Brian Keith Wall was an integral part of the PACE family for 25 years, serving as Vice-President and Chief Mechanical Engineer.   He retired from the firm in 2019 and set sail with his devoted wife Cindy on numerous memorable sailing adventures.  Sadly, Brian passed peacefully into eternity on February 16, 2023.  His legacy lives on in the many lives he touched throughout the engineering community.  His impact is best described by the following statements of the PACE team members. …

“Brian was sharp.  He was smart. He was deliberate.  He was hard-working and he was direct.  He was a gentleman and he was a man of faith. He also was a man of few very words. … but when he brought forth those words … everyone listened.  He had a better grasp of the English language than perhaps anyone I knew in the engineering field.” 

“He challenged us to be sharp as well.”

“ … he was, hands down the smartest mechanical engineer that I’ve ever worked with.  He was a private man and rarely shared his private life in the office.  We all got to know him best in the car travelling to a jobsite or over a salad for lunch.”

“ … always went above and beyond.  He occasionally could be stern and didn’t sugar-coat things.   People respected him for his direct approach.”

“He was very Humble, he’d never let us embellish or stretch a resume.   We occasionally asked him to write a project description for the marketing efforts …. His writing was amazing!” 

“  … his love for Cindy, Sarah, and Bryce was quite evident.   It’s funny now, but not at the time, when he fell off the pier and into the water at the shipyard while attempting to remove a manhole cover.” 

“I’ve been blessed with some really good mentors in my engineering career,  … and Brian was the best.  He was the “gold Standard”.  He had a way of focusing on what’s important, the things that really mattered and did not nit-pic the details that did not matter.” 

“I came to PACE as a college student and considered Brian a professor.  Whenever we’d ride to a jobsite he wouldn’t play the car radio he’d quiz me on Brake-Horse-Power or the refrigeration cycle.”

“My first impression of Brian was of him being almost impersonal, but I soon realized that his teaching and mentorship was his way of being personal.  …..  the simplest solution is usually the best solution, … when you make a mistake, be sure your reaction is not another mistake.”

“He was fearless in attacking the unknown, evidenced by his and Cindy’s sailing journey to the Bahamas.  He wasn’t afraid of anything.  He knew there are multiple ways to skin a cat and gave you much leeway in your designs.  He gave you enough rope to prove yourself … or to hang yourself.  When he was at work … he was working.  He was much more hands on than most engineers.  You would see him on a ladder above the ceiling purging the well fields or replacing pumps, …  he was a good mechanic and a good craftsman.”

“He taught me everything I know.  He was an encyclopedia of knowledge, always interested in my family and how things were going at home.”

“The more you worked with him, the more you get to know just how good he was.”

“His faith was evident in all he said and did.  He was always a true friend, listening to my crazy ideas, overlooking my shortcomings, forgiving me when necessary, never judging me, and encouraging me with a level-headed, well-grounded, and well-timed response.    My life has been vastly improved because of him.    I believe that he may have done more to elevate the stature of PACE than any other single member of the team.”