While Dale was working for Renda Chiddix Inc. in Santa Rosa, California, on the first work day of the new year, the principals called all office employees into a meeting to inform us that they had lost their contract with Safeway effective New Years Day and were closing the company immediately. This decision affected more than 30 office employees and multiple field employees. This was devastating to him but he soon learned that as a result of the layoff, he was eligible for vocational retraining through a program funded by the State of California. He received the training and became certified as a network administrator. This opened opportunities into the field of information technology.
Dale applied for and was hired by Sutter North Medical Foundation (SNMF) in Marysville, California, as a database analyst. His experience at SNMF taught him many new skills on both mini-computers, personal computers, and servers. He became proficient as a system administrator and database administrator.
When he learned that he had a potentially terminal health condition, he completed initial treatment for the disease in Santa Rosa, but decided to move back to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be close to his brother who would be able to settle his affairs in the event of his demise. After relocating to Albuquerque, he received a call from an unexpected source asking him to apply for a position as a database administrator with a contractor for the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). He applied for the position, was interviewed the next day, received a job offer the following day and began the job the following Monday.
Although the disease had appeared to be in remission, it soon recurred and he continued his treatment in Albuquerque. He continued his treatments until the disease again went into remission and continued working at DOE. At DOE, he received training in network administration and became a network and system administrator for the site. He continued working for DOE until he retired.
After retiring to Houston, Texas, where living and housing costs were substantially lower than Albuquerque, he applied for and was hired by a contractor to Texas A & M University as a system administrator for project being developed by the university’s Department of Electrical Engineering Experiment Station for the Texas electric power industry. He continued working there until the contract was completed.