Category: Memorial Corner
Former General Chairperson Charles P. Jones dies at 91
Charles P. Jones, 91, a former general chairperson of the Conrail East division of the UTU, died Feb. 26, 2018, in his home in Runnemade, N.J. He became a member of Lodge 257 of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen on May 12, 1953, as a front brakeman for the Pennsylvania Rai [...]
Funeral services announced for Michael Cella
Services have been announced for Brother Michael Cella, the SMART Transportation Division conductor, who was killed in the Amtrak Train 91 collision Feb. 4 in Cayce, S.C. A gathering of Cella’s friends and family will be 10 a.m. to noon immediately followed by a celebra [...]
Real-life Rosie the Riveter dead at 96
Real-life Rosie the Riveter, Naomi Parker Fraley, died Saturday, Jan. 20. The iconic World War II “We Can Do It!” posters were based on a 1942 photo of Parker taken while standing at a lathe. A waitress, turned lathe operator, Fraley and her sister Ada joined the [...]
Phyllis Reed, widow of former B&O GC, dies
Phyllis Reed of Florence, Ky., passed away Wednesday, January 3, 2018, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence. Phyllis was born Aug. 17, 1939, to the late Victor and Mary Osborn. She married former B&O General Committee General Chairman J.T. “Terry” Reed in 196 [...]
SMART TD switchman dies on duty in Minnesota
Brother Nicholas A. Vosejpka, of Hampton, Minn., a switchman with SMART TD Local 1614, died while on duty Dec. 30, 2017, as he worked as a yard foreman at Union Pacific’s Hoffman Yard in St. Paul, Minn. Vosejpka, 35, was walking in the yard performing an air-test in temperatu [...]
Greg Meehan — active leader in his UTU local
Gregory Gabriel Meehan, 87, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, surrounded by his family. Visitation was at Buckley Funeral Home, 509 Second Ave., Asbury Park, N.J., Dec. 3. Funeral Mass was celebrated Dec. 4 at Holy Spirit Church, [...]
Former UTU Director of Updating Peter Spalding has died
Peter N. Spalding, 75, died Saturday, Dec. 16. Spalding hired out with CSX in 1964 and was a member of Local 376 in Louisville, Ky. He eventually came to work at the UTU International, then headquartered in downtown Cleveland. While at the UTU, he served the membership in the [...]Former Iowa SLD Crist died Nov. 7
Lawrence J. Crist, 91, died Nov. 7 at the Sioux City hospital in Sioux City, Iowa. Crist started his railroad career with the Illinois Central Railroad when he hired out as a brakeman and worked his way up to the position of conductor. A member of Local 493 in Waterloo, Iowa, [...]