Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/1294339
Real Estate specialist keeps rolling as career tops 50 years When Billy Norris says "it's been a great ride," he could be referring to his Harley Davidson Ultraglide, or perhaps the weeklong trips he takes every year across the country with Builders for Christ. But as his 50-year career with Alabama Power is winding down, Norris is looking in the rearview mirror with humility and pride. The lifelong Phenix City resident says he's been fortunate since the day he drove onto the parking lot at the local company office. "It seems like I am one of those people who is blessed, but a lot of people would say I've been in the right place at the right time my whole career, and I wouldn't argue with them," said Norris, a Real Estate specialist in Land Acquisition. At the height of the Vietnam War, Norris graduated from Central High School. His sister was dating her future husband, who worked for Alabama Power. Norris thought it looked like a good job, and war was looming halfway around the world for young Americans who were unemployed or not in college. "I said, shoot, I'm going to see if I can get on at Alabama Power," Norris said. "I guess I got lucky." He was hired as a utilityman by Phenix City Superintendent Charles Hill. Norris, 68, laughs when he recalls his first day on the job. "They carried me all around to meet everyone," he says. "Everyone was in their 30s and 40s, and I was 18, and I thought 'I'm working for a bunch of old people.' Now I look back and I'm older than them." Norris was doing maintenance work, unloading trucks and transporting materials between the warehouse and office until Bliss Nix trained him to work with a tree crew. Soon aer Norris began his new role in Eufaula, Nix died in an accident involving a log truck. Norris said the tragic loss of his first mentor reinforced the need to be constantly alert for safety. As Norris neared the end of his first year with the tree crew, he became an apprentice lineman back in Phenix City. Within a year, Engineering Supervisor Wade Pennington offered Norris an inside job as an engineering aide. Norris took the job and le the brotherhood in 1975, the same year he 49 by chuck chandler