Meet the 71-year-old Dominion Power lineman

VIRGINIA BEACH

Wardell Driver joined his trainee on the truck in the Dominion Virginia Power lot shortly before 7:30 a.m. They tested the lights, the brakes, the stabilizing jacks - everything before heading out on a call this Wednesday.

The trainee, Kenneth Johnson, could've handled the work in the early-morning cold. But it wasn't like 71-year-old Driver to be idle.

"The legend!" shouted lineman W.R. Welch, pointing at Driver as he walked by. Driver smiled.

Driver is Dominion's most senior field employee, and he says his 50 years with the company feel more like five minutes. In that time his name has become interchangeable with the word "reliable."

He was with the company before it became Dominion, before the bucket trucks, when he scaled poles with belts around his waist and hooks attached to his legs.

Driver has been on the job longer than many of his co-workers have been alive, and many ask Driver why he stays.

For Driver, it's simple.

By 7:45, Driver clicked on the laptop mounted in the cab and typed in "2700 River Road," a trouble spot for the past three weeks. Driver is a lead lineman and will redirect tens of thousands of volts as crews replace two transformers to stabilize service.

An automated voice led him to the interstate. When Driver first started with the company - in what some refer to as the "when-linemen-were-linemen" era - crews got directions from map books or a dispatcher yelling, "Turn right at Mr. Jones' barn!"

Driver was 20 then and was working at a Portsmouth drugstore when he heard about hiring at Virginia Electric and Power Co., or VEPCO, the company's old moniker.

It was hard work, but that didn't bother him. Driver had been working since he was 10. He'd left high school early and gotten his GED because his family needed the money.

Driver started out as a laborer cleaning the yard and worked his way to groundsman, assisting the linemen. When he found out linemen made three times as much, he went through the training.

He saw himself as someone who puts in a good day's work to support his wife and children, but others saw him as dependable as the sunrise.

His faith grew, which helped him see his job as a ministry as much as a paycheck. When a family's power went out on Christmas Eve before Santa's cookies were baked, he knew he was making a difference if he could help.

Through the years, he kept at it, as the company's name, colors and logos morphed; as advancements caused shifts from paper to computer; as heavier porcelain materials gave way to poly.

But some things never changed.

By 10:30, Driver was in the bucket, maneuvering skyward, careful not to hit the hot lines. He grounded the truck, before cutting off power so workers could swap the old for new 4,000-pound transformers.

Supervisor Johnny Walker watched from below. He had met Driver on his own first day on the job 24 years ago.

Walker remembers Driver scaling a pole in a trench coat and Florsheim dress shoes. Driver has always been steady in the field, Walker said, which is especially important during the dizzying heat of summer and the numbing chill of winter. He, and several others, find Driver's work ethic inspiring.

Driver often volunteers for standby work, which means he makes himself available for emergency calls.

"You look at the old guys and you think they wouldn't volunteer, but Wardell does it," Walker said.

Driver eased the bucket down and watched the younger men jostle the transformers in place and replace cables.

The crews joke and kid around, but in this dangerous line of work, they rely on each other. And several of them, like Driver, understand the love of working outdoors. It's a freedom he can't put a price tag on.

Within minutes, the transformers were set and Driver was back in the air to reconnect the power. Walker and another supervisor watched as Driver took a hot stick and reached for the hook. Then they looked away. It's one of the most dangerous moments of the job.

A small spark jumped, but Driver didn't flinch. Then he was done.

He descended as the men packed up. One guy talked about retiring, how it was time for him to go.

Driver only smiled, as if he were listening to someone speak a foreign language.

"What I want to do is make the best of the days I have left, whether I live to be 80, 90, whatever," Driver said. "Just trying to help people."

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com