Heard, leaving how he arrived

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
After working almost 45 years for AEDC at Arnold, software engineer Tommie Heard is crossing over to test the retirement waters.

As he sat in the Administration and Engineering building lobby for the last time, he remembered how it all started for him at AEDC – in the lobby.

“I came to AEDC with a friend who had an interview,” he said. “While I waited in the A&E lobby for my friend, the man conducting the interview approached me and asked if I wanted to interview. I wasn’t looking for a job when I came here.”

Heard remembered that he wasn’t dressed for an interview because he wore bell-bottom jeans and a large afro. He was offered a job and began working as a technical assistant July 16, 1972.

Heard is a resident of Murfreesboro. His last day at AEDC was June 23.