Sunday, June 17, 2018
Was at the memorial yesterday and touched by everyone's heartfelt honesty. Not the kind to get up in a group of people to share so will share here....
I met Brian in the late 1980s - we were both going back to school in the Masters program in Geo-technical Engineering at San Jose State. Both a bit older than everyone else there and both trying to squeeze getting a degree in amongst busy personal lives. He was quiet, kept to himself and we didn't cross paths much there. I graduated and took a job in Morgan Hill and he in Watsonville. Our paths did not cross much for another 20 years.
When I got to know him a bit better at Bauldry Engineering I started to really respect the technical level of work that he was doing on his own. It was really impressive the degree that he researched different topics - stone columns, liquefaction, ground improvement techniques, debris flows - he tackled these all very thoroughly which is pretty difficult to do and run a business at the same time, let alone a family and life. He was not a "shoot from the hip" kind of geotech engineer and I think helped to improve the quality of engineering in Santa Cruz County. He was smart, knew what he was talking about but modest and never pushy or egotistic. Those are characteristics you don't find often in the talented people in our business.
When I joined Pacific Crest in 2016 Brian's technical library on the server was the golden one that you went to when you wanted to research a topic. And if you couldn't find info there I'd just ask him and there'd be a stack of papers on my desk the next morning with more than you wanted to know.
Brian would walk by my office morning and night, with his signature suitcase - the Bull's Eye BBQ sauce cardboard box, which I understand is how his Dad chose to transport his stuff everyday too? I was hoping to get him a new box for Christmas this year. He befriended my "special needs" dog Bho with his daily treats of salami and goodies and bho would jump up joyfully and run up to his office with him each day when he arrived.
I believe continuing to work at Pacific Crest was what he chose to do, not what he had to do. And I think he chose to continue working even with the knowledge of our mortality being more in his awareness than most. I will always be in admiration of how he handled the last years of his life with what I perceived as strong intention, steadiness amongst a lot of challenges, and a degree of contentment I strive for.
Peace....Soma Goresky
