NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
IN MEMORIAM
Lee Duncan
May 12, 1954 - May 23, 2019
Lee Duncan, a 30-year
to the children’s hospital to-
member of the Inter-
taling $465,000.
national Brotherhood
Oliver Lee Duncan was
of Electrical Workers
born May 12, 1954, in Fort
(IBEW) Local 48,
Madison, Iowa. His family
passed away May 23
moved to Evergreen, Col-
after a long battle with
orado, and later to Baker,
Oregon, where he graduated
cancer. He was 65.
from high school.
Duncan was a busi-
A veteran of the U.S.
ness rep for Local 48.
Lee Duncan
Navy, Duncan joined the
He was also co-
founder of the non-profit Unions Marine Unit of IBEW Local 48
for Kids (U4K) motorcycle poker in 1989 after taking a job at WSI
run. The annual event, held from at the Portland Ship Repair Yard
2003 to 2015, included a poker on Swan Island. He left the ship-
run, Harley-Davidson raffle, auc- yard in 1994 to work as a low-
tion, and chili cookoff — with all voltage electrician on land. In
proceeds going to Doernbecher 1999, while working for Chris-
Children’s Hospital. U4K gave tensen Electric, then-Local 48
away 12 Harleys and cut checks business manager Jerry Bruce
ATU president Larry Hanley
Larry Hanley, national president of
200,000-member Amalgamated Transit
Union (ATU), died suddenly of pul-
monary disease May 7 at the age of 62. A
bus driver, he became president of Staten
Island Local 726 in 1987. He allied with
community groups to fight transit fare in-
creases, and helped found the New York
hired him as an organizer.
Duncan remained on staff as an
organizer and later as a business
rep until 2009. He went back to
the tools for a couple years before
being rehired as a business rep in
2011. He worked in that capacity
until his retirement in July 2014.
Duncan served on Local 48’s
Executive Board, as a delegate to
the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council, and on the Executive
Board of the IBEW & United
Workers Federal Credit Union.
Duncan is survived by his wife
Kathy, also a member of Local 48.
They married in 2008 in a cere-
mony held at the IBEW Local 48
hall. Other survivors include step-
daughter, Amy; sister, Debra
Payne; and brother, John.
A memorial service has been
set for 3 p.m. Sunday, June 30, at
the IBEW Local 48 Hall.
state Working Families Party. He won
election as ATU national president in
2010 after fighting to oust mob-connected
officials in a Queens local. As head of the
national union, he advocated for better
funding of mass transit as a response to
climate change. Hundreds turned out to
his funeral in Staten Island, and locals
around the country observed a moment of
silence May 14.
Larry Hanley
June 7, 2019 | PAGE 5
Father Robert Krueger
Jan. 20, 1929 - April 28, 2019
The local labor movement lost ward Seminary in Kenmore,
a friend and ally April 28 with Washington, and was ordained
as a priest in 1956.
the death of Robert
Over the years he
Krueger, a Catholic
served at half a dozen
priest who was of-
Catholic parishes and
ten seen at labor
schools, and was pastor
union rallies and
of St. Andrew Parish
picket
lines.
in Northeast Portland
Krueger was 90.
from 1990 to 2004. Af-
Known to many as
Bob,”
ter retiring in 2004, he
“Father
Krueger was a pro-
continued to served as
ponent of Catholic Robert Krueger priest moderator at St.
social teaching, a body of doc- Francis of Assisi Parish in
trine in the church that ad- Southeast Portland.
dresses oppression, social jus-
Krueger spoke for justice,
tice, and wealth distribution.
whether at rallies or testifying
“Because of our dignity as at Portland city council against
human beings, made in the prison labor in parks. In 1997
image of God, workers have he was arrested for civil dis-
rights to be able to fulfill their obedience in the lobby of
destiny, to receive sufficient Wells Fargo bank in support of
compensation, to be treated striking steelworkers. At one
well,” Krueger told the Labor time he was member of the
Press in a 2009 profile. “They steering committee of the
have the right to organize and union-backed solidarity group
bargain collectively and strike Portland Jobs With Justice.
if necessary. We learned that
Following a May 15 funeral
as kids, and I never forgot.”
mass at St. Andrew, Father
Krueger attended Portland’s Krueger was buried in the
Central Catholic High School priests’ section at Mount Cal-
in the 1940s, studied at Mount vary Cemetery.
Angel Seminary and St. Ed-
Brother Lee Duncan,
You will be missed.
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