Greg Eibel is retiring!

EibellHamRadio1978JPGGreg Eibel is retiring from his work as the machinist in the physics department at Reed College after 38 years. As the second longest serving staff member at the college, he’s had the opportunity to work with, befriend, inspire, and support many of us over the years. Check out this profile of Greg that ran in the Quest last semester.

To honor Greg’s years here, I’m putting together a retirement book that will contain photos, stories, and memories of time spent with him in the shop or elsewhere. Having been a student, and currently as a staff member, I’ve got lots of great memories of my time with Greg, and I imagine many of you do as well. (A few alumni friends are planning an off-campus shindig for Greg at the home of Sean Griffin ’83 on Friday, May 17; for more details, contact Phyllis Petteys ’86 at 503/970-1210 or see this Greg’s retirement party pdf.)

greg_machineI hope that you’ll take the time to think back and share fond or funny stories of Greg. How did your interactions with Greg influence the direction you took in your life? How did the shop (or life) skills you learned from him help you out over the years?

Eibell1983JPGIn addition, I’d love to have copies of any related photos you have. I’ll take these recollections and photos and put them together in a book that we’ll give to Greg upon his retirement in May. I’m happy to email out electronic copies of the final book to anyone who responds with content to include.

For those of you with memories, recollections, stories, or photos to share, here is the information that we’d love to get from you.

EibellCrandallPhoton1982Crop2Name:
Email address:
Preferred Reed class year (if applicable):
Major at Reed (if applicable):
Where are you now (general location):
What do you do for work:
Favorite memory, recollection, or story about Greg:

I’ll do my best to include everything submitted but may have to edit or truncate things if we end up with lots of responses.

Please send any input for the book to me at ewingj@reed.edu or, if you prefer to use postal mail, at:

Jay Ewing
Reed College Physics Department
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Jay Ewing
Department Associate
Reed College Physics Department

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3 Responses to Greg Eibel is retiring!

  1. John Selker says:

    Name: John Selker
    Preferred Reed class year (if applicable):81
    Major at Reed (if applicable):physics (is there any other major? I mean worth pursuing)
    What do you do for work: relentlessly pester college students (professor)
    Favorite memory, recollection, or story about Greg:

    I had always wanted to learn about real machining as a kid. Then someone told me about the shop when I got to my second year at Reed, and started taking physics. Holy Cow! What a gold mine of opportunity. But Greg was the reason I kept coming back. He was patient, and full of humor, ideas, stories, and experience. He let me learn both the easy way and the hard way, as was most appropriate at that moment. I made my five projects to get the shop privileges. For that matter I just used my project center punch last night in my own shop! Every year I was at Reed I had some reason to frequent the shop, though my mathematical thesis did not require the visits. In the intervening thirty two years I would always stop by when I came on campus, and Greg remembered me, and even offered up a gift of this super cool cleaning fluid! In many ways Greg was the foundation of my physics experience: seeing Wheeler make his wooden objects, and getting to make my experiments in the shop helped me keep the physical aspects of physics primary. Thanks Greg for all you gave so gracefully – you’re the best!

  2. Steve Swanson says:

    Name: Steve Swanson
    Preferred Reed class year (if applicable):84
    Major at Reed (if applicable):mathematics
    What do you do for work: computer programmer
    Favorite memory, recollection, or story about Greg:

    Really, I wasn’t a physics major. But I did have a lot of friends in physics and I spent a bunch of time in physics, including in the shop.

    I’d like to thank Greg for letting me build a bed in the shop. I could afford a mattress, but not a frame. Anyway, I wanted a bed frame on stilts so I could store a bunch of stuff underneath. Greg was quite skeptical my design would work, but it worked well enough to last through my last two years at Reed.

  3. Javed Parkes says:

    Name: Javed Parkes
    Preferred Reed class year (if applicable): 2011
    Major at Reed (if applicable): Physics
    Where are you now (general location): PDX
    What do you do for work: programming
    Favorite memory, recollection, or story about Greg:

    I remember taking a drive with Greg in his car (a real vintage of a machine that could hold up against any circumstance if you ask me) to Corvallis. During the total 4 hour drive (2 hours each way), I got to know Greg much more than I ever did in my entire career at Reed. His passion and fondness for the work that he did was unquestionable. Greg has the sort of common-sense, down-to-earth, head-on-his-body, mad-skills-with-anything-in-a-machine shop that is rare to find. Plus, I learnt just how much people underestimate the power of lubricant! That, my friends, you will not learn in any physics class anywhere. His talent and passion will be missed at Reed. Thank you for your 38 years of service to the Reed community, and for making this Reed alum’s thesis a reality and a success!

    Cheers!

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