Lead lineman carries on family tradition

Joey Ladner is in his 30th year with Mississippi Power, but this lead lineman knew from an early age that this was the job and the company for him.

That’s because Ladner is a second generation lineman. His father, Howard J. Ladner, Sr., a crew foreman, spent 37 years with the company.

“I had a better idea than the average person about the job,” Joey said.

Like his father, Joey is proud of the job he does and the linemen working beside him.

“It’s a brotherhood. We’re a close group and we look after each other. We care about each other. We all have families, and we want to send everyone home the way they came into work,” he said.

Ladner has seen the lineman’s job change from the time his father put on a hard hat. He remembers the men on his dad’s crew climbing power poles to make repairs.

“Dad had no bucket trucks. They climbed with hooks,” Joey said, adding that Hurricane Camille in 1969 changed that.

“Outside crews came with bucket trucks and Mississippi Power saw all the work that could be done from a bucket truck and started buying bucket trucks.”

In his three decades on the job, he has also seen changes in technology and how that has impacted customer service.

Whether it’s restoring power after a hurricane or maintaining the lines every day, Joey said he’s always touched by the gratitude of the customers he meets.

“It’s satisfying to restore power to people. Every day is different. Anything can happen.”