Chairman's Message: REFLECTIONS SPANNING SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS

Words: Dick Dentinger

MCAA has been posting lots of wonderful old photos from decades of records as we celebrate our 75th Anniversary. Many of these photos are black and white and show people at our MCAA events with men wearing suits and ties while the women wore dressy gowns. These treasures represent different eras and are heartwarming to see. The people in these pictures were doing the work you and I are doing now. Managing our own careers and businesses while also stepping up to volunteer to make sure our Industry survives another day for whoever will follow in our footsteps.

One old MCAA picture posted on Facebook really hit a chord with me. It was a group of black and white photos from a Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mason Contractors monthly meeting. The local chapter of contractors included several who also volunteered in various capacities as MCAA officers on a national level. So, like many in our large group of MCAA folks today, the members from the past were volunteering at a local level and at a national level. Even though the pictures were from the early 1970’s, I spotted three individuals whom I knew well. My father, Bill Dentinger, was there as a young man. With him were two other mason contractors named Harry Piotrowski and Robert (Bob) Tubesing. I knew these three as, dad, Mr. Piotrowski, and Mr. Tubesing. My dad was likely in his early 30’s in the photo. Whereas Mr. Piotrowski and Mr. Tubesing were on each side of 50. Those two, more established contractors, were two of my dad’s local mentors and became lifelong friends.

The various generations of people in all of our old MCAA archives are important to the history of our industry and country. In this specific photo, my dad was born in 1939, the other two men were both born in the 1920’s. They were hardened men who experienced the great depression, wars and more. They held up those around them, but did so not only with hard work, but with upbeat personalities and were always quick to offer a cheerful smile.

When I finished eighth grade, I was just 4’-11” tall. My voice had barely begun to change. Nonetheless, if I was too small to be put to work on the jobsites, the child labor laws in my household allowed my parents to send me out to experience some sort of hard work. My dad struck a deal to have me work on Mr. Tubesing’s farm for the summer. Mr. Tubesing had a successful general contracting business which self-performed masonry. They lived in a farmhouse with plenty of acres and used the barns and fields to store much of their equipment. Each morning my dad or mom would drop me off at the Tubesing farm and then I was given a list of the tasks for the day. I organized, cleaned up, and restacked piles of things that appeared to be just fine as they already were stacked. In retrospect, I assume none of it was even necessary. They were just teaching me about responsibilities and the value of work. It was a tough job in the hot summer air, but doing the work felt good. Most days, Mrs. Tubesing would bring out snacks, or lunch. Often, Mr. Tubesing would either stop by to check on me or even eat lunch with me.

Sometimes, when my dad picked me up, at the end of the day, the three of us would just hang out and chat. We’d sit on stacks of planks, or on the porch steps and talk about whatever was top of mind. During these visits they didn’t treat me like a kid. Rather, they treated me as though I was a fellow worker recapping the adventures of the day. We talked about that farm, the projects they were working on, or simply about local sports. Those afternoons were so special. Yet, when I think of it now, I can only imagine how they each had likely spent their day juggling contractor problems at the time. And now, like all who are reading this with me, it’s our turn to face the challenges that come along with managing each of our businesses in the masonry industry.

I also reflect on while I don’t believe Bob Tubesing was part of that first year of MCAA, he absolutely was active in MCAA later on in the 1950’s. My dad became active at MCAA a decade later in the late 1960’s. Then there was that kid in that memory of a trio visiting on the Tubesing farm – me. I also ended up becoming active at MCAA as an adult in the 1990’s. That snapshot in my head of the three of us sitting on a stack of scaffold plank at the end of a summer’s day, combined with the vintage black and white photo in the MCAA post on social media, reflects connections to nearly the entire seventy-five years of our association’s lifespan.

I absolutely enjoyed that summer. It prepared me for the next summer when I would work on actual jobsites. I’m certain anyone who is or once was active in MCAA has memories similar to mine of how we leaned on each other along the way in our careers while simultaneously working to shore up our masonry industry. Hold onto those memories and pass them on to whoever is closing the gap behind you. Remind them that since our first meeting in 1950, many generations over these seventy-five years of MCAA’s history took their turn to push us forward. Congratulations to MCAA members, past and present, on making MCAA what it is today!

Chairman's Message: REFLECTIONS SPANNING SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS

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