With 39 years of electrical ground and line work under his belt, Electric Overhead Service Crew Leader Keith Stancil says, “I enjoy helping to develop these young men into good linemen. I’ve watched people grow out here.” 

Keith joined Greenville Utilities in 1999 as an Overhead (OH) Construction Crew Leader and has also been a Trouble Truck Crew Leader. However, he began his utility career in 1982 doing contract work for Stackhouse, now MasTec. “I traveled all over doing a lot of powerline work before I came here,” he said.   

Now, Keith oversees the OH Service Crew that is part of the Underground Section of the Electric Department. Most of the time, his crew builds and services overhead lines for new developments and projects, working closely with underground crews when needed.  

“We might change out poles and then do the underground part of a job – a little bit of all of it,” he said. “Everybody on my crew knows how to do overhead and underground. Some weeks, we just do underground. We might catch a trouble call every now and then, too. We do whatever it takes.” 

His crew of five has two bucket trucks, one line truck, a tractor, and a pickup. The tractor has a trench attachment for digging underground line. The day we interviewed Keith, his crew was working a job that had both overhead and underground service lines – a job requiring all their equipment.  

“I like that in this line of work, we aren’t typically in one place all day,” he said. “My main job is to train these young men and not let them get hurt.” And with 39 years of experience as a lineman, including mutual aid and lineman rodeos, Keith is the man for the job when it comes to training new employees and helping our customers.  

In fact, Keith recently returned from a 19-day mutual aid trip to Houma, Louisiana, one of the longest he’s been on. GUC is part of a network of public power systems that have mutual aid agreements designed to help each other during urgent situations such as Louisiana’s recovery from Hurricane Ida. “I’ve probably been on 20 different trips, including my time before GUC, and Hurricane Ida ranks up there with Hugo in 1989 as far as damage and restoration time,” he said. “I enjoy getting people’s lights back on. In situations like Houma, they may not be able to use that power right away because of damage to their home or meter base, but they still appreciate knowing that it’s there when they are ready for it.” 

Keith has also competed in state and national lineman rodeos over the years, bringing home several trophies. A few years ago, he took a step back from competing and now helps with training our rodeo teams.  

“I’ve enjoyed working here,” he said, “there are a lot of goodhearted people at GUC. My wife has been struggling with cancer for a couple of years, and folks here have been good to us both - helping when they can.” 

Keith and his wife, Anita, live in Ayden with their daughter, Bailey, who is enrolled in college for early childhood development. He also has two adult sons, Chris and Brandon. 

Keith and Anita like to attend ECU football games, travel, and enjoy visiting some of her family in Nashville, Tennessee. Keith likes to check out golf courses when they travel. He also plays the drums. “I’ve played in a number of bands over the years,” he said. “My daddy played music and my brother does, too. It runs in the family.”  

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Holiday: Christmas
Sports Team: Tar Heels
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