiden (9). Shani is an Art Teacher at C.M. Eppes. Maurice and his sons enjoy off-road fun with their mini bikes, and the family enjoys travelling together. They especially like cruises and try to fit them into family fun as much as possible. Fun fact – on a family trip to Los Angeles, California, they met Simon Cowell when their celebrity tour happened to approach Simon’s house while he was taking out the garbage.  

Maurice says the memory that stands out most for him in his GUC career (so far) is Hurricane Matthew. “I remember how it was such a great thing to see everybody pull together to get our GUC systems and our city back to operating mode,” he said. “I’ll never forget the sacrifices people made. We had coworkers stranded on one side of the river, unable to get back home to their families, and GUC, our work family, took care of them. It was good to see that.” 

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