Jun 1, 2010 By Herald Standard Staff 4 min read

Former Uniontown resident Bernard Quarrick recently observed his 40th anniversary working for National Geographic, even though it wasn’t his first choice for a place to work. Quarrick, a 1966 graduate of North Union High School, said he originally applied for a job with the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade, Md., following graduation from Penn State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree.

However, when he went for an interview, his cousin’s husband, who worked at National Geographic, suggested he also fill our a job application at the magazine.

“Though I had really hoped to get the NSA position, an offer never materialized. But as luck would have it, the National Geographic Society called and offered me a job as a proofreader after I had successfully passed their test,” Quarrick said.

“I decided to take the position temporarily until I could find something better back in western Pennsylvania. That never happened in 40 years, although I regularly searched the Pittsburgh Press and Herald-Standard classifieds for the first 10 years or so, which was hard to do from 200 miles away, well before the Internet,” he added.

On April 27, Quarrick celebrated his 40th anniversary of employment at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. Chairman of the Board Gilbert Grosvenor personally congratulated Quarrick after presenting him with a 40-year pin. Quarrick manages the imaging department at the society’s headquarters.

Quarrick, who attended classes at Penn State Fayette from 1966 to 1968 before transferring to the main campus at State College, majored in journalism and advertising.

“I moved up in the typographic department at National Geographic to various production and supervisory roles. Eventually I became manager, and saw my department evolve into pre-press services and then into imaging after merging with the photolab.

“I still hold the manager’s title, dealing with budgets, purchasing and personnel, but like to keep a hand in production, including my passion for proofreading and the well-written word,” Quarrick said.

He added, coincidentally, that “the vice president I report to at National Geographic, Hans Wegner, spent his youth at the Bruderhof community in Farmington and is a 1962 Uniontown High graduate.”

Quarrick said he has talked and worked with many talented people at the society, “writers, editors, photographers and designers who create one of the most widely read and well respected publications in the world in National Geographic magazine.

“I’ve had the chance to meet people I never dreamed of meeting: Dr. Robert Ballard, who discovered the sunken Titanic; Sir Edmund Hillary, who conquered Mt. Everest; fellow Penn State alumnus Steve McCurry, who took the haunting photograph of the Afghan girl; and writer-photographer Luis Marden, who found the shipwreck of the Bounty.

“I’m amazed that I can receive a first-name hello from our current chairman of the board of trustees, (Gilbert M.) Grosvenor, whose family association with the Geographic goes back to 1899; his great-grandfather was Alexander Graham Bell.

“And yet I still consider Uniontown ‘home,’ often singing the praises of the history and the scenery on the western edge of my native state,” he said. Quarrick added that, “On the drive from the Baltimore-Washington area, to me there’s no more thrilling sight than cresting Summit Mountain and seeing Uniontown spread out in the valley below. I still have a brother, John Quarrick, and a sister, Libby Simko, plus several cousins, in town. My wife’s two brothers, both well known around Hopwood, are Jim Tobal and Mike Tobal,” he said.

But the best thing about Uniontown, Quarrick added, “is that it is where I met my lovely wife, the former Eileen Tobal; we were classmates at North Union. She has been a pre-school teacher for the past 23 years in Severna Park, Md. Together we have raised two children in Millersville, Md., ironically, very close to Fort Meade: Susan, 35, is employed by the Maryland State Department of Juvenile Services, and Matthew, 30, works for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C.”

While continuing his work at National Geographic, Quarrick also finds time for other interests. He serves as a eucharistic minister and on the development-finance committee at his parish church; edits and publishes a community newsletter; and avidly follows “the Steelers, Penguins, and, yes, the Pirates.

“These four decades have passed more quickly than I realized they would. But interesting journeys are like that. I’m proud to say I work at National Geographic. And I’m just as proud to say I’m from Uniontown, Pa.,” he said.