Photo By Keith Hayes | Esther Gonzales, seated second from left, poses with coworkers during her early days...... read more read more
Within the federal government people come and go. Some stay in one place for maybe 20 or 30 years while others move on to other endeavors. However, one Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow employee made the decision to stay on board for more than half a century.
After nearly 53 years working at MCLB Barstow, the bases’ Human Resources director decided to retire so she could spend more time with family and enjoy a full life without the long and hectic days.
Esther Gonzales, rumored to be the fifth longest tenured civil servant in all of the Department of Defense, attended a retirement party held in her honor July 28 with friends, family and coworkers who gathered to congratulate and bid her adieu for a long and successful career.
Gonzales is retiring as supervisor of the Human Resources Office aboard base, a position she has held for 19 years.
She said she was born and raised in Barstow and has worked at MCLB Barstow in one position or another for her entire federal government career.
Gonzales remembers when there were thousands of Marines assigned to the base during the Vietnam conflict era.
“There were quite a few Marines in Materiel Division in building 236 where I started my career in 1963,” Gonzales said. “That division alone employed maybe three to four times more people than what the entire base employs now.”
Since that time she has definitely seen many changes aboard the base, including the downsizing of the actual number of structures and services.
“My son was born on the base when there was a real hospital here, not just a clinic, but a real hospital right up there behind building 129,” Gonzales said.
She agrees that this has been a good period for the base as far as receiving recognition for its achievements on a Department of Defense level, but she has seen several good years before.
“Things like winning the awards that the base has, such as the safety awards, the (Commander In Chief) award and the Best Medium Sized Fire Department award, we all contributed to that and I feel I am part of that. I want to continue to contribute to that challenge and keep the base at that high level,” Gonzales explained.
“Even if we didn’t win any awards during some years, we’ve done so many things that are different than the rest of the Marine Corps that was to the benefit of the Marine Corps or the base,” she said.
Gonzales said some of her most personally rewarding work happened when she was an advisor to the base. “When I was in the Employee and Labor Relations area I had to be the advocate for the Department of the Navy and defend the base against third parties,” she said.
But during and after that period in her career, Gonzalez said she has worked every job available in Human Relations. “I’ve been in labor and employee relations, I’ve been in staffing employee development, and I’ve been in the (Equal Employment Opportunity) area. That’s the gamut of an HRO world and career,” she said.
“Being in charge of each one of the areas gives you a good feeling,” Gonzales explained. “You’ve seen the fruits of your guidance and advice and how it has helped the base.”
“Now that I’m retiring I’ll be going to more family and church events without having to worry about whether they conflict with work,” she said.
Gonzales said she will miss the people and job. “There are so many challenges and you want to be able to help out and continue to help to get the job done,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 07.28.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.15.2016 14:36 |
| Story ID: | 207146 |
| Location: | BARSTOW, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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