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Michael Raymond
Michael Raymond has done his best not to remain stagnant in his career and life. Though he’s always returned to Bozeman, he’s also lived and worked in Alaska and Idaho.
Throughout his over four decade long engineering career, Raymond has made a point to seek out new training and changed his discipline within the field a few times working on everything from agricultural irrigation systems to overseeing boat harbor construction.. of his career, Raymond and his partner started their own engineering consulting firm, Kenai Engineering, which did reclamation planning and permitting for quarries and gravel pits. “Being in business was really the right move,” he said. “It allowed us to do a lot of different things.” Raymond said he is particularly proud of the reclamation projects they completed. “We’ve taken a piece of property that was really left kind of ugly and turned it into an asset.” and provide an essential service to the community by taking on a new challenge. In addition to his volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, Gallatin Gardeners Club and Meals on Wheels, Raymond has volunteered for twelve years with the AARP Tax Aide Program. The program provides free tax preparation to single taxpayers, working families and senior citizens. Prior to this he’d only completed his own personal taxes. Now, he acts for the organization as the Montana tax aide training coordinator. “It gave me something to do that’s really fun and helps people,” he said. “I think at first I was looking for something for me, but after I saw how important it was I stuck with it.” He and the other volunteers “really go out of our way” to find every credit and dedication possible for the taxpayers, which makes a major impact, he said. “When you hear people who get a good refund say things like, ‘now I can go get my dental work done,’ it hits home,” he said. “We’ve seen people that really just are thankful. I’m really proud that we’ve risen to the point that we do really good work and have a reputation for it.”
