Workday Wednesday: Gilbert Tapley

My father, Gilbert Tapley, held many different jobs during his lifetime. I believe the main reasons he changed jobs so much were (1) he was restless and (2) he had a hard time taking orders from a boss. He quit working when I was 6 years old, about 1973, and did not return to the workplace until I was 18, about 1985. So I had a stay-at-home-dad.

Here is a resume from about the mid 1960's that I found in his belongings:

As you can see, at different times in his life he was a: mechanic, truck driver, heavy equipment operator, self-employed businessman, and carpenter.

When I was born in 1967, he was working for the city of Augusta, Georgia. (I believe the above resume was prepared when he applied for the job there.) I am not sure of all the positions he held while there, but I do have newspaper articles chronicling his selection as one of the City's Custodians of Vote Recorders.



I also know that as a child and teenager, he was a farmhand; he worked at a mill when he was in his late teens; and in his later years, he was a sheriff's deputy in Emanuel County, Georgia. His job was transporting prisoners to court, medical appointments, or to other prison system facilities.

So my father wore many different hats in his lifetime. I think he did well enough for himself considering he only had a 7th grade education.

I think, like him, I crave different experiences. I, too, am restless. I "come by it honest"!