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Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 13 PLSO Conference It is high time Lee gets recognized for his contributions to PLSO, beyond his well-deserved Bright Idea (2012), Good Humor (2014) and Article of the Year (2015) Awards. Born in Roseburg to an English teaching mother and a govern- ment scientist father, Lee’s childhood was peripatetic: Guam, Wyoming, New York, Idaho, back to Oregon, where he graduat- ed from Knappa High School in the Knappa-Svenson area. Not happy with just one college degree after achieving an Associates of Arts & Sciences degree at Clark College in 1978, Lee got an Associate of Aviation Maintenance degree in 1981 at Lane Community College, a degree in History at Washburn University in Topeka Kansas (which included a year of classes in law), and finally, in 1992, a Bachelors in Psychology from Portland State University. Not happy with not studying, Lee studied for, sat for and received his Professional Survey License in 2008. As you can guess, there was a lot going on over the years be- tween all that academia. Lee somehow found time to practice electric guitar, playing for a time in Portland in the Jeff Lorber Fusion Jazz Band at the same time Kenny G blew sax in the band. It was a long and circuitous path that led to Lee’s settling down in Oregon City and purchasing, with wife Colleen, Love Land Surveys upon Dick’s retirement: survey field work to help pay for college, Airplane Crash Retrieval job, Helicopter Water Bucket Bombardier in Canada for Evergreen Helicopters, he- licopter repair in Bahrain, teaching Electronics for 10 years at Topeka Tech, riding as Powerhouse Sprinter on a bicycle rac- ing team, Bouncer at a comedy club in Kansas, doing a little of his own stand-up comedy, back in Oregon in the early 90’s and working for a robotics firm, and finally landing at Dick Love Land Surveys in 1993. Lee honed his field and office skills with Dick Love, became li- censed in 2006, and with Colleen, took over the business in 2011 upon Dick’s retirement. Lee and Colleen now run the firm as Township Surveys, LLC in Oregon City. Lee’s psychology degree and life experiences have given him the temperament and skills to deal with difficult clients and adjoiners (and their lawyers), to excel at being an expert witness, to chronicle his adventures and give presentations with a highly developed and incisive sense of humor, and to understand his wife (Colleen’s words). Lee served as Pioneer Chapter President in 2011, graciously stepped up in a time of need to serve as PLSO Chair in 2012, then was elected as PLSO Chair-elect and Chair for the 2013– 2014 cycle. As chair of the Education and Outreach Committee, Lee has set a goal of providing internships for 100% of student appli- cants—a goal that was met in 2017. But internships are only one aspect of the PLSO Mentorship Program. The program, as envisioned and implemented by Lee, also includes ride-alongs, tutoring, mentoring for high school senior projects and oppor- tunities for professional collaboration. In 2017, Lee and PLSO Chair Dave Williams were instrumental in alerting PLSO of the need to fund and file an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the Oregon Supreme Court in the Josephine County Circuit Court Case Melanie Bailey v. Phillip Parker. After the Appellate Court confirmed the lower court’s (bad) decision, the case was presented before the Supreme Court, creating the need for the amicus curiae brief. Lee pre- pared the draft copy of the brief, it was turned over to an attorney for fine tuning, and it was accepted for review by the Supreme Court. Lee followed up with an article about the effort in the July/August 2017 issue of The Oregon Surveyor . Lee has shown himself adept at presenting, visiting PLSO chap- ters to give his presentations on logos, outreach topics and clients-from-hell topics. He also presented at the 2017 PLSO Conference, even filling in for another presenter who couldn’t make it. Lee also is a regular contributor to The Oregon Surveyor , informing us about topics laced with humor. Lee and Colleen met as next-door neighbors in a West Linn apartment building approximately 24 years ago, married (she thought he was cute and was going to be a rock star), and set- tled down to add two more children to a total brood of six and eventually run their survey firm. When their Neighborhood Association was first formed, Lee volunteered to be President. Lee still enjoys playing guitar and coaching girls volleyball at Gardiner Middle School. PLSO Pioneer Chapter Surveyor of the Year Nomination Submitted by: John Thatcher, PLS Tony Brooks, PLS Gary Anderson, PLS Greg Crites, PLS Gary Johnston, PLS Pat Gaylord, PLS Continues on page 14 T