Creatively on the job for 51 years

Stuart Reid can claim quite a feat - he has worked continuously on the University of Otago campus for 51 years.

Students have come and gone, and their children have come and gone after them, but Mr Reid has remained, first a technician for 35 years before taking over as custodian of the University of Otago Students Association (OUSA) clubs and societies building 16 years ago.

His is a record he does not believe has been matched.

While many general staff had been long-serving, he cannot think of any others who have lasted as long as he has.

Starting so young probably helped.

He had just finished his School Certificate year at Kaikorai Valley High School when he saw a job advertised in January, 1960, seeking a trainee technician in the physics department.

With a background in trades subjects, he thought it sounded interesting.

Right from the start he was involved with challenging research projects - helping to build radio telescopes to study black holes in space, travelling to Lauder in install aerials to study auroras, helping to solve the problem of aerials atop Swampy Summit icing up by installing a small electrical current to keep them warm, and building prototype wind turbines.

At that time the physics department was housed in the clocktower building, a labyrinth of rooms, passageways and staircases.

One of his tasks was shinning up the inside of the clocktower to carry out maintenance on the clock.

Ten years later he moved to the physical education department.

It was a role which he says suited his interests in boats and the outdoors, and which tested his inventiveness.

The tutors would ask him to design and build something - perhaps fittings for laboratory equipment or a way of mounting a piece of sports equipment so it could be used to analyse a person's fitness - and he would come up with the answer.

It "seemed like no work at all" to be asked to build seven Sunbird yachts during his 25 years with the department, he said.

"One boss would say everyone had to sail boats, so we would make some boats for them. Then the next boss would come in say we didn't want sailing boats any more, so we would sell them all. Then the next boss would come along and say 'what on earth were they doing getting rid of the sailing boats?' so I would make up some more."

Another major part of his role was photoanalysis.

Long before digital cameras and computers, the only way for students and research staff to assess fitness, muscle movement and co-ordination was to look at films or photographs.

Mr Reid filmed subjects on cinefilm and edited the footage into short movies.

He also took still photographs which he developed himself.

Mr Reid said he hoped he would be remembered for his creativity - from painting a bright orange line down the middle of expensive maths text books to stop students taking them home by mistake - no more went missing after that - and designing and making a multi-wheeled trolley for audio equipment which was stable on uneven and sloping surfaces.

In 1995, the university called for redundancies.

Mr Reid "put up his hand", knowing after contributing to the government superannuation scheme for so long he would be able to survive financially and any job he picked up was a bonus.

"I had a rough idea I would be able to pick up a job, and before I had even left phys ed I was invited to work here [at clubs and societies]."

It was a 15 hour a week job, which suited him perfectly.

Mr Reid said there was not much he was not interested in and he had filled the rest of his time with hobbies including creating motorised miniature dioramas (which he now posts on YouTube), building model cars, building and modifying water craft, including a human-powered hydrofoil and an electric canoe, building and riding a recumbent bicycle, filming his son's motorsport events and - just for something completely different - calling square dance moves.

Over Mr Reid's time the university's roll has grown from under 3000 students to about 22,000, but he said students had not changed.

"They're still a brilliant lot. They've never let me down. They get a bit light-hearted, they might do silly things like take a rubbish skip for a walk down the road and you have to bring it back again ... but they seldom do anything malicious."

Student pranks were more exuberant years ago than now.

"In past years there was almost always a bike on top of the clock tower at capping time. You hardly ever see that now."

With the likely introduction of voluntary student membership legislation this year, Mr Reid thinks his role might disappear and this might be his last year with OUSA.

While he had not planned to retire yet, he was prepared for it.

"Fifty-plus years on the job is probably enough anyway."

allison.rudd@odt.co.nz