My name is Ricky Morris and this Labor Day 2023, I will be celebrating my 14th year in the Information Security field professionally. During my time studying the Cyber Security field and during my journey within it I’ve met many unique and incredibly talented individuals. Many who deserve recognition and appreciation for their accomplishments. Some of those people are no longer here physically to hear this but they will live on in my heart for the impact they made. Don’t ever forget our time here is not a guarantee. Cherish the positive moments and use everything as an opportunity for growth.
As I continue my “Tribute to the Techs” series, we rewind to before I was in the Cyber Security field. The year was 2007 and I was finishing up my various college degrees, the economy was heading into a recession, and I was planning to get married that summer. During those years, the idea of Information Security was bundled into a networking role at most organizations which all required years of experience. The Corpus Christi Police Department only had two Computer Forensics resources on staff who also both taught forensics at our college. Once I came to the realization of this, I started applying for anything related to the networking or technical fields as I also had two degrees in networking. I landed a job as a technician with a local internet service provider (ISP) Awesomenet covering internet service for rural parts of South Texas.
While working at that job, I met Leo Falcon, who was the head technician and installer for Awesomenet. He had been with Awesomenet for the majority of his professional career. We didn’t talk as much when I first met him as he usually had a booked calendar. However, a few months into my tenure I was promoted to a Tier 2 Administrator and moved into the same office as Leo. He became my Yoda and to him I was a young Padawan and trained under him. Leo helped to put concepts I learned in college into tangible concepts. He was a great teacher and always was professional but also had a funny side to him. I remember office pranks with Leo, myself and another Tier 2, Roy. One time, with his help, we remapped the keys on a coworker’s keyboard and it was hilarious when that said coworker sat at his desk.
One of my first impressions of Leo was how hardworking and multiskilled he was. As an installer he had to go up to some of the tallest buildings in Corpus Christi and install wireless towers. On the technical side, he was proficient in many different areas in our industry. One of the first projects I worked with him on was learning how to use Asterisk and PBX In a Flash. I came into this job proficient in Linux and got to help build out a VOIP phone system for the company.
The first house I lived in as an adult was a few houses down from Leo. On Christmas 2008, someone on too many drugs tried to break into our place – butt naked – and then started moving down towards Leo’s house. We both checked up on each other to make sure we were without incident that night, and he made some jokes about our potential nude intruder.
We talked on a daily basis during my final months with Awesomenet. Eventually, I made the decision to continue to pursue my dreams and left Awesomenet in 2008. Leo wrote a letter of recommendation for me even though it meant that my departure would mean more work for himself. I will never forget what he said about my work ethic, willingness to learn and potential.
On top of being my first letter of recommendation, he was my first professional (non-college) reference that I used on professional applications. We kept in contact over the years, typically around the end of year holidays. Usually we checked up on each other, talked about work and professional projects we were doing, and talked about video games. The last conversation I had with Leo was during the holidays Christmas 2014 and New Years 2015. We talked about our Christmas and New Years. Re-reading our 7-year old Facebook messages, I could see how happy this man truly was with the family he was building. He talked about his kids. He celebrated his twin’s birthday a few days before. He had a wonderful Christmas that year but had a lot of cleaning up afterwards. He called it a “hurricane of wrapping paper.”
I want people to know that Leo was a family man, a great friend, a professional but also a jokester too! We had a lot of fun in the office during my time there and even after I left I heard so many stories. Leo was that loyal employee that employers dream of and that coworker you wanted to have around to help develop the future. He helped build out a wireless infrastructure that supported many small communities that were too rural at the time for high speed internet. Leo passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack in July of 2015 at the age of 42. He left behind his childhood sweetheart and 6 children. I’ll never forget that night when our Awesomenet group heard the news. We were devastated. Leo was the first person I ever lost professionally.
If I could tell his kids something today, I would say that I lost my dad at the age of 10 when he was 37 and understand some of that hurt. Your father absolutely loved you so much. You were a part of every conversation we had. Never stop believing in yourself. We are the authors of our own books and the architects of our own destiny. You have potential to be anything you want to be if you set your minds to it! Reach out if you are reading this and want to talk anytime!
If I could tell Leo one thing today, it would be thank you for the advice you provided early in my life, for training me and keeping in touch even years later. You inspired me to be the best mentor I can be for so many up and coming security professionals at my previous and current job.
If you are reading this post and are a friend, co-worker, a LinkedIn connection or found this on another website, I love you! I guarantee someone else does too even if they don’t tell you consistently.
