Ron Dickinson - Building Officials` Association of BC

1 THE GRADUATE
Submitted by
Bob Buckland
I met Ron Dickinson 1997/98 in Quesnel while working as a
Building/Plumbing Inspector out of the "Cariboo Regional District" Quesnel
Office. Ron was employed by the City of Quesnel as "Chief Building Official"
and we would often discuss BC Building/Plumbing Code requirements and
interpretations, local bylaws, and other day to day matters that came to light.
Ron was always helpful and personable; it was a pleasure to work with him.
At that time I understand that Ron held BOABC Level -2 qualifications as a
Building Official and was at that time writing his exams for Level-3
qualifications. He was successful in this regard and wrote the 10-papers in 25-paper sessions.
I recently met Ron by chance and I asked him if he would be willing to
participate in the composition of a GRADUATE column regarding his long
career in the building industry. Ron kindly consented and sent me a brief
background of his family and career of life experiences in the building
industry.
Ron retired from the City of Kelowna in May 2010 and since then Ron and his
wife Dianne have had 3-travel vacations.
2010-Traveledby truck and trailer to Yukon Territory and Alaska for 5weeks.
• 2012-Traveled by truck and trailer south into western USA, east to coast of
USA, north to Newfoundland and Labrador, and west across Canada to
British Columbia.
• 2013-Travelled by train 6-weeks Spring and Summer across China ,
Mongolia, and Russia, beginning in Hong Kong and finishing in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
• Ron and his wife plan to keep on traveling in the future but nothing is
cast in stone at present.
The photos below show some of Ron and Dianne's activities.
•
2 Shanghais-2013
A walk in the rain on the Great
Wall of China-2013
Holiday in Hong Kong-2013
Ron, Dianne, and grandchildren
A little Lobster in Cape Breton
Holiday 2012-across Canada
3 Ron's Gold Wing motorcycle
Ron Dickinson
Former R.B.O.
BOABC President 2008/2010/2012
BOABC Past President 2013 to date
I was born in Calgary, Alberta May 20, 1950. I found my way into the construction industry at age 19 in Calgary where I was raised, when a friend asked if I would dig ditches for a plumbing company for the summer. I had spent the 2 previous summers in the Arctic north of the magnetic North Pole on Melville Island in the oil exploration business drilling holes and dropping dynamite in them. Digging ditches in Calgary seemed much more civilized and the next thing I knew I was an apprentice, attending "Southern Alberta Institute of Technology", then in 1973 I received my TQ in Plumbing and a First Class Gas Fitter's Licence. During those 4 years I fell in love, and will be celebrating 43 years of marriage with my lovely wife Dianne in August. We had a bit of the travel bug during those first 4 years and managed Ron's restored 1950's Ford truck
to drive across Canada, travel to Europe, and in 1973 moved to Australia where we lived and worked for a year. Of course the burning question for a plumber is does the water spin the other direction when it goes down the drain in the southern hemisphere? No it doesn't, but the more interesting question soon became, "How does a wayward Canadian plumber avoid the deadly snakes and spiders lurking on every construction site". Answer-­‐ "Be very careful". The trip home from Australia took about 6 months and with very lucky timing we managed to miss all the conflicts that over took everywhere we had just passed through. We traveled in carved out canoes, oxcarts, old freighters, busses, motorcycles, bicycles, sandals, and the odd airplane through; Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, and Europe, before getting back to Calgary with $140, some old furniture, and a 1950 Ford pickup truck, to our name. 4 Somewhere along that ride I decided I wanted to save the world from bad guys so I applied to the Calgary City Police Department for a position as a policeman. I then decided it was too cold a climate in Calgary so I applied for the same position with the Vancouver City Police Department. After giving that further thought I decided that a fancy red suit looked better, so I applied to the RCMP for a position as a policeman. Ultimately in 1975 I found myself flying to Regina for RCMP Recruit Training at 1:00 AM on a cold November morning. Following completion of RCMP training in June of 1976 I was posted to Penticton, BC. We settled down in Penticton, started a family, and I decided after our son was born in 1977 that we should buy a lot in nearby Narmata, and in my spare time, to build a house for us to live in. For unknown reasons there just didn't seem to be enough spare time to get the house finished as soon as I thought I could so we moved into this unfinished house a year later. Before long our second child, Gillian was born in the spring of 1979. Life was good, but there is always room for improvement. For those of you reading this who were working in the early 80's you will certainly remember the recession that took place in 1981. Just before this recession set in I decided I could make myself a fortune by starting my own plumbing business to service the Penticton area. So I left the RCMP to dedicate my time to our new plumbing business. We managed to make a living from this business for the next 7 years. However, no great fortune was made because of the worldwide recession. Then just as the economy turned around I landed a job as a Building/Plumbing Inspector in the Penticton area with the "Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen". I learned a lesson from all this, always make sure you have a steady job, once you get one. I did that by staying with local governments in BC for the next 22years. I was with the RDOS for 9 years and when I left I was the Assistant Chief Building Inspector. We moved to the "City of Quesnel" for the next 4 years where I was the Chief Building Official, and finally, the Manager of Development Services, before I was offered the job of Manager of Inspection Services with the "City of Delta" where I worked for 5 years. We lived in nearby South Surrey while I was employed with Delta. When we had enough of the big city life style I briefly took a job again with the RDOS before moving to the "City of Kelowna", where I was offered the position of Inspection Services Manager. During 5-­‐
years of service with Kelowna I was moved into the position of Director of Development Services before retiring on my 60th birthday. In my spare time I was always busy volunteering for various things to. While living in Naramata I was a Volunteer Fighter for 6-­‐years, and also Irrigation District Director for 11-­‐years. 5 When we moved to South Surrey in 1999 The "Building Officials Association of BC" Board came knocking on my door. Over the years since, I have served BOABC as Registrar, Treasurer, Lower Mainland Regional Director, President, and presently serve as Past President. Currently I have been offered a job in Christchurch, New Zealand with their building department. They are very short of Building Inspectors in New Zealand and are looking around the world for experienced inspectors as they set about rebuilding the downtown core of the City which was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. I am working my way through the complexities of getting a Temporary Work Visa at this time, it is not simple but I think it is possible that I will be there starting work in October of this year, and leaving 6 to 9 months later. There are opportunities for others to do the same thing, so anyone out there thinking about doing the same thing could send me an email and I will help them get connected. Over the years I have always managed to find time for my family. Our 2 children have grown up, our daughter has 2 of the greatest kids a Nana and Papa could ask for, while there is also time for the motorcycle which Dianne and I ride, the antique pickup to restore, and a trailer, which Dianne and I drag around every year. We have been retired for 3 years now. Our trailer has followed us from Alaska through Missouri, New York, Newfoundland and Labrador, including all points in between, for a total of 35,000-­‐kilometers. Ron Dickinson