I met Chris on a work trip to Fullerton, CA around 2013 or so, but it wasn't until we started working together in Virginia that we really got to know each other. We were in the middle of a hellish schedule to open a road which involved nights, weekends, and holidays to get everything up and running. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off during the day, and by 9:30 at night, the only open restaurant really close to the site was the Sugar Palm, a Thai restaurant that was the only game in town unless eating at the Shell station was your idea of a good time. I literally can't tell you how many times we ate there (and chatted about life outside of toll roads), and often, went right back to work for many more hours of 'oh-my-go-I-hope-our-poor-system-stops-crashing-and-burning-so-we-can-get-this-road-open'. Like soldiers in a foxhole, we sat at our computers troubleshooting, writing reports, testing, sharing gallows humor, and mostly focused on the job while idly chatting about travel, California, and a trip he was going to take somewhere in Asia (maybe Korea?) that had him working at a feverish pace to get his stuff done so he didn't have anything hanging over his head on his trip. I was amazed at his work and people skills, and as we wrapped up those projects around 2015, we went our separate ways.
Fast forward to late 2019-ish, and I got a call that I'd be working with Chris again, but this time on a project in Indiana. I knew the client was in great hands with him as part of the team and he was a fun guy to work with. We literally picked up our conversation right where we left off, talking about random stuff as we worked side-by-side. Whether it was in Indiana or on the phone on account of COVID, we talked almost daily, and in that couple of years we got to know each other really well. We had some great dinners together, shared random birthdays on the road, and always enjoyed talking technology, client stuff, world affairs, future plans, retirement, travel, and our loved ones. We both would serendipitously stumble on cool things to do in Indiana and share our newfound knowledge for the other to try the next time they went out to the site.
I was completely shocked when I found out he passed, and my heart ached for all of the family that I 'knew', but never met. It seems like joie de vivre runs in the family DNA and there was always a new adventure just around the corner with Chris- how could he possibly be gone when he still had so much to see, do, and experience? I can say with conviction that anyone who met Chris is a better person- his humility, wisdom, and unflappable demeanor are so rare in this world, and every time we'd hang up the phone or I saw him in action, I thought to myself, "If we could all be a little more like Chris, the world would be a better and fairer place."
My most sincere condolences to Jess and the entire Szikszoy clan - we're all so lucky to have had him in our lives, and his spirit lives on every time we try something new, help someone out, stand up for what's right, or simply enjoy a cocktail on a patio in a new city and take in the scenery.