Semper Tek would like to congratulate Joe Guffey on his retirement and wish him good fortune as he embarks on his next chapter in life!
Joe first started in Lexington, KY assisting on the 5th floor project located at the VAMC campus on Cooper Drive July 6th, 2015. It was one of the more complex projects Semper Tek was involved with at the time. Joe originally filled the role of getting materials and equipment to feed the fast-paced project. The role evolved into transporting workers from the remote parking lot to the job site in the wee hours of the morning, to plowing snow in the middle of the night.
As is the case with Joe, he was always there to help. He managed water from roof leaks, put up fences that blew down, carpenter work, finding rigging at the last minute, and skillfully leap frogging up 20’ sticks of crash rail up the outside of a 5-story building.
One of the many examples of Joe’s dependability was when the Project Manager’s daughter was stranded in Lexington with a flat tire. One call to Joe and he was there in an instant! You could ask almost anyone in the Lexington office, and they would have a story like this, of a time Joe helped them without hesitation.
After the 5th floor project wrapped up Joe continued to demonstrate that he could be counted on to perform a variety of tasks. He successfully managed the warehouse and tools for the company and survived moving the full contents of the warehouse not once but twice. He has crisscrossed the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Georgia delivering materials and equipment to the various jobsites during his time with Semper Tek. He was known for meeting Superintendents on Sunday nights to transfer tools/equipment on their way to the jobsite.
Joe has filled in for and assisted Superintendents on jobsites in Kentucky on numerous occasions often on short notice. His relationship with the VAMC shops in Lexington allowed us to often get things done in a timely and more efficient manner.
Joe did so much behind the scenes, there is not enough space to list all the things he took care of. Whenever anyone needed something done Joe is who they depended on. When Joe was not being pulled into several different directions, he arrived early to set up heaters in the colder offices, lined up maintenance on equipment, repaired tools, and took care of routine maintenance for the office.
Joe is a dependable resource and a good man and will be missed by all of us at Semper Tek.