Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562 Celebrates Retirement of Pat Kellett
Date Posted: April 30, 2024
Posted In: Organizations, People,
From St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune: Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562 feted one of its own April 4, recently retired United Association of Plumbers, Fitters, Welders and Service Techs (UA) General Secretary-Treasurer and former Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562 Business Manager Pat Kellett, with a retirement celebration in his honor.
Surrounded by friends, his large family and hundreds of union members from Local 562 and other locals, Kellett reflected on his 44-year career in the pipe trades and his rich family history in the Labor Movement.
“I’m feeling blessed today. Local 562, the United Association has given so much to my family and I – and we – are forever grateful,” Kellett said. “I’ll always remember my Dad saying, ‘I owe everything to my local union,’ and it’s so true. He believed it deeply. He said it often, and he was so right. That’s why he always gave back to our local union, honestly, until the day he died.”
Kellett is the son of the late Dick Kellett, a Labor legend in St. Louis. A former business agent and lifetime member of Local 562, Dick Kellett was the co-founder and longtime president of the North County Labor Club, an influential force in North County politics that continues to this day, and in 2016 enjoyed the distinct honor of seconding the nomination of his son, Pat, for the role of general secretary-treasurer of the United Association, the No. 2 spot in the international union. Dick Kellett passed away in 2020 at the age of 85.
“I’m so glad that Johnny and Dickey and I got to follow in Dad’s footsteps,” Pat Kellett said of himself and his brothers. “We certainly didn’t create the path that he did, we simply followed. He was a legend in our business, as a father and as a Labor leader.”
‘UNBELIEVABLE HOW FAR YOU CAN GO’
Kellett’s brother, Dick Kellett Jr., Local 562 business representative and vice president of the Tri-County Labor Club, paid tribute to his father and his brother in a proud and emotional speech during the ceremony.