It can inspire, add warmth or coolness, calm, energize and even stimulate an appetite or sometimes just help a hallway blend seamlessly into its surroundings. Adding color to walls – whether it’s a plain off-white or the liveliest of oranges – is a big part of what senior physical plant mechanic Randy Lamoreaux does for the campus.

Lamoreaux is one of a dozen painters on campus. Often working in teams of two, the painters are responsible for maintaining the campus’s millions of square feet of wall space.

Sometimes that means patching a spot where a doorknob punched a hole in some sheetrock. And often campus painters step in where building renovators leave off – performing the final finishing work, from taping drywall to applying a decorative and durable speckled "zolotone" finish. For jobs funded by individual departments, he said, walls can be finished in almost any color the customer wants – "within reason."

A Sacramento native, Lamoreaux started working on campus in 1994. He still remembers the interview well and still chuckles when he recalls one question in particular: "What is a painter’s holiday?"

He knew the correct answer – that it is trade jargon for where a painter missed a spot – but Lamoreaux wanted to have a little fun. So he started rattling off random dates. "I got everyone laughing," he says, noting that he did eventually provide the sought-after answer.

"They didn’t say a sense of humor was required for the job. But who knows, that may be why I passed the interview."

Probably not, though, since Lamoreaux had been painting full-time for some 15 years before he took the job at the paint shop.

Painting a color that doesn’t suit his taste can be challenging in its own way. But, by far, Lamoreaux said, lead abatement is the most grueling work that he and his painting partner of almost four years, Lupe Ruiz, do.

When major remodeling needs to take place where lead paint has been, as it did a few years ago in the food science lab in Cruess Hall, or when old paint starts peeling like it did recently in 126 Veihmeyer, painting crews don their space-like "tyvec" suits, rubber gloves and respirators to hermetically seal the area and scrape the paint manually.

"They’re roomy but hot," Lamoreaux says of the tyvec suits.

Lamoreaux is somewhat accustomed to being in hot situations, however, as a former volunteer firefighter for the rural community of Wilton, located just east of Elk Grove.

Lamoreaux has lived in Wilton for 15 years. He and his wife, Robin, have a six-acre lot with a couple of Arabian horses. They also have four children, ranging in ages from 19-26.

What’s your favorite color?

Pastel blue. It’s easy on the eye.

How do your personal guiding principles translate to your work?

I try to do jobs in the most cost effective way possible taking into consideration the fiscal responsibility that all of us share. I also try to treat people right. I think it all comes back to you in the end.

What’s one of the oddest color choices you’ve seen on campus?

The bright orange doors in Tupper Hall. They were painted to match Formica coated doors in place since the building was built. It was a tough color to match and tough to look at. We also had to match a darkroom to exacting specifications – a brownish-greycolor – at the Primate Center, so X-rays could be developed properly.

What’s something you always keep on hand?

A squeeze tube or pump canister of hand cleanser. I wash up several times a day, but my wife can still usually tell what I did that day by looking at my fingernails. Also, a good painter always has a rag in his pocket.

What do you like best and least about your job?

My relationship with my coworkers. We have a lot of fun at work. And I like the fact that we always have plenty of work to do. The days just fly by.

The least? That would be the tyvec suits.

What would your coworkers be surprised to learn about you?

They know my every move. But they might not know I used to be big into bluegrass. I played bass guitar and five-string banjo in a local band for four years – the Big Valley Band. We played festivals in Plymouth and Grass Valley and were regulars at Billy Bob’s in Pollock Pines. We went our separate ways in 1999; it’s hard to get four people to agree on anything. I stopped playing for a while, because, in July of 2001, I lost almost a half-inch off my middle finger on my left hand during a boating accident at Steamboat Slough. The line on the anchor wrapped around the tip of my finger and tore it off. But I’m starting to get back into playing again.

What’s your best painting tip?

Know that preparation is the key; painting is the easy part. Also, use a 3M product called Handy Masker. It’s a device that attaches masking tape to the edege of a masking film or drop paper. It’s a wonderful timesaver.

Who do you admire?

My favorite uncle, Uncle Richard (Dooley). He’s one of these guys who has done everything. He’s been a pilot, a truck driver, a deputy sheriff. He’s in his 70s and still doesn’t know what he wants to do in life. And I also admire my painting partner at work, Lupe. She can find the humor in about anything.

What’s your weakness?

White chocolate mochas from Starbucks. But I’ll settle for any white chocolate mocha that’s close by. •