Lon Hemphill

Lon Hemphill began his career in the field of instrumentation in the army as a navigation equipment repairman. After 3 years in the army, he returned to his former job at the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant in Joliet, Illinois and transferred into the instrument department. The ammunition plant made their own acid, which was used to make TNT [ Tri Nitrated Toluene], and poured the TNT into the bomb casings. After 6 years there, he got a job in the instrument department at Honeywell in Metropolis, Illinois [ his home town]. Honeywell in Metropolis processes Uranium ore into UF6 [ Uranium Hexafluoride ] , the first step in the manufacturing of nuclear fuel rods for nuclear power plants. After 26 years at Honeywell as an instrument technician, he retired at age 54. Since that time he worked for Air Products in Calvert City, Kentucky as a replacement instrument technician for employees on medical leave and during shutdowns. He is presently working for Collier Associates contracted as an instrument designer at Honeywell in Metropolis to convert their 50 year old control system to DCS [ Distributive Control System] control.

Lon graduated high school in 1965. He received his electronics training in the army. He has taken any instrument training available whether by a manufacturers association at a local college or training offered by his employer. He has taken correspondence courses in industrial electronics and industrial instrumentation [ about 3 years each ]. By going to night school, he got his associates degree in 1973. About 5 years before he retired, he thought it would be a good thing if he could transfer what he had learned over the last 30 years to people new to the field of instrumentation, so they could build on what he had learned, and become  much better than he could ever hope to have been. So, he started going to night school and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Workforce Education and Development from Southern Illinois University in 1998. Since his retirement from Honeywell in 2001, he has been a substitute high school teacher for the state of Illinois. He also worked for Multi-Skills Training of Murray, Kentucky teaching instrumentation at Murray State University and onsite at Vanderbilt Chemical. He is certified by ISA as a CCST [ Certified Control System Technician ] Level III.