A Life of Service: Jeff Leach Retires from ATC
After nearly 17 years as ATC’s Mechanic and Facilities Maintenance Technician Jeff Leach is preparing to hang up his coveralls for the last time. For someone who has spent most of his life working, fixing, and showing up where he was needed, retirement will mark a new change of pace.
At a young age, Jeff was already working in an official capacity moving irrigation lines. The job came with many demands, but one simple rule taught him the value of time: be there at 7 a.m. sharp. His boss, a retired member of the Air Force, ran a tight schedule, but for Jeff, that kind of structure was familiar.
Jeff comes from a long line of military veterans. His dad, his uncles, and later Jeff himself all served in the United States military. His dad was stationed in Istanbul, Turkey with the Air Force when Jeff was born, surrounding him with military influence from an early age.
After his dad left the Air Force, those early years brought some of Jeff’s favorite childhood memories. “Once my dad got out of the military, we moved to be closer to family in Tacoma, Washington, and my dad ended up getting a job in the park service at Rainier,” he said. “My cousins and I were loose, wild and free. We just ran in the woods. There were bears and everything else, but we didn’t care.”
The time in Tacoma was memorable, but it was Idaho where the family eventually settled. By the time Jeff graduated from Burley High School, the path forward was not entirely clear. College didn’t feel like the right fit. The military, however, did. “My dad did it, all my uncles had done it,” Jeff said. “I just wasn’t figuring out who I wanted to be in life. I didn’t want to go to college and just throw money away. It made sense to go into the military.”
Jeff enlisted in the Air Force and trained as an aircraft mechanic. After basic training, he was stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California, where he worked on C-5 and C-141 cargo planes, the largest aircrafts in the military. The job demanded precision and discipline. Every repair followed strict technical manuals. “If you were out working on an airplane and you were doing a specific job, you had to have the maintenance manual on the page of the task you were doing,” Jeff said. “If you weren’t on the right page they could write you up.”
While Jeff was building his career in the Air Force life at home was just beginning. He and his high school sweetheart, Carey, married young and started their family while living in California. Like many young couples starting out, the early years came with their share of challenges and tight finances. Jeff remembers the small compromises they had to make to get by. “There were trade-offs,” he said. “If we hand-washed my uniform instead of going to the laundromat, we could afford ice cream.”
Looking back, Jeff believes those moments shaped their future. "I think that’s some of the best things that ever happened because we learned how to manage our money,” he said. “Hence me retiring at an early age.”
After eight years in the Air Force, Jeff and Carey made the decision to return home to Idaho to be closer to family. Jeff went to work at the county landfill, where he spent the next 15 years maintaining and repairing heavy equipment. It was different work than aircraft maintenance, but the same mechanical instincts applied. Eventually, an opportunity opened up at ATC.
“When I got to ATC, they were in need of a maintenance mechanic,” Jeff said, recalling aging generators, cooling systems, and equipment that needed attention. Jeff dove right in, building preventive maintenance programs, replacing outdated systems, and improving reliability across ATC’s facilities. Over time, the systems he helped build became something he was proud of.
With his ATC chapter now coming to a close Jeff says he is looking forward to something he has rarely had, time without a schedule. “What I’m looking forward to most is not having the demand to be somewhere,” he said. In retirement he plans to spend time with his grandkids, help his son with his business, and be there for his parents. After decades of showing up where he was needed, from moving handlines as a boy to working on aircraft in the Air Force to maintaining systems at ATC, Jeff is ready for a routine of his own.
Congratulations and many thanks to Jeff for his years of hard work and dedication to ATC. His contributions have made a lasting impact on our company and will continue to benefit ATC for years to come. We wish him all the very best as he begins this next chapter in his life. – ATC Team
