Gary Grieve
Volunteer of the Month
May 2002
Gary Grieve
by Ralph Cherry

Alamo PC Organization: HOME > About Us > Awards > Volunteers Of The Month
 
I always like to ask our volunteer of the month if computers have changed their lives in any way.  It’s really a tongue-in-cheek question, because I’m pretty sure they will always say yes.  But Gary Grieve, our volunteer of the month for this month, gave a really interesting and complete answer.  He said, “ . . in a positive way.  Now that I have retired, computers have allowed me to continue my education in an area that I enjoy, allow me to keep my mind active, give me activities that I look forward to doing, and have allowed me to help friends, family, and fellow club members fix their hardware and software problems.”  That’s a pretty powerful statement!

I can personally verify that this guy spends a lot of time at the Resource Center helping out.  Gary is there almost every Friday morning for the “Doctor is in” program, several nights every month while teaching both the Word SIG and also the Excel SIG, and also  helps on various other technical projects around the site.  He came by, for example, and spent several hours helping get the old AlamoPC computers ready for the sale last month.  One of the statements he made to me about all this activity is that “I enjoy helping people, and these skills allow me to do for people and give back for all of the help I have been given over the years.”

So what is the background that gives him such wide-ranging computer skills?  It turns out that he spent almost 34 years with Southwestern Bell, all in various areas of technical work.  It was sometimes hands-on, and sometimes managing groups of technical people.  He has worked in data center operations, in technical support, and in  programming.

One challenging experience at a data center in Wichita, Kansas was when they turned over to him a new IBM 360 Model 50 Mainframe, and he had to install the operating system and the application programs on this huge machine.  Another challenge was as a programmer in St Louis, Missouri where he was given the responsibility of maintaining the company’s long distance toll call program, which  processed tens of millions of calls per month. Whew, what a responsibility!

Gary’s first personal computers were the famous Radio Shack TRS 80 (we have 2 in our display at the Resource Center), and an early Compaq XT. He now has one computer with Windows 98 and another with Windows 2000, both on a home network which  includes 2 printers.  His current project is to build 2 more machines to add to his network. Ponder this fact: Gary has built a room over his garage especially for computers and networking.  Ah, what envy I have!

Heavily used programs include Outlook, IE, Word, Excel, Access, Quicken, SnagIt, and Bridge.  Gary spends 20 to 30 hours per week on the Internet for E-mail, for searches, and for purchases. His current computer goals are to enlarge his home network, to learn more about building and repairing PCs, and to get into video editing.