1981-1990
In 1981, the coffee pot at 950 Fawcett Avenue was likely to overcook, leaving a ring of coffee sediment baked to the bottom. Fifteen structural engineers at the firm of Chalker Engineers were busy making their mark in Tacoma. The engineers hunched over worktables pencil sketching structural designs onto large mylar sheets, careful to brush off pencil findings with horsehair brushes. Business was good. There were five phone lines, a full rolodex, and plenty of message pads.
Twenty-two-year-old Debbie Smith was fresh out of business college and Yakima, Washington. She was eager to make her mark too. Debbie learned through a friend who played basketball with Ray Chalker that the firm was looking for a secretary.
Debbie got an interview. From the corner office with views of Mount Rainier, Ray Chalker got to the point. “He asked me if I had worked with blueprints,” remembers Debbie.” I knew what blueprints were … I’d heard of them.” They hired Debbie, the second of two on the administration team. From the wood desk near the front door, Debbie would learn all there was to know about blueprints.
After the designers finished their design sketches, Debbie typed the general notes onto transfer paper. The notes were then cut and pasted — literally — onto the mylar sketches. She then ran the sketches through the printer to create the blueprint. Each and every page. Debbie hoisted heavy mylar stacks to tidy and feed into the printer. Projects like the Tacoma Dome were 46 sheets and multiple copies.
Proposals and reports were typed manually. Each edit required the entire page to be retyped. Debbie navigated notes that ran through the margins of the page, and retyped each document, sometimes two or three times. Then came the game-changing Correcting Selectric Typewriter with interchangeable balls for 10-pitch or 12-pitch font sizes. The Selectric allowed the typist to ditch correction fluid and make edits as they typed. It also provided interchangeable balls of different font sizes and styles.
Firm projects were tracked in a spiral notebook. On her handy Selectric, Debbie typed two index cards for each firm project: one card by client name and one by project name, so projects could be cross referenced.
In 1983, the iconic Tacoma Dome imprinted itself on the Tacoma skyline. It was the first and largest post-tensioned dome in the world and was engineered by Chalker Engineers. The final glulam spoke was displayed to the public for signatures before installation. In July of ’82, Debbie added her name, the name of her fiancé, Rick, and the date of their impending wedding.
After the Dome was completed, the staff of Chalker Engineers toured the structure. “We climbed to the stair above the top bleacher leading to the catwalk.” The tour reached the final caged ladder up to the area beneath the cupola. “I wore a wool skirt and boots and climbed up the ladder. I was so scared, but I wanted to get up there.” Debbie looked for her name at the top of the Dome.
After nine years and two months and miles of mylar prints, Debbie — now Debbie Shaffer — took time out to care for three young children and an aging mom.
1999-2005
Kids in school and mom in full-time care, Debbie was ready to jump back into the workplace. “I called Dan Putnam.” Debbie had watched Dan Putnam, Jim Collins, and Don Scott start off as young engineers and move into leadership positions. In 1999, the firm would add their names to the stationary, Chalker, Putnam, Collins & Scott.
The firm brought Debbie on as an administrative assistant. “There was a huge learning curve with new technology,” says Debbie. Tech had moved at a brisk pace and included email, printing structural designs directly to paper, and the first compact computers. “They dropped a big three-ring binder on my desk called Word Perfect.” She learned the program and memorized the four rows of hot key functions printed out on a neat keyboard overlay.
It can’t be overstated that personal computers changed e-ver-y-thing. The drudgery of total retypes was gone. Admin staff could now move in and out of edits and font choices fluidly. This was about the time that administration took on a new function — marketing. AEC marketers might be interested to know that these admin professionals were the progenitors of what would become the AEC marketing profession. “We had these fancy black folders with gold script on the outside. We put the resumes, project profiles, and fee proposals in the inside pockets.
Five years and seven months later, Debbie took a new job opportunity with a Tacoma developer, Greinger Developers, furthering her skills and knowledge of the AEC industry.
2009-2025
Four years later, Putnam Collins Scott Associates called Debbie and offered her a new position as office manager. She took it. “I loved the people,” says Debbie. “From the very start they were so considerate and respectful. I felt valued and knew it was different.” This third stint would see Debbie through another sixteen years and five months and one more name change — PCS Structural Solutions. Of her administration team, Debbie remarks that “we were IT, admin, marketing, and clean-up crew.”
2025-
Debbie Shaffer is retiring. She’s seen the firm through three company name changes, a staff grown to sixty-one members, and technology from mylar to AI. Her husband, Rick Shaffer, will retire soon as well. Their three kids are grown, and now there are grandbabies on board who will get the full benefit of a grandma with more than a few stories to tell.
For thirty-one years and two months, Debbie managed the multitude of details it took to run a busy and successful structural engineering firm. She moved through the transformations of a rapidly changing AEC industry and adapted to the lightning speed advancements in technology. Her commitment and dedication allowed a talented group of engineers to do what they do best. “I was always so proud to say what our firm had accomplished,” says Debbie. “You look over your life and wonder if you made a mark.”
Yes, Debbie Shaffer. You absolutely did. You’re woven into thirty-one years of the company’s history. You may not have signed a glulam spoke for every project PCS did, but your mark is there, nonetheless.