Derward Myrick
Right after I retired from the Union Pacific Railroad in 1984 I decided to install a satellite receiver station. I received a dish, and a receiver as a gift from my son, who knew of my interest in this field. The equipment was not as substantial as I wanted, so I decided to build my own equipment. After scrounging around and finding old microwave equipment I managed to get a pretty fair signal. I was happy with the results anyway UNTIL I stopped by a small building, which someone had advised me was a place where Satellite equipment was manufactured. I walked in and introduced myself to a gentleman, and told him I was interested in seeing what he was doing. He very graciously took me around his facilty and explained the operation. I was quite impressed, for I expected nothing like that in Denham Springs. He showed me his equipment being assembled and then he had another rack with many receivers being tested before being shipped to customers. I was amazed at the quality of picture he was receiving and started asking him technical questions. After he found out I was educated in electronics, he really began to show me more about the equipment... Before I left his little factory I had decided to purchase one of his units. His equipment was modular, much like a modern day computer, with a motherboard and all the necessary components on individual plug in cards. This impressed me because most of the equipment on the market at that time was one large board with all the components mounted on the board. If one item went out more than likely you had to buy a whole new receiver or wait days to send it in for repair. Not so with this equipment, if the sound went out you simply unplugged the sound card, which had just a few components on it, repaired it or had it repaired and reinstalled it... same was true throughout the system... This is just a preamble for me to tell you of one of the most interesting people I have known. This gentleman is now one of my best friends and his name is Derward Myrick. Without doubt, he is one of the most innovative people I have ever met. If he had been born in the 19th century he would have been on an equal with Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, or Alexander Graham Bell. He has designed many things or improved on other peoples designs and has several patents to his credit. I could spend hours expounding on his technical abilities, but one of the things that impresses me most is his deep religious convictions. His is a quiet religion, not one to where he goes around psalm singing and turning people off by constantly quoting scripture and assuming that other people are lost sinners, with a personal mission to win them to his particular church group. Derward wins people to religion by practicing religion in his everyday life. There are so many people I have run across who profess and probably are Christians, but they seem to think that you should enjoy no other facet of life except to preach the gospel and seem to have lost any sense of humor. Not so with Derward, he loves a good joke, and is a practical joker. I have breakfast with him almost every Saturday morning and before he takes a bite he quietly bows his head and says a silent prayer of thanks. He never meets a stranger, or at least they are surely not strangers after they talk with him a few minutes. I have met many famous people in my life but have never met any more interesting than Derward Myrick.