If one happens to run that pontoon boat up on a stump, or need a propeller guard or skeg or anti-cavitation plate repaired  (it can happen) one will likely end up trailering the boat and dropping it off with Sandra Livingston. The Lake Fork resident has been repairing aluminum boats for 20 years. 

In fact, it was almost exactly 20 years ago when the then-Mineola Monitor visited with Livingston. At that time she had recently relocated to a home on the Birch Creek Branch of Lake Fork.

Arriving to her shop today, one is greeted by a pack of former strays which have found a safe refuge. The dogs, each of them happy and welcoming, walked in and out during the interview. Livingston addressed each by their name.

Parked next to the welding shop were two active repair jobs: a pontoon boat that had one of its pontoons creased and requiring repairs, and a traditional bass-boat requiring a skeg repair. 

A trailered 1980 Lincoln welding machine stood between the shop and the house.

“Still runs like a champ,” Livingston commented, “and I use her quite a bit.” That was surely an understatement. 

The sense one gets when speaking with Livingston is that business from local fishermen keeps her plenty busy.

“I’ve been lucky to have built a reputation that now brings work to me,” she explained, “I seldom go on the road for a repair job these days.”

That reputation, which now brings the work to her, was hard-earned. As readers may recall, Livingston enrolled in a welding program at the Fort Worth Skills Center. That was in 1972, when she was trying to find a way to provide for her two young children.

Breaking into the field was tough. She was tougher. After many rejections, she got hired at Hobbs Trailers in Fort Worth. That began a career as a welder, a skill which was refined by taking up the specialization of aluminum welding. 

Livingston’s easy manner makes a discussion of her profession a trip down memory lane, highlighted by a self-depreciating antidote or two. In Livingston’s story-telling it is easy to be simply entertained and miss the great messages contained within the stories. 

Several lessons can be drawn from Livingston’s experience. First and foremost is the belief in self. A refrain of “I can do this” surfaces over and over in her dialogue.

In fact, it was having to get a propeller repaired, and having to go to Longview to get it done, which led her to aluminum welding.  

“You have to be able to take the risk to try,” she commented. She described how a willingness to learn, a willingness to ask, involves some degree of personal risk.

However, if one has the desired outcome in mind, it can make that level of risk acceptable. 

Livingston’s perspective on improving one’s standing is remarkably simple.

“If you want something badly enough, you just have to keep knocking on doors,” she  said.

What was not stated, but was obvious by looking around her welding shop, was that with persistence comes a ton of hard work.

That appreciation for hard work and penchant for improving one’s circumstance comes directly from her father, who received minimal schooling before having to venture out to earn a wage.

“He was a jack-of-all-trades,” she explained, “and taught us to go out and be asked to be taught.”

Livingston shakes her head when recounting how she has heard young people state that they will not try something out of fear of making mistakes.

“You are going to make mistakes,” she offered, “you just can’t be afraid of anything.” 

She shared two great examples from her early work history. Once, while delivering concrete (she ran a one-person concrete factory for a while in Adams, Neb.), she ended up encasing a storage trailer in concrete. On another occasion she took out a gas station’s fuel pumps with an articulated tractor and didn’t realize it until the station called the office.

She laughed, “You just have to keep going.”

It should be noted that running a concrete factory resulted from experience driving a concrete truck. Driving a concrete truck was possible because she earned a commercial driver’s license to drive a school bus. 

In 1998, upon buying the home on Birch Creek, Livingston decided to stay put. She opened a welding service and would weld whatever came through the door. After going to Longview to get a prop repaired for her fishing boat, she made plans to attend an aluminum welding class in Missouri.  

“My recommendation for anyone interested in welding is to become specialized – aluminum, titanium, magnesium, stainless steel. There is a real need for aluminum welders today; for some reason people are intimidated by it,” she remarked.       

Being on the shores of one of the best bass lakes in the nation is a good place for an aluminum welding specialist.

“I am lucky in that I don’t have to advertise,” she stated, “it’s all word of mouth.”

While Livingston welcomes the opportunity to share her experiences of jumping into a unique field of work, she hasn’t found the proper venue to do so.

She added, “I do wish that the program which I used back in the early ‘70s was brought back. Paying that minimum wage while I earned a skill made all the difference.” 

For any young person uncertain about the future path, there is an amazing example of fortitude, dedication and bravery just up the road at Lake Fork.