JOHN O’LEARY, SR.
Master Plumber #5616

John O’Leary is one of the prominent Local No. 12 members who have played many roles over the years, including that of an instructor in Jack Fandel’s apprentice program. Unlike Fandel, who was already a third-generation plumber, O’Leary got into the business through a friend.

“Tom Tracy lived in our neighborhood, I was getting out of high school back in 1936, and he talked his boss into giving me a job. It was the Depression, and it was a big deal to have a job. Laborers were lucky to be working, and if they were, they were making about 50 cents an hour. A plumber could make $11 a day–a buck thirty-seven and one-half cents per hour. They paid by the half-cent back in the thirties.”

Now in his eighties, O’Leary is the father of two prominent leaders in the plumbing industry, Joe and John O’Leary, Jr. Even as an instructor in the Local No. 12 apprentice program, O’Leary was known as a storyteller. It is a gift that has only ripened with age. He has a great memory about people, and has an outspoken wit that enables him to tell tremendous episodes that go back decades.

“If I told you too much, I’d have to kill you.”

It is worth the risk. Spending a couple of hours with O’Leary reminds a person of the rough-and-tumble of the good old days when union-contractor negotiations sometimes ended with broken ribs. O’Leary himself was never a tough guy, but he knows all the stories.

He also remembers details about the industry that few can recall. He might be the only person in the Local, for example, who can tell you which person was working for what company seven decades ago.

“The Back Bay, back then, was filled with plumbing shops. Fandel’s father worked for P.W. Donahue on Newbury Street near Mass. Ave. Donahue died, and his daughter took it over. Then Frank Sullivan took it over, and that’s why you hear about Jack working for the Sullivan company.

“It was a rough time back then in the thirties when I started out. There were guys in the local who had been loafing for two or three years. No damn work. Union dues were three or four dollars a month. People couldn’t afford it. So they dropped out.

“You remember that picture of the plumbers at Fenway Park? I will bet you a thousand bucks that those eighty or ninety guys were about three-quarters of the union. Everyone was gone, busted. There weren’t 150 guys left in Local No. 12. A company like McKenna that had Fenway Park, they were lucky. Some other shops had the phone company, or the diocese. Sure, some of it was divided up, but believe me, they battled for the work.

“And if you were a plumber back then, you couldn’t be a Johnny-come-lately. If you wanted to work, you had to have natural ability, and you had to produce.”

World War II, says O’Leary, started to bring jobs back to the construction industry.

“I remember how it started. I was driving a truck for Ahern Company, and I was dropping off stock at the Weymouth Naval Air Station, where they kept the dirigibles. A guy came out of the shack. He’d been listening to the radio, and says to us, ‘They bombed Pearl Harbor.’ Pearl Harbor? No one knew where the hell Pearl Harbor was.”

Eventually, O’Leary became a journeyman with Ahern Company. They built a number of public housing projects, including the McCormack Housing in Southie, and similar projects in Roxbury and Charlestown.

“They fired me.”

When asked why, O’Leary has a quick response.

“Union activity…No, you better say, ‘O’Leary had a falling out over job conditions.’ ”

Eventually, O’Leary would become an instructor at Local No. 12.

“If a kid was good with his hands but not his head, we could train his hands to be his head. After World War II, the apprentice program really started up again. There were some great teachers, leaders like Rocky Sammartano. Those guys had real ability. The teachers were the spine of the industry.

“In 1956, I had to make a choice. I had a chance to become an inspector for the City of Boston. Kevin Cotter’s uncle, John Cotter, he was the one who really got that union benefits plan going—him and some of the contractors. Some people thought Cotter was a gruff old guy, but he did the right thing.

“Cotter said to me: ‘John, don’t leave the union. Don’t take that city job. You’ll be better off if you stay in the union.’ He might have been right. But I liked being an inspector. You get around, you see people, you talk to people. I liked that kind of thing.

“But John Cotter was right about one thing: the union pension. I don’t get a big check, but I get something. Would have been bigger if I’d stayed working with the tools. Even so, it just gives you a feeling of security to know that every month, that check will be there.”

Like anyone who managed a full career in our industry, John O’Leary gives credit to certain people. Interestingly, he singles out Tim Crane, who for many years ran Crane Plumbing and Heating of Cambridge. “He was personally really good to me. He took an interest in me.” Of contactor John Cannistraro, Sr., he says, “There’s a guy who’s a man of his word. And there were a couple of others who had watchful eyes and gave me guidance and advice: Joe Risi and Paul Madden.”

O’Leary frankly admits that one of the turning points in his life was Alcoholics Anonymous. He has been involved in helping people through AA for many years.

“I have been a friend of Bill Wilson [the founder of AA] since 1953. There’s no place like AA, but you have to want it. I see a guy who has a problem, he needs help. He needs physical help, from his friends. He needs mental help, from himself. He needs spiritual help, from above. I don’t do anything but expose people to the temperature of the water.”

O’Leary is one of the great personalities of our industry, and like others who remain involved in our industry into their eighties and beyond, you see that he still has a sharp eye, a witty comment, and a willingness to engage with people. Like his contemporary Ed Duggan, he closes on a note of appreciation.

“I’ll tell you, I’ve loved every part of the business. I loved being a teacher, I loved working for the city. I met some great people—some amazing plumbers, guys who could knock your socks off. It’s been a great trip.”

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