.: Nygard

Jimmy Rodgers
Parents

Brother and Sisters

Wife

  • Dottie

Children

  • Marty Rodgers
  • Jimmy Rodgers

Notes:

The picture to the right is of Carl and Jack Nygard and Jimmy Rodgers as a baby).

Profile
in the words of Jackie Nygard

Jimmy Rodgers was the half-brother of Jack Nygard, Carl Nygard and Marie Nygard. Jimmy fought in the Korean War at Heartbreak Ridge.Jimmy Rodgers was short - maybe 5'5" because I was taller than him and I am only 5'7".

I remember after the Korean War your father got Jimmy into the union. I remember sitting at your kitchen table and hearing Uncle Carl lecturing Jimmy about being on time for work. As time went along and Marty got to be 9 or 10, Jimmy would take him to the job with him and teach him how to run the equipment. I remember Jimmy saying that Marty could run the equipment better than some of the adults he worked with.

Those were the days when there was still a tough animosity between union and non-union workers. There was also an effort to keep blacks out of the union while it wasn't an overt action it was an underlying activity. When you were trying to feed a family, you might do some things that society would say wasn't quite ethical. for example, if you found somebody who scored high on the apprentice exam - you might ask him to take the test again using someone else's name. Or a building being built with non union workers might mysteriously catch on fire one night as one did in Lester in 1962.

Jimmy married Dottie Wright from Aston in 1953. First they lived in a rented house in Aston and then they moved to an apartment in Brookhaven. Then they moved to a house in Parkside but I can't remember the name of the street. They had two children. Jimmy and Marty. To my knowledge Marty is the only one of us cousins to continue as an Operating Engineer although of course Cathy's husband did. I was living in Maryland around 1968 or 1969 when uncle Jimmy was accused of accessory to murder. There was a non-union job at a hotel being built in Chester. The union guys were picketing. One afternoon there were four union guys in a car. One of them fired a gun and killed one of the black non-union workers. Uncle Jimmy was in the car. The car left the scene. Eventually they went to trial. I never recalled the outcome of the trial. I know that my father attended the trial but your father being as high up as he was in the union at that time couldn't because it would appear that the union supported the murder. I don't know what went on behind the scenes between your father and Uncle Jimmy but they were always close.

Aunt Dottie remarried to a union buddy of your father's who was also working in DC.- Bob Emrick - He had been Jimmy's best friend. I had not seen Aunt Dottie since 1972. In May of 1999 they came out to Mesquite, NV which is about 60 miles from Vegas so we met them at a restaurant.