Sunset of a Career Pt. II

 

1974

I was working for a large Architecture/Engineering firm in downtown Tulsa in 1973. I rode the bus into work each day. I met my wife of 39 years on the Metropolitan Tulsa Transit Authority "South Peoria" bus. Soon after we were married we made plans for me to return to school and finish my degree. As I said, I realized that this was the only way I would ever realize my dream. So, in December of 1974 we packed up our meager belongings and moved to Norman, Oklahoma where I enrolled in the University of Oklahoma School of Architecture for the spring semester of 1975. Three years later, in the spring of 1978, I graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design. While I was in school, our daughter was born. After graduation, we returned to Tulsa where I got my first job as a real architecture intern. I worked on the first re-design of what is now OneOk tower. The building was originally designed to be 52 stories tall and it was to be the headquarters for Cities Service Oil Company. The building was sold before completion and the first revision was to reduce the size of the structure from 52 to 36 stories. After construction began, the size was reduced again, this time to it's present 28 stories. However, the granite for the 36 story exterior had already been shipped, but that's another story for another day. The story for the next post is passing the licensing exam...to be continued.

2013