San Isabel Electric Chief Operating Officer Darryl Stewart retired in April after more than 40 years of service to the electric industry. Most SIEA members-owners don’t personally know Darryl, but his work has impacted their lives during his 10 years at San Isabel Electric. When hired, his main goal was to reduce outage frequency and duration. Thanks to his strategic leadership, SIEA member-owners now experience about 60% less time without electricity compared to a decade ago.
“When Darryl came to SIEA he shifted our focus from building new infrastructure to prioritizing system protection, maintenance, and improving our pole replacement and tree trimming cycles,” General Manager Ryan Elarton said.
Today, the average SIEA member is without electricity only about 80 minutes every year; this is one of Darryl’s proudest achievements. At a recent company-wide event, he had a chance to share some parting words. He joked, “I’d like to take credit for it, and I probably do when you’re not around, but it takes a lot of people to get those minutes down. I thank everyone that helped lower those [outage] numbers. Everyone involved helped me accomplish that goal I was given direction on.”
“I might seem like a grouchy old man at times, but that’s because I am,” he joked. “Forgive my cantankerousness but I really have enjoyed it. SIEA is the best place I’ve ever worked. I’ve worked with the best people. I appreciate everyone here and I thank you for having me as part of the team.”
One of Darryl’s most vivid memories was working the Spring Fire in 2018.
“I hadn’t been a part of something like that. Not that big,” he reflected.
Few realize lineworkers regularly enter evacuation zones alongside firefighters to make areas safe for emergency crews. Watching tree trimmers return after long days behind fire lines, covered in soot but grinning, stuck with him. “They were the dirtiest, the last to come in, the youngest, and the happiest. They loved the work and being part of something bigger.”
Employees have plenty of Darryl stories—especially of his good humor. But Darryl said that’s nonsense. “Oh, I don’t joke around,” he said. “I can’t really do stuff like that in my position.”
If you’ve read this far, you know better. Engineering and Operations Administrative Assistant Tara Reese recalls a funny moment: A repair crew was fixing an exterior door, unaware that Darryl was secretly relocking it
every time they unlocked it. After several confusing lock-unlock cycles, he finally let them in and fessed up.
Darryl wasn’t always the prankster—sometimes, he was the target. At one point, someone started hiding inflatable holiday decorations in coworkers’ offices. A now late lineworker and a co-worker decided to copy the idea, stuffing an inflatable so large into Darryl’s office that it completely filled the space between his desk and the wall. To this day, he blames the person in the adjacent office—despite their repeated denials.
Pressed about his good humor, he teased, “My biggest prank might come on April Fool’s Day,” — the same day he was set to retire. But in the end, it wasn’t a joke—April 1 was truly Darryl’s last day at SIEA. “When my wife told my son, he said, ‘Aw, that’s such a dad thing!’”
As a man of deep faith, Darryl is grateful for the Good Lord and how God has always been good to him. In retirement, he’s looking forward to moving to the Denver area to be closer to his children and grandkids— he plans on growing a Santa beard for them around the holidays. He also looks forward to sleeping in, and—most importantly—doing what he wants, when he wants.
Thank you, Darryl, for your decade of service at SIEA. You will be missed, but we all wish you the best in your retirement.
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