Jake Keller and Thomas Slaydon will present the program “Three Dudes, Three Dams, and a Troll: The Pursuit of Electrical Power for Martinsville” at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Museum, 1 E. Main St., Martinsville. Both are Martinsville natives who are retired engineers. Their presentation is part of the MHC Historical Society’s Sunday Afternoon Lecture Series.
About the Speakers
Thomas M. Slaydon, P.E. is a retired water resources engineer with extensive experience in managing the design, construction, and operation of municipal water and wastewater systems. His notable achievements included guiding municipal systems in dire need of improvement through programs of expansion and upgrading.
Slaydon, a Martinsville native, has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic institute
and State University. He began his career in 1973 as a hydrologist and later an engineer with the Virginia State Water Control Board. He also worked with the Virginia Health Department’s Division of Water Programs. His most relevant experience includes serving as the staff engineer for the Henry County Virgina Public Service Authority, the Director of Public Works for Fredericksburg, Virginia, the Spotsylvania County Virginia Director of Utilities, and as a project manager for a regional consulting firm.
Tim’s major achievement was being the primary author of interjurisdictional agreements for the partial consolidation of water and wastewater systems of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania and the implementation and operation of the partially combined systems.
His interests include reading about the history and philosophy of science and technology and hiking. He has thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and the John Muir Trail.
He and Jake met each other in high school and during a common terms of employment with J.A. Gustin and Associates.
Jake A. Keller is retired as the Technical Director of Civil Engineering, Western Hemisphere, at Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP), a 50,000-person, international engineering and planning firm. While there, he specialized in hydrology and hydraulics and developed strategies for mitigating climate change’s impacts on civil works. His last project was developing the alignment of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel expansion.
Born and raised in Martinsville, Jake began working as a draftsman for J.A. Gustin and Associates. From there, he moved to Ohio, where he worked for mid-sized firms as a project designer and manager. Offered a job with Parsons Brinckerhoff, he welcomed
the opportunity to move back to Virginia, where he worked for 29 years, retiring as a Senior Vice President and Principal Professional Associate (The company is big on titles!).
During an economic downturn in his early years in Ohio, he worked part-time as a technical illustrator for a prestigious technical publications firm. There, he produced drawings such as those presented in the Martinsville Hydroelectric Dam report.
Currently, Jake lives in Virginia Beach, where he is president of the Norfolk Chamber Consort and is a member of the Orchestra of the Eastern Shore. He continues his hobby of producing technical drawings.