When Zane Rogers started lineman school, his wife had some concerns. But they weren’t about the risks of working with electricity. Lyndsie Rogers fretted about making ends meet during those 10 weeks of training.

“The kids were little then, maybe 3 and 4,” Lyndsie explained. “But we figured it out. Best decision we ever made.”

Eight years later, Zane is an experienced Journeyman Lineman in Tyler. And Lyndsie recently finished her first year as a Designer Associate in nearby Jacksonville. Oncor is highlighting the young couple for Lineman Appreciation Day on April 18.

The couple met 14 years ago in Lubbock, where Lyndsie was a Texas Tech student and Zane worked as a correctional officer at a federal prison. They married a year later and moved to East Texas to be closer to her family.

He found work building playgrounds and parks, “traveling a lot and didn’t get paid great.” When he heard about lineman work, he signed on right away for training at nearby Kilgore College. Working with electricity was not an issue.

“I was a little worried about the heights,” he chuckled. “That was what made me the most nervous, but it never affected me. I’d rather go up 40 feet on a pole than eight feet on a ladder.”

Oncor hired Zane on graduation day from lineman school. “I love the job,” he said. “Every job is somewhere different. I’d had jobs like in the prison where I went to the same place every day and did the same thing.”

Zane also liked the job security at Oncor. “I hadn’t worked here very long, but one of the guys asked me, ‘Why are you always smiling? It’s Monday morning.’ I told him I’m smiling because I know what it’s like not to go to work on Monday.”

The family soon adjusted to Zane’s sometimes erratic schedule. Unexpected long days and late nights are just part of the job, Lyndsie said.

“Whenever he first got hired on, the first holiday that he worked, there was a significant ‘we’re missing him moment,’ ” she said. “He worked Christmas, and at the time I was so grateful that he was working and able to provide for us that, well, this is the sacrifice that we have to make.

“Our kids were small and we just had our advent calendar and we took out an extra day, and we celebrated Christmas a little early that year,” she recalled. “You just find ways to make it work. It’s not always ideal. You do have to make sacrifices.”

Lyndsie said early on, she would worry about Zane when he would be called out in a storm to restore power. “It was harder at first,” Lyndsie said, “Especially if I haven’t heard from him in a long time.

“But I really do trust the guys that he works with. I trust him to work safe. I trust Oncor to implement safety measures that are taking care of him on a daily basis.”

Part of being a lineman’s spouse is planning the family’s calendar around Zane’s on-call schedule, Lyndsie said.

“First week of January, you get the on-call schedule,” she said. “You go through all the holidays. You’re going to miss the kids’ birthdays, you’re going to miss our anniversary, you’re going to miss Christmas. When you mentally prepare yourself for that, it seems to be fine.”

As a new Designer Associate, Lyndsie initially planned some projects in Tyler that Zane would eventually work on in the field. She also gets involved in storm recovery work, doing both damage assessments and dispatching contractor and mutual assistance crews.

“When you’re driving down the road with a lineman, he’s like, ‘I built that,’ ” Lyndsie said. “I do that now that I work here, too. We’ll be riding down the road and I’ll say, ‘Oh that was my first project.’ ”

Lyndsie said she and Zane have become close friends with his colleagues and their families. “These people aren’t just our co-workers,” she said. “It really is a family here. The guys, the wives, the kids, we spend a lot of time together and support each other.

“You have a support system when they’re away. You know you can always depend on somebody. There’s always somebody to talk to who understands.”

Lyndsie said their children – there are three now – think it’s “so awesome” that both parents work for Oncor -- and their dad is a lineman.

“One of our sons, every time we pass a bucket truck, he’s got his eyes peeled,” Lyndsie said. “He’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s an Oncor truck…’ ”

“He’s 11,” Zane said, jumping in. “He’ll pass an Oncor truck and he’ll know by the mirrors on the truck which one of our friends it is.”