November 12, 2024

On Oct. 12, 2024, members of the UCLS, WFPS directors and family gathered at the Santa Clara, Utah, cemetery to honor the life of Ron Whitehead, who unexpectedly passed away on Sept. 25, 2023. The gathering was a celebration of Ron’s life and his achievements in the profession, and it included the setting of a Final Point Monument at his headstone to commemorate his legacy and final resting place.

Chris Donoghue received the 2023 Surveyor of the Year award this past spring. Chris has served as the Salt Lake chapter president and the liaison for the Education Committee. This year, he took on the responsibilities of the Education Committee and is now chair.

Trent Williams was honored with the prestigious Surveyor of the Year award for 2022, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the surveying profession. As the chair of the Education Committee, Trent played a pivotal role in overseeing the Fall Forum, where he successfully tailored the event toward the Certified Surveyor Technician program and recruited industry professionals

As I begin this report, I want to take a moment to honor and dedicate it to my predecessor on the WFPS board, Ron Whitehead. Since my last report, as many of you already know, Ron passed away on Sept. 25, 2023. Before I took over, Ron served as your representative to the WFPS for more than 20 years. While we don’t know the exact duration, we estimate it was over two decades of dedicated service to UCLS through WFPS — along with countless other contributions to the profession, not only in Utah but throughout the West and across the country. When people describe someone as the “salt of the earth,” Ron truly embodied that phrase.

In an effort to become a better surveyor, I applied for a geomatics degree from Utah Valley University in 2018. As part of the coursework, I was asked to prepare an investigative report on surveying history in Utah, and I decided to research the Old Spanish Trail. My research was personally enlightening and provided insight into my role as a land surveyor.

Overview I arrived early to support the Student Competition and the UVU team in particular since they were the only school competing from Utah. The same type and style of competition was held, with a scavenger hunt on the first day and three field survey events on the second day. Namely, there was a triangulation