Remembering Mitch
Mitch Lamons started at Athena Engineering in 2004 as a truck driver. He became our General Superintendent, the person you put on a job when it absolutely had to get finished. He drove down from Hesperia to wherever the work was, usually the farthest of anyone, and he was always the first one there.
His card on The Crew page says “You want me to do WHAT?” That was Mitch. He never complained, he always griped, and he always did the work damn well.
The shortcuts
Athena Chiera’s first job out of college was out at NASA, and it mostly involved fixing Mitch’s computer shortcuts. She’d fix them, he’d break them, and they’d do it all again the next week. Then Siri came out and things got worse. Anyone who worked with him can still hear him yelling “Hey Siri” at his phone and cursing at whichever laptop or iPad had wronged him that day.
He never believed in social media. His idea of staying in touch online was emailing everyone memes. (He’d roll his eyes at this whole page.)
Retirement didn’t take
Mitch retired in 2023 and made it about four months before coming back part-time, with Fridays off for fishing and his garden. He loved the work. Go through his pictures and he’s in his Athena letterman jacket in almost every one. He earned it with his years here and wore it like it meant something, because to him it did.
Off the clock it was the Raiders, NASCAR, fishing, and that garden. When we made his caricature, the Raiders, the race track, and the tomatoes all had to be in it. It wouldn’t have looked like Mitch otherwise.
Still on the crew
He was fair with everybody, fiercely loyal to the people he loved, and kinder than he’d ever admit. And he never once left Athena’s office without saying, “Love you, girl.”
Mitch passed away in October 2026. We’re not taking him off The Crew page. Twenty-two years earns you a permanent spot.
To Cheryl and the Lamons family: thank you for sharing him with us all those years, and for making sure we had the chance to say goodbye. Now it’s our turn to show up for you the way he always showed up for us.
Love you, Mitch. Your shortcuts are fine.
