Generator — Summer 2023
Learn about the Columbus Public Power Building and a building restoration project in Creston.
Learn about the Columbus Public Power Building and a building restoration project in Creston.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS<br />
Steve Heesacker<br />
Chairman<br />
Bob Cerv<br />
First Vice Chairman<br />
Jim Donoghue<br />
Second Vice Chairman<br />
Mike Fleming<br />
Secretary<br />
Dick Tooley<br />
Treasurer<br />
Rich Aerni<br />
Alan Drozd<br />
Chris Langemeier<br />
Larry Zach<br />
EXECUTIVE STAFF<br />
Neal Suess<br />
President/CEO<br />
Walt Williams<br />
Vice President,<br />
Accounting & Finance/CFO<br />
Todd Duren<br />
Vice President,<br />
Corporate Services<br />
Korey Hobza<br />
Vice President, Engineering<br />
Dan Hellbusch<br />
Vice President, Operations<br />
The Loup <strong>Generator</strong> is<br />
published quarterly<br />
as a service for Loup<br />
employees, families,<br />
friends, and associates.<br />
For feedback, story ideas<br />
and submissions, contact:<br />
Stacy Wemhoff<br />
Communications Coordinator<br />
402-562-5711<br />
swemhoff@loup.com<br />
RETIREE PROFILE: BOB ANDERSON<br />
Bob Anderson had a feeling<br />
he’d end up working at Loup<br />
Power District.<br />
His grandpa, Pete, was<br />
a dredge operator at the<br />
Genoa Headworks. So was his<br />
dad, Gilbert Anderson. And<br />
eventually he became one too.<br />
“It’s what I always wanted to<br />
do,” he said.<br />
Anderson was a selfemployed<br />
drywall installer in<br />
1997 when he saw a job open up<br />
at Loup and decided to apply. He<br />
knew his dad and grandpa enjoyed the work.<br />
His uncle, Bob Ramaekers, also worked for<br />
Loup as Genoa Local Superintendent.<br />
He was hired as Maintenance Man at<br />
the Headworks in 1997 and was promoted<br />
to Equipment Operator in 2002. In 2012,<br />
he achieved his goal of becoming Dredge<br />
Operator and continued in that role until his<br />
retirement last year.<br />
In that role, Anderson was responsible for<br />
dredging sand from the Loup canal settling<br />
basin at the Headworks just southwest<br />
of Genoa. Dredging takes place in the<br />
spring and fall. In the off season, he helped<br />
maintain the dredge.<br />
“When you’re not dredging, you’re fixing<br />
something,” Anderson said. “Sand destroys<br />
everything.”<br />
He also took care of a variety of other<br />
tasks, such as steaming the intake gates in<br />
the icy winters or checking the canal during<br />
his night shifts.<br />
Some people hate working in temperature<br />
extremes. But Anderson wasn’t<br />
one of them.<br />
“I love the outdoors,” he said.<br />
And he loved working at Loup<br />
<strong>—</strong> until 2019.<br />
“I enjoyed it right up until the<br />
flood,” Anderson said. “It was<br />
heartbreaking.”<br />
A storm in March that<br />
year dumped rain on top of<br />
melting ice, causing ice jams<br />
and flooding that breached the<br />
canal and destroyed areas of the<br />
Headworks.<br />
“All the work we did and in 24 hours it<br />
was gone and we had to start all over.”<br />
The result was months of working<br />
overtime every week. In addition, Anderson<br />
said the shift work can be tiring after many<br />
years. And that’s how he knew it was time to<br />
retire.<br />
He said retirement started off pretty good<br />
last fall.<br />
“Then winter hit and it was awfully<br />
boring,” he joked.<br />
Still, he has plenty of projects to keep<br />
him busy in retirement <strong>—</strong> yard work and<br />
property and vehicle maintenance.<br />
He does miss the Headworks, the<br />
coworkers, and the dredge. He drives out for<br />
a visit every once in a while and takes a look<br />
at the dredge.<br />
It was his home away from home for 25<br />
years and it’s been hard to leave it behind.<br />
But then he throws a fishing line in<br />
the canal, sits back to relax, and realizes<br />
retirement isn’t so bad after all.<br />
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