Dexter Gretchen
A Day in the Life of Dexter Gretchen may see him driving any of three trucks on campus, picking up cardboard and paper for recycling, transporting furniture or making a delivery for UVic Printing Services. He has been a utility truck driver in facilities management for the past 13 years, and worked for five years before that on the janitorial staff.
Dexter is one of six drivers who are kept busy all year. “My run is the whole campus,” he says. “I like the variety. You never know what’s coming at you—moving a heavy surplus freezer that is too big for the elevator or coming face to face with a rat in a garbage bin. We’ll take care of it: we’re not the cause, we’re the cure.”
The best thing about his job is the diversity of people he meets. “I go to school every day and get paid for it—and I get a wealth of knowledge.” An avid amateur astronomer, Dexter says, “If I have an astronomy question, I’ll go ask David Balam [physics and astronomy].”
He likes meeting and encouraging students. “You see a person coming right out of Grade 12 starting university, it takes them four years to do their BA and you see how they mature,” he explains. “If they stay for their MA, when mortarboard time comes along, they’ve been here maybe eight years. You can say ‘Well done’ to them. It’s satisfying to see them succeed. Then they fly the coop and you don’t see them any more.”
Born in Victoria and raised in Swan River, Manitoba, Dexter grew up in the country. He lives on top of the Malahat within walking distance of Spectacle Lake—“my swimming pool” he calls it. Depending on the weather, he takes out his telescope and scans the skies. His uncle bought him a small telescope when Dexter was about nine years old. “The first time I looked at the moon and saw the craters, I was hooked,” he says. Now he does astronomical photography and has photographs of comets, polar star trails and the aurora borealis on the web.
He is also an advanced scuba diver, loves to travel and has a greenhouse. “I feel very fortunate to work at UVic for what it offers: a park-like atmosphere and the people you get to meet. You can’t beat it.”
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