Attend Ed Fincke's Retirement Banquet
While in the Monterey Bay area, Yvonne and Norm both worked temp jobs through a couple of temporary employment agencies. Yvonne worked with a time-share resort condo for a while, then a law firm. Norm spent almost a month at City Hall in Marina, CA; a half-day doing some computer consulting, software installation, and data entry at a small business; then three and a half months with the local transit agency - Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST). During that time, Edwin "Ed" Fincke, the agency's Assistant General Manager, retired after eighteen years of service. A banquet in his honor was held which Yvonne and Norm attended. We apologize for the lower quality of the pictures. Anticipating taking a large number of pictures the camera was set for low resolution. That plus the low light levels inside made for photo quality that was less than ideal.
Photo |
Description |
|
The event took place at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Del Monte Blvd. at the north end of Monterey, just at the limits of Seaside. |
|
The lobby of the Embassy Suites contained a posting of the events and meetings taking place at that location. Ed's retirement party was not the only thing happening, but it was the most important -- at least to us! |
|
The guest of honor for the evening, Ed Fincke, had enjoyed a career with the U.S. Navy prior to his tenure with MST. That made this his second retirement. |
|
The man in charge of MST, General Manager/CEO Frank Lichtanski, was a key figure in the event. As it turned out, both Norm and Frank had attended Santa Barbara City College many years ago -- just not quite at the same time. |
|
Among the attendees was Troy Holt, MST's Administrative Services Manager. Norm worked as his assistant while at MST setting up, researching, analyzing, and handling claim files (among many other things). |
|
Many other people attended the event. Most were MST employees, of course, but a few had either agency connections with Ed or personal ties. Here are but a few of them. |
|
Just outside the banquet hall an elegant plaque stood identifying the location of this bash. |
|
The banquet hall provided a pleasant and luxurious location for the party. There was a lot of room plus a stage for the presentation of awards and other festivities during and after dinner. |
|
One of the big events of the evening was the presentation of awards to various agency personnel, Ed included. On the table stands the collection of "Eddies" (cardboard transit coaches on stands) in preparation for later presentation. |
|
Prior to the presentation of the Eddy awards, some key people came forward to give testimonials and thanks to Ed for his accomplishments while in MST's employ. Here Ed listens while Agency Counsel Bill Marsh says his peace. |
|
Ed later received congratulations and appreciation from Morris "Morrie" Fisher, a member of MST's Board of Directors. |
|
A recipient of several of the Eddy awards for the evening, Ed Finke offers his thanks to the audience and award presenter Janet Madler, MST Fleet Manager. |
|
Another award presentation gets introduced by Marti Gottfried accompanied by MST's Contract Transportation Manager Mick McGee. |
|
Also presenting an Eddy award were Maintenance Supervisor Mike Martin and Coach Operator Ruth Olson. |
|
Although only a temp, Norm was included as an award presenter in tandem with Nancy Amador. |
|
While most of the awards were presented by a pair of people, it took three for a few of them. Here is Allen Walker flanked by Customer Service Representatives Olga Miranda and Gracie Alderette-Fisher. |
|
Richard Burton with the able assistance of Purchasing/Inventory Control Officer Mario Salazar present an award. Mario came to MST as a temp and was later offered "permanent" employment at MST. |
|
The final speech of the evening belonged to the guest of honor. Ed reminisces, jokes, and thanks everyone for helping him through his 18-year term with MST. |
|
The evening was brought to a close with a song presented to the audience by Ed and his wife. |
