The first career choice for many young boys would have something to do with a baseball, basketball, perhaps a career as an actor, maybe an astronaut.

From his earliest recollections, <strong>Dave Tyson</strong> was not interested in becoming a professional athlete or the star of stage and screen.

When he was a second-grader in Kankakee, he remembers being asked to write a paper about his future aspirations. The subject of his paper? Becoming an engineer and working for his father, Richard, and grandfather, Harold, and the Kankakee firm <strong>Tyson Engineering</strong>, which was founded in 1952.

“I wanted to work in the family business,” he said.

Tyson recently concluded a 49-year career — the vast majority of it with Tyson Engineering — where he not only cut his teeth as an engineer but also became its president in 1983.

Earlier this year, Tyson stepped away from his professional engineering career at the age of 71.

Between that second-grade paper and today, Tyson has been a fixture in <strong>Kankakee County</strong> and was often viewed as the go-to engineer within this region.

It’s a distinction he earned through his work within this local professional service institution for decades. He was honored recently by <strong>Robinson Engineering</strong> at a program at the <strong>Kankakee Country Club</strong>.

In addition to the firm, Tyson served as the consulting engineer to many municipalities, chief among them <strong>Kankakee</strong> and <strong>Bourbonnais</strong>.

Robinson merged with Tyson Engineering in 2014 and Tyson stayed with the firm until early this year.

<strong>Aaron Fundich</strong>, Robinson’s CEO, praised Tyson and noted he lived by three simple business ideals: Have pride in the community, remember engineering and surveying is a service industry, and always understand how important of a commodity integrity is.

“He has withstood all the changes,” Fundich said as he noted how the engineering profession, much like nearly all other professions, has drastically changed during the past 30 years.

“I am very honored to become part of this region and to have learned this region through Dave. He has left gigantic shoes to fill.”

Simply put, Fundich said, Tyson should be described as a “legend of Kankakee County.”

For sure.

Tyson actually began his engineering career long before he graduated from the <strong>University of Illinois</strong> in 1973.

He began working in the business as a youngster. By age 13, he was already working at job sites and was even driving vehicles.

The 1969 graduate of <strong>Kankakee Eastridge High School</strong>, recalled his first “professional” job was helping design and then overseeing the construction of a four-lane extension of <strong>East Brookmont Boulevard</strong>.

Talk about being thrown into the deep end of the pool.

Some folks around here may not remember, but that approximate half-mile stretch of roadway connecting <strong>Illinois 50</strong> and <strong>Schuyler Avenue</strong> was not always there.

Tyson put his nose to the grindstone and helped lead the project from start to finish. There were undoubtedly some sleepless nights, but Tyson noted it was his baptism into professional engineering.

As it always has been with Tyson, he attempted to deflect the praise. He has never been one to seek the spotlight. Tyson’s method has always been to let the firm’s work do the talking.

“It’s been a great career. But it’s not about what I did, but what ‘we’ did,” he said. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you.”

And like so many others who have spent their lives growing their profession, growing their business, Tyson said it is past time to turn inward and spend more time with family.

During his ownership tenure, Tyson grew his engineering firm — which was started by his father and grandfather — from six employees to 35.

Tyson was asked why he stepped away from his career at 49 years rather than one more year to reach the magical 50-year mark?

In typical Tyson fashion, he said he wasn’t thinking about milestones.

“It was just time,” he said.

Tyson has been serving as the part-time executive director of the Kankakee Regional Metropolitan Agency for the past couple of years. He will remain in that role.

On a personal note, Tyson was one of the most gracious people to work with during my career. There was never a question too small or too large for Dave to explain.

He would stay after a <strong>Kankakee City Council</strong> meeting or on the telephone for as long as it took for this reporter to understand what would be taking place with the particular project set to take place.

Seated near Tyson for many years at council meetings, Dave would often shoot me a glance when a discussion started to go off the rails.

Despite whatever chaos may have taken place, he was always willing to answer questions and most often with a smile.

Enjoy family (and golf) time, Dave. You’ve earned it.