The Basics
How long have you been at City Light? A year and five months
Division: Utility Operations – System Operations Center (SOC)
Tell us about your role. What does your job entail? I’m a distribution power dispatcher. We work with field crews to facilitate maintenance and repairs of City Light’s distribution equipment. We also write and issue clearances, interact with customers to troubleshoot their power issues, and dispatch crews to investigate any issues reported to the SOC as necessary. This also includes building and updating maps with real time field changes to ensure accurate mapping of our power distribution until it can be updated by the system mappers.
Background
Hometown: Rexburg, Idaho
Alma Mater: Thomas Edison State College
Area of study: Nuclear engineering technology
Tell us about your family: My husband Gary and I own a small “farm” in Snohomish, just north of Monroe. It consists of mostly chickens, ducks, and geese to keep the kids busy. My husband and I met while we were in the Navy. He retired in 2011 and worked at Boeing for nine years and is now an operations manager for Amazon XL’s Sumner facility.
I got out of the Navy in 2012 after ten years as a surface nuclear electrician on the USS Lincoln and USS Nimitz. I worked at King County for 8 years as an industrial electrician at West Point Treatment Plant, and then as the instrumentation and electrical team lead at West Point and Brightwater wastewater treatment plants until I moved to Seattle City Light in 2021.
We were married in 2014 and we have six children. The oldest, Reina (22), is a second lieutenant in the Air Force; she is currently at flight school in Pensacola, Fla. Our second, Courtney (20), is an EMT. She and her husband, Isaac, recently moved to Crescent City, Calif., where he is a prison guard. They’re expecting our first granddaughter, Eliana, in September! Our daughter Cadence (17) recently graduated from Monroe High School. She hasn’t decided what she wants to do after high school yet. Our son Christian (14) is excited for his first year of high school football and training camp at Eastern Washington University this summer. Our youngest daughters Abby (13) and Chloe (12) are busy making it through middle school and playing soccer this summer. We spend a lot of time travelling when we can, and love visiting our families in Idaho and Florida as well.
Just For Fun
What advice do you have for those that are new to City Light? Be patient and respectful and learn as much as you can from those around you. Don’t be afraid to ask about details if you don’t understand what is being requested; most people are more than happy to teach you or explain what they are doing/needs to be done.
What was your first concert? Tim McGraw in Salt Lake City, Utah
What is your idea of a perfect day? Any day spent in a warm area near the water with our families would be ideal for me.
What is your favorite travel memory/experience? We took our oldest daughter to Ireland when she graduated high school; spent the week driving through the country and got tattoos in Ennis the night before we went home. I look forward to taking those trips with the other kids now that travel isn’t as restrictive.
Who do you admire the most? My parents. My dad always pushed me to be what I wanted to be and showed us by example that spirit and determination can get you further in life than almost anything else. He was also super patient when all I wanted to do as a kid was follow him around and “help” work on the house or in the shop. He was always happy to explain how things worked and why we did them; I think he is the reason I was interested in working in trades.
My mom has always been there to encourage us and let us know she was there for us. When I worked nights at a nursing home in high school she would stop and visit me just to say hi and let me know she was thinking about me. They’re great sounding boards and help me to see the best in people.