Paul Heggarty: Irishman far from home
"Of course," answers Paul Heggarty to what was obviously a dumb question. "Every Irishman misses his homeland." Not only has Paul been away a lot since getting his B.S. in civil engineering at the University in Galway, he's been away in lots of different places. After graduating in 1984, he worked in England, Scotland and Wales until 1992.
Paul met his wife in England, where she was serving in the U.S. Air Force. She was posted to Seattle for two years to get her master's degree. Paul accompanied her to the states, where he worked for PCL refurbishing an arena in Seattle. From 1995 to 1999, he worked on the PCL/Misener Marine joint venture bridge project at Chesapeake Bay.
Then Paul took a year off to be a stay-at-home father, which he really enjoyed. He and his wife Janet have two children, who are now ages four and one. Staying at home was a treat for Paul. In the time the couple has been married, they've weathered four moves for her career, but he has moved many times in between. They lived far apart six months at a time while he was working in Virginia and Florida.
Currently Janet, who is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Elgin Air Force Base, is 500 miles from Myakka River Bridge where Paul is working for Misener as a project engineer. After his year at home, Paul went to work for Misener. "When things are floating, it makes them more interesting," says Paul, who has really enjoyed getting into more marine work the last five years. He praises his cohorts at Misener. "The people here are excellent," he says, a twinkle in his blue Irish eyes. "It is all about people, right?!"
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