Today's Featured Biography

 
Mike Pudelkewicz

I moved to Seattle in the spring of 1979 and was hired by Boeing in Aug of the same year after passing a Boeing sponsored tooling class that summer. I still fine in hard to believe that I packed up my auto mechanic tools, stereo, clothes and my Honda motorcycle, rented a U-Haul trailer and headed to Seattle in my 1968 Mustang. After visiting my relatives out west in 1972, I had this never ending feeling that I didn’t want to live my entire life in the same place that I grew up in. I had made 3 trips out west before I finally made the BIG move in 1979. I just had to go and try. I just had too. Heck if it didn’t work out I could always come home to my job as an auto mechanic at Montgomery Wards at Golden Ring Mall. My sister Barb moved in with me in Nov of 1979 and was hired by Boeing too. The rainy, cloudy weather was too much for her and she moved back to Baltimore in 1981. Many happy memories of our time together, or at least the ones I can remember. In the spring of 1981 I was accepted into the 4 year Boeing Machinist Apprenticeship Program. I served my apprenticeship at the Boeing Commercial Wind Tunnel complex. I met my wife Bonnie in Nov of 1981 and married in Aug of 1982. We have two boys, David (1984) and John (1986). I spent a few years helping with Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and was an assistant little league coach for the Highland Tigers for 5 years. In 1987 after spending about 8 years in the commercial side of Boeing in an hourly position I made the jump to a salaried job on the defense side of Boeing. I was a detail machine parts planner. My job was to author and coordinate paperwork that documented the process the machine shop followed to fabricate a detail machine part per design engineering requirements. After 5 years as a detail machine parts planner I was picked to work on the F22 fighter program as the machine parts producibility focal point. I assisted engineering in the design of detailed machined parts and minor assemblies to ensure that they were producible in the machine and assembly shops at Boeing. I also coordinated meetings between the manufacturing shops and the F22 program. I was on that program from 1992 to 1997. I think all in all that was my most rewarding job I had at Boeing. Boeing was responsible for the aft center section (middle of the F22 fighter where the engines are) and the wings. The F22 aft center section is made from titanium machined parts and the pieces were electron beam welded together in a small room which is in a vacuum. I worked at the electron beam welding center until 2001 when I jumped ship again and went back to commercial side of Boeing to work on the 737/757 program. There I did assembly planning at the Renton complex where the 737/757 were assembled. I like detail planning so in 2005 I jumped ship again and went back to the defense side of Boeing. I was now a detail sheet metal planner. Heck I’ve never done sheet metal work but knew I could if given the chance. I had a good reputation on the defense side so I was given the opportunity. I was working back in the same building that I was in when working on the F22 program. This time it was a little different because my son David and I were working in the same building. Kind of strange driving to work with your son at 5:15 AM. David like his ole man graduated from a Boeing sponsored apprenticeship program, this time composite fabrication for David. I retired from Boeing on June 1, 2011. Many great people and great memories. Prior to retirement, Bonnie and I had our home built due east of Seattle near the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains overlooking the Columbia River and Mission Ridge Ski Resort. The Wenatchee Valley area has approximately 30,000 people with lots of sunshine and about 9 inches of rain a year. After spending 32 years in the Puget Sound area with all the clouds, rain, traffic and people, it was really nice moving to a much smaller town. I spend my time taking road trips with my wife, taking hikes and walking our pet lab and tinkering around the yard and other things. And oh ya, I still have my 1968 Mustang that brought me to my little area of paradise. Life is good and I have been blessed beyond measure with two great sons and 3 grandkids.

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