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Wlaf1450By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Campbell County Rotarian Larry Tanis (pictured above) guest spoke at Tuesday’s Rotary Club luncheon held at the LaFollette Methodist Church.
As part of Rotary under the leadership of new club president Sharon Wilson, a Rotary member will address the Club as a guest speaker once a month.
“I want us to be engaged in meaningful fellowship. Each month, I want a Rotarian to be the guest speaker for one of our meetings. Larry Tanis has graciously agreed to be our first speaker. We have so many wonderful members and I look forward to getting to know each of you better!” Wilson said
Tanis spoke about his long career as an engineer with the Alcoa Aluminum Company.
He worked for Alcoa for around 35 years, “mostly in supervision.” He retired around 2004.
When he went to work for Alcoa “at that time, it was the fourth largest company in America.”
While working for the Alcoa Aluminum Company, he and his wife moved around 12 times following career opportunities with the company. Tanis has lived and worked all over the country and the world.
He is from Michigan originally and lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for about 20 years, Los Angeles, California for about 20 years, as well as overseas.
As an engineer, he worked in different sectors for the company, including health and safety for Alcoa where he investigated safety accidents and fatal events.
“Years ago when I investigated these, I always carried a mirror in my briefcase and when you investigate these cases, you always wrap up with the operation managers, and I would say, I think I have found the root cause of this accident and I would hold out the mirror and say you are the root cause,” Tanis said, adding that working in the health and safety department impacted his life profoundly.
Tanis also “worked on total quality management and to help establish corporate values.”
“Never compromise on integrity; the greatest management book is the Bible, and I am not going to compromise my values. If your values are not the same as your company’s, you are in the wrong place,” Tanis said.
During the latter part of his career, he took a six-year assignment in Europe, he and his family were in Germany for three years, and Switzerland for three years.
He wanted to be transferred back to America and the company wanted him to stay in Europe, so that is when he retired.
According to Tanis things were different living overseas after the 9/11 attack, and he wanted to move back to the United States.
He had a poignant dream of living on a lake and began the search for the perfect lake.
“After retirement I selfishly moved here for the lake and lake house, but I realized quickly what a wonderful community it is,” Tanis said.
He and his wife are involved in multiple organizations such as Rotary, Campbell United, Shepherds Home, and other charitable organizations and said that Campbell County is home.
“I just love the community, I love the people, it’s home.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-07/02/2025-6AM)