Joseph J. Eglin

1918 - 2009

Joseph J Eglin In Loving Memory 1918 - 2009 Entered into Rest on August 2, 2009 in Bakersfield, California. Joe Eglin was born in Springfield, Illinois on May 9, 1918. He worked many jobs and missed many football games in order to meet the expenses of attending the University of Illinois, earning a BS Degree in Chemical Engineering. After his graduation, he moved to beautiful Los Angeles where the air was clear and the ocean blue. He was "fixed up" on a date with a girl named Bea by his cousin who was also with a girl named Bea. As Joe was sitting in the back seat with Bea, the Bea in the front seat was glancing back at Joe. She liked what she saw. The next day, Joe asked his cousin if it would be alright to call Bea and the cousin gave his consent. Bea and Joe were married three months later on May 5, 1942. They were married 54 years until Bea passed away in 1996. While in the Los Angeles area, Joe began his career with Baroid Drilling Fluids as a Mud Engineer with frequent assignments in the growing oil industry in Bakersfield, CA. Joe would tell Bea of the beautiful nights in Bakersfield and finally convinced her to move there. She would tell the story for years afterwards that she cried for the first two years when she had to leave her beautiful Los Angeles. But, as so many others, she grew to love Bakersfield. As the area grew in Oil Production, Joe saw the need for a local Laboratory that would test core samples. At that time, the samples were being sent to Los Angeles and the Bay Area. It was then that his dream to build the largest family-owned environmental laboratory in the Central Valley and Northern California began and became a reality in 1949. BC Laboratories, Inc. started as Bakersfield Core Laboratory in the single car garage of Bea and Joe's home on Quincy Street and specialized in analyzing oil well core samples. As the lab business began to grow, he added seven feet to the garage thus creating the ever expanding lab. In 1952 they built a new facility at 3016 Union Ave. Joe, a Chemical Engineer, did the analyses while Bea kept the Books and helped with Sample Testing as well as Latrine duty when necessary. They were a great team and worked together in unison with a combination of scientific innovation and business know-how. Today, BC Laboratories, Inc. is a State of the Art independent, full service environmental laboratory providing analytical testing in accordance with a variety of Federal and State Regulatory Programs. From a single car garage on Quincy St. to an 18,000 plus square foot Lab on Atlas Court with approximately 90 employees, Joe Eglin had reached his dream. He loved the lab business and when the Atlas Court Lab opened, the pride showed in his eyes. He saw no reason for people to retire and so he worked every single work day until his 90th Birthday. He was a remarkable and honest man, with a tremendous work ethic and unmatched integrity. His son Rich stated "My father taught me how to work and work ethically with good habits. Any bad habits I had are all my doing and I am grateful that after having lost a business, he let me work as his employee and learn how to work correctly. I am so grateful for the chance he gave to me. I was able to grow up, and his lessons will stay with me always." Joe is survived by his daughter, Carolyn Jackson; son, Rich Eglin and wife Christy; sisters, Mary Eglin, Hannah Nemeth and husband Leonard; nephew, Michael Nemeth and son Jeffrey; niece, Lynn Stuart and husband Zack; and faithful dog Louie. Services to be at Hillcrest Memorial Park on August 6, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your favorite charity.