George Darden, Control Room Operator II, recently retired from Greenville Utilities after nearly 30 years of service.
During his time as an Operator in the Control Room, he coordinated personnel and crews, ensuring they were able to get to the right location during emergencies and service interruptions. George also monitored and operated the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) System.
As a shift worker, most recently working the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, George often responded to issues outside of regular business hours that occurred across the GUC system.
It was while working a night shift that he spotted potential thieves who broke into a substation.
“I was lucky enough to catch people who broke into the 230 South substation,” George said. “I was working at night, and they broke into the back of the station. They were trying to steal wire.”
George said he was proud to be able to catch the perpetrators, but his most memorable time at GUC was during the flood of 1999.
“That was a busy, busy time,” George said.
“We had to think outside the box. During the flood, I actually worked with logistics because we had no Station One anymore. It was under water. We used my family’s pontoon boat to get to the old Operations Center and to the old Stores warehouse to get equipment out. During that time, Station One’s home away from home was the Wastewater Treatment Plant. GUC strung cable across the area of the Plant to give us power to run SCADA.”
George said that shift work made it more challenging to pursue other things outside of his employment, however, he remained an active firefighter for Red Oak Fire Department and EMS.
In his retirement, he intends to work at the fire department part-time.
“I am also going to spend more time at the river, do some hunting, help coach my son’s baseball team, too,” he said.
“I really enjoyed working with everyone, and I am going to miss it. A lot of people are leaving or retiring, but it is still a family.”
Congratulations on your retirement, George!
