Previous Page  27 / 64 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 27 / 64 Next Page
Page Background

PCCA Journal|3

rd

Quarter 2015

27

The recent PCCA Mid-Year Meeting in Charleston, S.C., was

filled with memorable moments: an uplifting tale of Ameri-

can bravery and patriotism, numerous upbeat reports on

the future of our industry, and visits to famous places that

shaped our nation’s history. But none of those were more

poignant than when Winston Weaver, Jr., rose to the podium

at the Riviera Theater to accept induction for him and his

father, Winston O. Weaver, into the PCCA Hall of Fame. Win-

ston’s rich baritone, which permeated PCCA Prayer Break-

fasts for decades, is a bit softer these days but was no less

captivating as he explained what this association meant to

a young contractor from Rockingham, Va., many years ago.

He was amazed that so many people offered him invaluable

information, ideas, guidance, and friendship, and he remains

appreciative to this day.

On September 25, PCCA inducted four distinguished indi-

viduals into the association’s Hall of Fame: Jimmie Brooks,

Brooks Construction Company, Inc.; Ted Koenigs, Michels

Corporation; and Winston O. Weaver and Winston Weaver,

Jr., both of Rockingham Construction.

PCCA Executive Vice President Tom Wagner kicked off the

ceremony with a brief history of the association: “In the early

20th century, the United States was divided into two worlds:

one with electricity and one without. That division existed

primarily between rural and urban areas. Eighty years ago,

fewer than 11 percent of U.S. farms had been electrified. As

part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Rural Electrifica-

tion Act of 1936 created the Rural Electrification Administra-

tion, which was charged with electrifying rural farms that

the power companies had deemed too expensive to electrify.

The REA provided low-cost, self-liquidating loans to electric

cooperatives created by rural Americans to build networks

of transmission and distribution lines. This was not only the

birth of our industry but was the greatest public/private part-

nership in the history of the United States. Nine years later,

in 1945, PCCA was founded to provide a unified voice for the

industry when working with the USDA’s Rural Electrification

Administration. Seventy years later, we still have the same

mission, to represent members’ interests to the USDA’s Rural

Utilities Services, the descendant agency of the REA.”

Wagner went on to honor some of the people “who have

made our association great.” He said, “Our Board of Directors

created the Hall of Fame to recognize and celebrate the con-

tributions that individuals have made over the years to the

success of our association and to the success of the power

and communication construction industry. Obviously, we

have a long way to go to recognize all the people who helped

us get to where we are today, but we have a good start—and

I think it’s very important that we get started before many of

these important people are forgotten.”

PCCA Inducts Industry

Luminaries into Hall of Fame

Continued on page 28