First Published 05/20/2015
“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a Sesame seed bun.” I haven’t heard that advertising jingle for McDonalds’ Big Mac sandwich for years. Not since the last time I saw Stanley Moyer and he recited it for me. I know I’ve written a couple of food related columns in recent past weeks, even one about McDonalds, but this time it’s all about Stanley.
Stanley Moyer was the first employee I ever hired and I was his first employer. He was right out of high school and I was right out of surveying school. He had tried out for a minor league baseball team as a pitcher and I’d tried out working for another surveyor. Neither of our efforts panned out.
With college, Vietnam and surveying school behind me, I decided to start my own business. Best I can remember it was Capon Valley Bank Cashier, Leslie Barr, who recommended I call Stanley. Said he was just out of Mathias High School, working for his father raising chickens, maybe looking for a little cash work. I called him.
I don’t remember our first meeting. I remember thinking he was a big old boy who should be able to pull a two hundred foot steel tape OK. With his experience as a baseball pitcher, he certainly should be able to swing a twenty four inch machete, clearing line. Turned out I was right on both counts.
With just myself and Stanley on the crew, I stayed with the gun (transit) while Stanley went out front as head chain man. He soon learned to stay lined with where I needed him. He learned to select good points for me to set the gun for next traverse leg. He learned to take out smaller branches and curve balls and change ups, instead of knocking down thick trunk with brush fast balls.
Stanley learned fast, all the little tricks of the trade necessary for efficient land measurement took me longer to learn then the Donalds jingle from him. I had it one of the first times I walked with him out in the woods, gun and pod over my shoulder, to find him standing waiting for me to start singing.
Several good laughs later my education began. Took Stanley least a week of close coaching correction to set me straight, but he taught and I learned. Meanwhile, he was learning more from me.
I had a Hewlett Packard pocket calculator on which I did all my survey calculations. It was one of first models which would convert polar coordinates (magnetic bearings and distances) into rectangular coordinates (Northings and Eastings) efficiently, a process essential to modern surveying. A simple routine requiring many repetitions of a key stroke sequence, was necessary. In order to ensure accuracy, I’d repeat those key strokes under my breath as I punched them in.
Last time I heard that sequence was last time I saw Stanley at Hardy County Court House a couple years ago. He greeted me with “bearing, enter, distance, sum, roll it, enter, recall sum, store in one, etc.” I don’t remember all of it myself, but Stanley had it down pat. He laid it on me with a big grin.
We went to head of Trout Run Valley one day to recheck a couple of measurements. Snow with a crust and a chilly wind. We worked a while, called it a day, returned to Wardensville and never felt real cold until we saw 18° on the bank thermometer. We set batter boards, piers and anchor bolts for a large steel frame building, first one I ever did, and the contractor said he’d never seen one set up so easy.
Stanley didn’t work long. He soon went back to farming and poultry. I’ve never had an employee easier or more fun to work with. Thank you Stanley for helping me get started in my working life.
Just to prove I really do remember our days in the woods, here’s the Burger King jingle from same time. “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us, all we ask is that you let us serve it your way.”
