Annual Retiree Luncheon

The Pension Fund’s Annual Retirees Luncheon took place on June 19 — and it was about time. It was about time for Local 130’s growing “Retirees Club” to put on something nice and bring their spouses, sons or daughters to lunch at the Fountain Blue banquet hall in Des Plaines. It was about time for 37 more retirees to receive their retirement clocks, officially marking their 25 years or more of service to the union. And the handsome, engraved wood-grained clocks, it can be said of course, were themselves about time.

This year more than 380 guests packed the banquet hall. Several couples took advantage of the live band’s performance before lunch to share a dance or two, while others renewed friendships with old friends at the bar or at tables spread across the large floor.

Before sitting down himself to enjoy a delicious four-course lunch, Bob Ryan, the recently retired Executive Director of the Plumbing Council, said Grace. As he next recited the Pledge of Allegiance, John Bojan, Pension Fund Administrator, held the flag. James Coyne, Financial Secretary-Treasurer, welcomed guests on behalf of Business Manager James Sullivan who was away from town on a UA assignment. He said that of all the union events he attends this was his favorite, because it lets him see several of the journeymen (now retired) who helped “make me the plumber I became.”

After lunch, guests heard from retired Business Manager Jerry Sullivan. Before presenting the retirement clocks, he welcomed the honorees into the “Club of Retirees of Local 130. There are many of us, and I’m sure there will be many more in the years to come,” he said. Paul Carlos, one of the clock recipients, said his career led him into every facet of the plumbing industry, starting on work in homes and eventually bringing him to some of the city’s most prominent buildings, including McCormick Place, the Hancock Building and Sears Tower. Recalling the Hancock as one of his favorite jobs, he remembered “We had so many characters there. I was young at the time, only about 26.” Missing all the friends he met at work, Paul said he has no problem embracing retirement now. After receiving his clock, Rocco Carrozza said while he’s been retired for years he still thinks a lot about the business and trade he loved. “I started in the ditch, digging, cutting, sawing pipe. We had no snappers in those days and no power tools. We worked hard, but it was fun. I enjoyed it. It’s a good trade. I loved it all my life,” the plumber who later became a contractor said.

John Bojan said that over the years Local 130 has awarded more than 700 clocks to retirees. Each year the clocks must find their way into the hands of those who finally reach the 25-year service mark but also some who retired many years before but have moved or otherwise could not be present for the award. Bojan thanked all the retirees for helping keep this organization alive.

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