Sharon Daughtridge has retired after 37 years of service at GUC’s Water Treatment Plant (WTP). In her role as a WTP Operator III, she helped to regulate the treatment process, ensuring quality water for our customers through constant monitoring, testing, and adjusting of chemical levels as necessary. Operators assist the laboratory staff with running tests every two hours from throughout the Plant’s treatment process, especially after hours and on weekends when Operators conduct all the testing.
“It’s a lot of responsibility to provide clean and safe drinking water for our customers, 24/7, 365 days a year,” said Sharon. “I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Sharon initially joined the Plant as a part-time Laboratory Technician before moving to shift work as an Operator a few months later. “I began as what we use to call a Relief Operator, working day shifts and filling in for other Operators who were on leave,” she said. She later switched to shift work, which she enjoyed.
Over her tenure, Sharon has seen many challenges and changes at GUC, such as the 1999 flood caused by Hurricane Floyd, the Water Plant's capacity expansion from 12 million gallons per day (MGD) to 32 MGD, the introduction of new technologies, and the coming and going of many of her peers.
Today, Operators work in pairs, which was a change made after Hurricane Floyd. Senior Operators are most often paired with new Operators. “I’ve had a quite a few partners and trained a lot of new employees here,” she said.
During her service award interview a few years ago, Sharon said she loved her job and was not yet ready to retire. “That’s still true, I’m still not ready. I love working and I love my job.”
I was cleaning out my locker and found some thank you notes, etc. That reminded me of an award I received for going beyond my duties - I believe I was recognized for the tours at the Plant and the presentations that I did at many schools and events. I also served on the Safety Committee and on the United Way Committee. I would sometimes be seen out and about by students who would stop and ask me questions. When I first started working here, we did tours for all ages. I loved giving the kindergarten class tours and then they would come back in the 4th grade. We have since put an age limit on tours. I went to shift work and didn't get to do as many tours, but I will often get asked by students if I remembered them, and usually I don’t because I saw a lot of kids, but I’m glad they remembered me.”
Sharon was born in Oxford, NC, but graduated from high school in Northhampton County. She started out at Chowan College for two years then transferred to East Carolina University to earn a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She finished getting those degrees during her first year at GUC. Prior to joining GUC, she worked at Western Steer, where she met her husband, Donnie.
Donnie has been retired for two years from the City of Greenville where he was a Tree Trimmer. He and Sharon have two children. Their son, Steven, is employed at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. April, their daughter, works at Joy Junction Daycare and has two sons, Myles (8) and Wesley (5).
Sharon says she spends a lot of her time enjoying her grandsons. She’ll also be taking care of her father more in retirement, sharing the responsibilities with her brother and niece.
“I like to fix things and refinish things, so my plan is to get some space ready for the grandkids to play in. When we had rental houses, I did most of the work on those.”
Sharon, we wish you the very best of luck in retirement. Thank you for 37 years of providing a valuable service to our customers!
