LeRoy Middleton: A Well-Loved Land Surveyor, Historian, and Co-Founder of Reid Middleton

In memoriam June 27, 1924 – January 5, 2012.

By: Diana Badowski, Marketing Manager, Reid Middleton

We lost an icon in the field of professional land surveying last month. In researching his life to share with readers on this blog post, I had the opportunity to learn what a truly great man he was; one who made a significant contribution to the profession of land surveying and historical preservation in Washington.

LeRoy was 87 years old when he died and had been ‘retired’ from Reid Middleton for 24 years. Yet we saw him in the office just about every month, for one reason or another. Although he and I greeted one another casually as you do when you pass in the hallway, I only met Mr. Middleton formally once and it was in my first week after joining Reid Middleton. His advice to me as the new Marketing Manager was to “make sure we always have a presence in the Yellow Pages!” That was all the marketing they needed in the firm’s early years. I found him to be a bit formidable while charming and approachable at the same time.

In 1953, LeRoy began working with Jim Reid (deceased in 1994), forming the basis of Reid Middleton, which is today an enduring and recognized Pacific Northwest engineering and surveying firm.

Some of the management team in 1983 included Ken Reid, Jim Reid, Gail Perrigo, LeRoy Middleton, Mary Anne Lord, Tom Nack, and Lloyd Nelson

During his 33 years of service at Reid Middleton, in addition to corporate administration, he led the survey practice specializing in boundary disputes, shorelands, tidelands, and hydrographic surveys. His avid interest in history prompted him to become particularly versed in historical survey data. LeRoy was also a recognized expert in the area of Native American treaty land boundaries and served as an expert witness in state and federal courts.

What I found interesting and remarkable was how LeRoy started in this field. He was drafted into the U.S. Army while a student in aeronautical engineering at the University of Washington (UW) during World War II and was stationed in New Caledonia (A French territory in the south Pacific, 930 miles east of Australia). Trained in anti-aircraft, he learned of an opening for a draftsman with the 1729 Engineers Unit and transferred. Once there, he discovered that what they actually needed was survey crew members; he spent the next eight months surveying for the base engineer. He was later shipped to New Guinea where he fought in the Battle of Luzon. After the war, he completed his studies at UW in Civil Engineering in 1949 and worked in his chosen profession the remainder of his life, earning his professional survey license in 1952.

An active member of both the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping and the  Land Surveyors Association of Washington (LSAW), LeRoy was a past president and remained involved with the organizations through retirement. Active until his death, LeRoy was scheduled to teach two LSAW refresher courses this year. He was a founding member of and remained active in the Edmonds-Snohomish County Historical Society. In the course of his rich career and varied interests, he had too many achievements to share in this post, but a few of his many accomplishments are highlighted in the sidebar text.

I asked some of my peers at the firm who knew LeRoy better than I to share some of their thoughts about him. Their comments and anecdotes follow.

LeRoy participating in "Blue Shirt" day, when all staff wore blue dress shirts in honor of Jim Reid's last day.

“My first exposure to LeRoy Middleton was in finding what books to study for my Professional Land Surveyor license. His 1993 course manual ‘Tidelands, Shorelands & Riparian Boundaries’ still remains a mandatory resource in taking the Washington exam.  I met LeRoy in classes he taught over the years at annual Land Surveyors Conferences. When I became the Survey Director at Reid Middleton, and I got to know him, I discovered a deep love of our profession, a confidence in his survey acumen and a continued interest in current surveying challenges. His contemporaries respected his standards and quality of work, he was a good mentor, and he valued keeping “proper” records. Even today I am asked for copies of our extensive survey records that start in the early 1950’s.

 ”LeRoy had a deep interest in researching the history of surveying as the West was developed, and he often shared some interesting nuance of his findings at some obscure museum or out of circulation book. He shared my interest in early GLO surveys in the Oregon Territories and would stand in my office giving a colorful story about some spot on the map reminding me, more than once, that his ancestors had traveled along the Applegate Trail to Jacksonville before heading north to the wild lands of Washington. I joked with LeRoy that he really stopped in once a month just to see that his name was still on the door.

“I am honored, as many before me in the company, to walk in his footsteps.” Jerry Franklin, PLS Reid Middleton Survey Group Director

“Forty one years ago I met LeRoy Middleton as an engineering student at Shoreline Community College. I was taking a class on land surveying and property legal descriptions and LeRoy was the instructor. I learned quickly that he was a very detail-oriented man during his presentations regarding legal descriptions and what they needed to say. He presented many examples, both good and bad, as he taught us. Near the end of the term and after hours of instruction, Leroy approached me with a proposition for employment at his company, Reid Middleton. Since I was close to graduation, the offer of employment was an offer I could not refuse. Leroy invited me to the office to meet some of the staff. It was a Saturday and that began what has turned out to be a lifetime adventure in the surveying and engineering design community in the State of Washington. LeRoy continued to mentor me in the art of surveying until his retirement from the firm; I came to know him as an expert in everything that was connected with surveying both on land and water. “ Allan Morgan, CPESC, Project Designer, Reid Middleton employee since 1973

“LeRoy had a very good sense of humor and always had something humorous to convey. He would frequently be chuckling as he told of a humorous event or observation. I remember one story of his where he and Jim Reid were on a bus trip, and LeRoy observed Jim working on his camera – Jim was quite the photo enthusiast. Of course, this was when 35mm cameras were film only; digital cameras were yet to be invented. LeRoy wasn’t quite sure what Jim was doing with his camera – seemed like he might have been rewinding the film, but at one point in his fumbling, Jim inadvertently opened the camera exposing the film. LeRoy chuckled with delight as he shared in detail Jim’s shock and horror at what he had just done and his attempt to quickly close the camera – of course to no avail.

“Family was very important to LeRoy which was apparent whenever I would chat with him. He talked with great pride and enthusiasm about the activities and accomplishments of his children and grandchildren. LeRoy was easy to visit with and our conversations were enjoyable. I will miss being able to catch up on things with LeRoy from time to time.” Reinhart Jung, PE, Principal Airport Engineer, Reid Middleton employee since 1966

FAA Reauthorization Bill: To Be or Not to Be

By Kurt Addicott, PE, Director, Airport Group

Taxiway rehabilitation is currently under design at the Renton Municipal Airport and funded by an FAA AIP Grant.

The political climate seems hopeful that Congress will finally come to agreement on a four-year FAA Reauthorization bill. Optimism is based on the January 20 compromise reached by the House and Senate on labor provisions, the most hotly disputed issue. This agreement is considered a breakthrough step toward passing a long-term authorization bill.

Anticipating that ironing out the few remaining, less divisive, issues will take them past the expiration date of the current Jan. 31 continuing resolution, the House approved a new extension to keep FAA programs running through Feb. 17. The Senate is expected to vote to approve the extension. Both houses and parties sound enthusiastic about finalizing the process and fully funding the FAA by the middle of February.

FAA programs have been operating under a series of stopgap measures (22 short-term extensions) since September 2007, when the last long-term aviation bill expired.  Under these short-term extensions, FAA Airport Improvement Program grants have frequently been issued in multi-part grants (part A, B, C, etc.) throughout the fiscal year to cover the engineering of a single project.  The piecemeal nature of FAA funding for the past few years has created significant additional cost and schedule delays to airport projects. Managing projects this way delayed renovations to critical infrastructure and unduly prolonged maintenance efforts.

Construction photo of the FAA grant-funded runway 12-30 rehabilitation at Ashland Municipal Airport that was completed last summer.

The House and Senate each approved separate long-term authorization bills nearly a year ago, but the two sides could not reconcile their differences. Strained negotiations reached a peak last July, resulting in a House-Senate standoff that shut down dozens of airport construction projects for two weeks and caused furloughs of about 4,000 of the agency’s 47,000 workers.

If Congress does finalize the four-year FAA authorization bill, now that they’ve eliminated their biggest roadblock, it will result in a return to a more streamlined grant application and funding process. Design and completion of airport improvements will be quicker, cheaper, and done in a more efficient pattern than we have seen since 2007. The FAA and the airports who work with FAA grant money are both watching this round of negotiation on the funding reauthorization with trepidation and more recently with encouragement. It seems like the real hurdles in this latest bill may be resolved at last. 

Aerial image of the multi-year apron rehabilitation projects at the Walla Walla Regional Airport that were funded by FAA AIP Grants.

To learn more about the FAA Reauthorization Bill issues, check out this article.

Engineering News-Record

About the Author: Kurt Addicott, PE, is a civil engineer with nearly two decades of experience specializing in airport engineering and is the director of Reid Middleton’s Airport Engineering Group. With a background in construction engineering, he oversees airport engineering projects at every level, ensuring project safety, constructability, and efficient use of existing materials to maximize value to his clients.

Ever Been to a Topping Out Ceremony?

By Paul Crocker, SE, Senior Structural Engineer

A topping out ceremony is held when the last beam is placed on a new bridge or building.  Iron workers attach an evergreen tree and a flag, paint the final beam, autograph it, and then hoist it into place and secure it.  The origins of the tradition are variously thought to go back to the ancient Egyptians, Romans, or Native Americans.  The addition of the evergreen tree dates back 1,300 years and is claimed by both Scandinavian and German construction workers.  It is thought to originally represent a thank-you to the tree spirits for contributing the construction materials.  Wherever it started, it is a solid tradition in American steel construction. 

If you ever get the chance, you should definitely go at least once in your life.  I attended my first Topping Out Ceremony, along with two of my peers, last month in Everett.  Being as it was a construction site with heavy steel in the air, appropriate party gear included a safety vest, safety shoes, and hard hat. 

Turns out, it wasn’t really much of a party or ceremony really, just a cool tradition.  The contractor, Howard S. Wright, along with the building owner, Snohomish County Public Utility District, and a few other design and construction team members gathered and signed the beam, took a few pictures, then watched as the ironworkers attached an evergreen tree and a flag.  Looking at the iron workers, who were 50 feet up on an unfinished building waiting to bolt the beam into place, it occurred to me that fearlessness is probably key to being a successful iron worker. 

As the beam was lifted into place, the sun was setting and it felt like we were part of something important.  Maybe that will bode well for the future occupants and users of this new Operations and Data Center.  I know that I will always look at this building with a sense of pride and ownership having been the lead structural engineer but also since my signature is there on the top beam, in perpetuity.

About the Author: Paul N. Crocker, PE, SE, is a LEED accredited structural engineer with expertise in design through all phases of a project, from initial building investigations and concept designs to final construction.   Paul’s project experience includes new buildings, seismic upgrades, investigations, and building improvements.  Many of Paul’s projects involve high-security or essential facility aspects including fire stations, military installations, and law enforcement facilities.

Volunteer to be a Mentor in 2012

By Shannon Kinsella, Director of Reid Middleton’s Waterfront Group

 As we move into the new year, think back on when you were in high school or college. Does hearing your favorite song on the radio bring back memories of hanging out with friends, cheering on your team, or a time when you had fewer responsibilities and commitments? Especially at this time of year, watching bowl games and seeing your college play their long-time rivals brings back fond memories of fun times in the stadium’s student section. What can be easy to forget, is what it was like as a teenager and young adult to have no idea of what you wanted to be when you ‘grew up,” or what it would be like to work in a professional field. 

Many young adults have developed a general sense of what they are interested in such as biology, medicine, art, or engineering. But, without any real world job experience in those fields, many don’t know what the opportunities are within those areas of interest. In particular, engineering is such a broad term that many students interested in math and science have heard about engineering but aren’t really sure what it means to be an engineer or what an engineer really does.

I recently had the opportunity to volunteer as a mentor for the University of Washington (UW) Bothell Engineering Mentor Night sponsored by the UW Bothell and the Puget Sound Engineering Council. Paul Grant of PanGeo served as coordinator for over 35 volunteer mentors for the night. The volunteers represented a wide range of engineering disciplines, including industrial, electrical, structural, civil, geotechnical, and software engineering.

The night was a tremendous success, attracting over 130 interested students (and some interested parents) from as far away as Puyallup and Burlington. Interacting with the students was refreshing and fun. Some students were pretty shy and not sure what to ask, and others were full of questions: What do you do each day? Do you get out of the office? Do you work in teams? Do you work with machines? What’s it like to be a woman in the engineering field? What exactly does a civil engineer do?  What is the difference between a civil and a geotechnical engineer? Why did you choose to go into your specialty in waterfront engineering?

With work and family commitments, it is hard to find time to devote to an ongoing mentoring program. Volunteering for an event such as the UW Bothell Engineering Mentoring Night is a great way to inspire over a hundred potential engineers in just a few hours of time. I encourage everyone to volunteer for mentor events.  Not only will you inspire a few young adults, but you will also be reminded of the excitement you had in starting out in your brand new career and the reasons you choose it.

Creating the 2011 Reid Middleton Holiday E-card

By Alain Calle, Reid Middleton’s senior graphic designer

I have always had a soft spot for the artistry of stop-motion videography. From my earliest exposure with the kid’s show Chapi Chapo to the beautiful closing sequence of the film Lemony Snickets, stop motion has always mesmerized me. There is something magical in animating inanimate objects and molding and moving them to create motion and tell stories. Using stop motion animation to create the Reid Middleton e-card was an exciting, energizing, and, at times, painful process!

Stop motion is like video in that a sequence of images is displayed one after another to create the illusion of motion. The difference is that in stop motion, you take a picture for every frame of video you want to show. Normal video is shot at 30 frames or pictures per second of footage, so with the Reid Middleton video being 84 seconds long, we ended up taking well over 2,500 pictures to create the e-card!

Watch Reid Middleton’s 2011 Holiday E-card

This is how we did it.

Step 1: Concept

Show how one of our favorite shapes, the circle, can represent many aspects of the holidays by creating three distinct holiday scenes with the circle as the focal point. Moving into production, I enlisted the help of Ben Llanes, marketing coordinator, as assistant director.

Step 2: Storyboard

Take the concept and detail how the story is going to progress through the scene. For example, when does the cookie get eaten or when does the snowman’s hat fly away? Next we developed scene transitions, i.e., how do you get from a full plate of cookies back to the blank circle? Ben and I worked through some options and came up with the idea to use a Lazy Susan to create a smooth transition from finished scene to blank canvas.

Step 3: Build, draw, paint

Study the storyboard and list every piece in each scene needed to tell the story, then create them. For example, in the snowman scene, I needed three different midsections: a blank one, one with arms out, and one with arms up to the face for the surprised look. I got out my watercolors, woke my dormant fine art skills, and set about painting. Then I cut the individual pieces out of extra thick watercolor paper.

Next, I calculated the size of stage we needed to get all the different elements on screen, got some plywood, the Lazy Susan mechanism, some power tools, paint and screws, and built a small film stage. To get the artwork to stand up as they were moved, we used hot glue to affix thin metal rods to the cutouts, inserted the rods into lead fish weights for bases, and painted the rods white to minimize their appearance.

Step 4: Filming

There are three key elements to this step.

Lighting. Being able to clearly light your subject and using that light to highlight and downplay certain aspects of each scene is critical. I didn’t have much experience in this area, and I felt like the stage could have been better lit.

Patience. It was an excruciatingly slow process moving each element a fraction of an inch for each shot. To know what fraction each element had to move, we first needed to know the distance it had to travel and the amount of time it should take to get to its stopping point. Then we needed to figure out the distance it would have to travel in each frame. For example, one of the trees needed to travel four inches in four seconds. In four seconds, there are 120 frames, so we ended up with having to move the tree 1/30th of an inch every time we took a picture. That’s a lot of figuring and patience – especially when you slightly bump another element and have to adjust it so it doesn’t look out of place in the next shot. This is where the third element helped tremendously.

Software. We used Dragonframe. This software was a great help in keeping our scenes organized and moving forward. We were able to see on our monitor a live view of what our DSLR camera saw and, more importantly, it allowed us to project translucent images of progressive frames on top of each other (a process called onion skinning). This let us see clearly how far we had moved an element and if we had knocked anything out of place.

Step 5: Post-production

Where the magic happens: taking the raw material and forming it into a final product! I took the different shoots, music, and digital titling and melded them together in Final Cut Pro editing software. It is in post production where you can make slight adjustments to pacing to match key moments in your music or where you cut down pieces that are too long. This is also when you do your best to fix your raw footage’s lighting and color issues with filters, adjustments, and other effects. It is also from Final Cut Pro that I exported the final product ready for posting on YouTube.

I know I didn’t hit on everything, but if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

Here are some additional cool stop motion links (watch with sound if possible). Enjoy.

http://vimeo.com/7158709

http://www.dragonframe.com/blog/2009/02/raf-wathion-and-300000-candles/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZ2lua9aQA

http://www.dragonframe.com/blog/2009/03/acura-wall-art-shot-with-dragon/

Disclaimer: Reid Middleton is not responsible for the content of external links or any associated content on those pages.

Our Jolly Old Elf

New employee Andrea Rose reports on discovering a Santa in our midst.

On my first day at Reid Middleton, I was introduced to Allan Morgan with the question “who do you think this guy is?”  A thick white beard, deep voice, and big smile . . . he just had to be Santa.  Recently, I asked Allan to talk about his holiday alter ego.

 

How long have you played Santa, and what got you started? 

Over ten years total and four years at the office that I can recall; but I’m not counting.  My wife was the instigator when our first grandchild was born.  She’s an organizer and got me involved at hospitals and visiting cancer patients and terminally ill people both young and old.

Tell me about your costumes and beard. 

In creating my coat and hat, my wife followed the European tradition.  The coat took about two months and enough cash to discourage her from doing more!  My Bavarian outfit is from Austria.  My beard begins its transformation in July each year.

 

What charities and groups are you involved with? 

Wow—almost too many to name.  Donations for office photos are for the American Cancer Society (we raised $550 last year), and other events have benefited the Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, Seattle Children’s Hospital, the Children’s Museum, orphanages in Uruguay, India, and Cambodia, and my church in Edmonds.  I’ve visited friends and folks at Providence Hospital in Everett, the VA Hospital, and Harborview Trauma Center in Seattle. I also do rounds on a few floors at Swedish Hospital in Edmonds.

What are some memorable moments and personal rewards you’ve experienced? 

Playing on the carpet with a little boy who had challenges dealing with strangers.  Watching Reid Middleton employees’ children and extended families grow.  Visiting hospitals and retirement homes where patients are not mobile and often have no visitors brings tears to my heart and often my eyes.

I don’t do this for me, but for children and people in need.  I like creating memories for children to have when they are older, and for people who sometimes feel forgotten, I like helping them know that they matter.  I know that children are vulnerable to strangers and that a patient, gentle smile and open arms help them become comfortable and feel less threatened.

Any funny/unusual mishaps or reactions? 

I know that sitting for too long with heavy folk on my knee puts my legs to sleep and makes standing up again feel like I’ve been into the punch bowl too often!  Pets and babies have been no problem, but pet owners can be a challenge.

Advice for other Santas? 

Remember that your smile and what you eat can affect the reactions people have.  Brush your teeth and use breath mints!

How big of a crowd have you visited?  Do you get nervous, tired, or grumpy? 

I’ve spent four hours with 400 children, sitting and smiling even when they weren’t in the mood.  So far no grumpiness. Nerves only happened once when I was asked to get up in front of a large crowd to talk to a child who asked for a toy that I wasn’t familiar with. How did I answer that?  I punted:  “Oh sure, we have those – what color do you like?”  “They only come in one color,” was the reply.  The audience laughed and Santa blushed with a wink and a “ho ho ho”!

Have any famous people had a photo taken with you?  The only person I can recall is the Bill Gates look-alike Steve Sires.

Do your smile muscles get sore?  No cramps in the smile department!  But it can take a toll on me, and a nap can come quickly later in the day. Thank you Allan!

 Photo opportunities you can’t get with the mall Santa

Mastering the Art of Juggling – The Millennial Generation

Reflections on the book When Generations Collide by Katie Baldwin, EIT.

When Generations Collide was written 10 years ago, and they were still trying to figure out the Millennial Generation’s characteristics at printing time. An observation that emerged early on was that we were being pushed by our parents and society to “do it all.” College was getting more competitive to get into, and so, we had to make ourselves stand out from the next student. Quickly, our resumes grew to include playing sports, participating in clubs, and volunteering, all while juggling school and maintaining a high GPA to get into the best University.

This increase in activities at such a young age may baffle some Traditionalists and Boomers who remember playing outside with neighborhood kids rather than the Millennial Generation’s experience of spending hours indoors competing for the highest score in Super Mario Brothers, after getting home from soccer practice and finishing homework.

Millennials’ hectic childhood schedules were made possible because we came along at the same time as the tools needed to juggle our multiple activities. In comparison to other generations, homework became much easier; writing a one page paper only took an hour to type and print rather than the hours it might take to re-type after  hitting the wrong key on the typewriter. As far as math homework goes, I’ve never even seen someone use a slide rule. The invention of calculators must have been like sliced bread to engineers!

Technology has enabled Millennials to perform tasks faster, saving time and allowing us to do more, while keeping us more organized. Not only in our personal lives with smart phones permanently attached to one’s hand and social networking status updates with each new activity, but in our professional lives too. Programs perform complex calculations in a matter of minutes, 3-D modeling allows us to see a physical representation of our designs, and countless other technologies simplify our lives. Those smart phones also make it possible to work outside the office, checking e-mail and checking in with clients and co-workers; not missing a beat if unforeseen circumstances arise like a dead car battery or a sick child.

Today’s workplace is fast-paced and competitive with new technologies coming out every time we turn around. We have to be adaptable and quick to learn these new technologies to keep up. Millennials have been brought up juggling, so we can easily throw another ball in the air – like picking up the latest Facebook reformatting while helping other Generations adapt to the changes.