Most people don’t get to celebrate their birthday and retirement within 24 hours of each other, but that’s just how Serviceman Dave Dunn planned it.
Dunn celebrated his 56th birthday on Feb. 5 and retired the next day after more than 24 years with the cooperative.

Starting as a journeyman lineman on Oct. 31, 1994, Dunn came to Noble REMC with about 10 years of experience. He began his career as an electrician and high-voltage lineman with the Marine Corps, where he served from 1981-1988 and realized he wanted to make such work his profession.

Spending time with municipal utilities, as well as working on the contractor side of the industry, he preferred the atmosphere of working in smaller communities and made his home with Noble REMC a few years later.

Over his career, he’s dealt with the worst and the best situations. This included being a member of the team that helped restore power during the 1991 ice storm in Indianapolis. He ended up breaking his nose but didn’t want to miss any time on the job, so he downplayed the injury for the six weeks it took to get the city back up and running at 100 percent. He now laughs at the memory.

But the thing he’ll miss most are his day-to-day interactions with our members. Transitioning to the role of serviceman nearly 10 years ago meant more one-on-one time with our customers, brainstorming how to help them through blinks, outages and more.

“I like talking to members to hear their problems and help solve them,” Dunn said. Later, he joked he’s just happy to be leaving the job with all of his fingers, toes and eyes.

Though he’s retiring from the cooperative, he’s adamant that he’s not retiring from work. He’ll be continuing in the industry as the owner and electrician of Dunn-Rite.

With any time he has left over, he’ll be traveling out west frequently with his wife, Denise, in a motor home he’s currently saving up to purchase.

He’s heard of retired linemen having trouble sleeping through a storm, accustomed to being on alert for the possibility of being called to an outage, but he doesn’t see that being an issue.

On his last day, he proudly wore a specially-made shirt his wife bought him for his retirement: “Retired lineman: Rain, shine, sleet or snow, I’m staying home.”

“It’s been great,” Dunn said of his time at the cooperative. “I’ve enjoyed it.”