What started as a “summer help” job at the Lyons Subarea shop has turned into a 30-year career.

This month, Great Bend Area Supervisor Mic Huddleston is marking 30 years of dedicated service to the Kansas Department of Transportation.

After that summer job in 1990, Huddleston worked through a series of transfers and promotions: to mechanic’s helper in the Great Bend shop, where he replaced truck engines and overhauled tractor transmissions, to Equipment Operator I in the La Crosse shop, to the Great Bend Subarea shop “because my bride and I were expecting our first son, and I didn’t want to drive that far every day,” he recalls.

He was promoted to Equipment Operator II in 1995, to EO III with the Area Crew in 1997 and to Mechanic I in 1998. Later, he worked his way to Equipment Operator Senior.

In 2013, Huddleston became Subarea supervisor, then transferred back to the Great Bend Area Crew, “where I still am, happy as a clam!!” he wrote recently.

“One of my favorite things about my job is working with all the crews around the area and beyond,” he says. “I look at what a privilege to be around so many great folks. I count my blessings every day to have worked with some very cool people.”

Michelle Burnett, Great Bend Area Engineer, says, “Mic has been a great asset for KDOT.  His knowledge of the equipment and experience on the job site has been a huge help to all of Area 4.”

Huddleston says he’s been “so blessed to be married to my college sweetheart for 29 years last month.”

He and his wife, Sandy, have three children and a granddaughter, two daughters-in-law and a soon-to-be son-in-law. He and his wife have been foster parents for several children, and they have two foster daughters now.