Retiree News

HANS HOOGENDOORN, a retired member of Local 549 (Pittsburg, Calif.), has not lost his passion for the Boilermakers union.

IN LATE 1999, John Roberts faced a life-changing decision. After being diagnosed with Hepatitis C years earlier, he needed a liver transplant to survive. The retired Local 105 (Piketon, Ohio) member said he made a pact with God — if God would see him through the transplant, Roberts vowed to “spend the rest of my time serving Him.”

Couple travels to Mexico to teach children, maintain orphanage

FLORENCE AND JEAN-MARIE Nadeau, a retired member of Local 128 (Toronto, Ontario), are living part-time in Mazatlan, one of Mexico’s greatest vacation destinations. Their time, however, is not spent at an exotic resort, but in volunteer work at some of Mexico’s poorest regions.

Lodge honors retired BM-ST Snead

LOCAL 27 (St. Louis) held its 20th annual retiree reunion August 1 and honored the event’s founder, David Snead.

RETIRED LOCAL 105 (Chillicothe, Ohio) member Roscoe Cartwright Jr., 66, was inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame for Valor for his service during the war in Vietnam. The induction ceremony took place May 1 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

Trains, history have been lifelong passion

BILL NICKOLAS, 62, owns more than 50 locomotive engines and hundreds of rail cars. No, he’s not a railroad tycoon — he’s a hobbyist who has drawn upon his love of miniature trains and local history to help create a railroad museum in Oswego, N.Y., near his hometown of Scriba.

ON HIS LAST day of employment, John “Wurkin Durkin” Durkin unhooked the final lift for an SCR project at the Exxon/Mobil refinery in Billings, Mont. A member of Local 11 (Helena, Mont.) since 1978, Durkin began his apprenticeship in 1976 and moved into field construction in 1980. He retired June 30, 2008.

L-40 retiree creates metal art using skills he developed on the job

AFTER WORKING 35 years as a field construction Boilermaker, Frank Linton is now using his welding skills to create some rather spectacular metal art.

“Sum Boilermaker” wins in Oklahoma

RETIRED L-69 BM-ST Donnie Ray Jones is living his dream, breeding and racing horses. A Boilermaker since 1976, Jones served two terms as the lodge’s top officer before calling it quits last year.