The Whitaker boys

A.J. Whitaker died this past Saturday. His visitation is this evening. His brother Carl died two months ago, I made it to his visitation too. Carl and A.J. Whitaker, one was a character one was a man of character. I met both after returning to Cincinnati. Both were working for Sam Minnielli General Contracting at the time and both had worked for Bill Minnielli before that..


It was difficult time finding a job. The larger companies were afraid to hired me. I can still hear John Marks, Vice President of Dugan and Meyers, say "if Iwas to hire you and spend time and money on you how do I know if your old company called with a project in the Bahamas that you wouldn't be off." My only defense was, I am home to stay.

So when I ran into Sam Minnielli and he told me about his small utility company, he hired me. I did have experience in dirt but very, and I mean very little in pipe. Lets face it, with the experience I had I wouldn't have hired me for a utility company.  Most of my experience was building buildings.

On the first morning at Sam Minnielli General Contracting is when I met Carl and A.J.  A.J. was a dirt foreman, a scraper man. Carl was a dozer operator, a finish grade dozer man. I forget now which one complained about the other making the same amount as he, Sam's solution was to pay one two cents more an hour than the other one.

A.J. was the character. He talked all the time mainly about him. He worked hard and played hard, it showed on his face. We were doing a sub-division for John Sansalone, the clearing was piled in a row so we could dig a hole and bury it at the back of the lots. The fire department called me about six in the evening and said our wood pile had caught fire. They, the fire department, speculated that kids smoking had caused the blaze. They were there and would let it burn out. The next day A.J. fessed up that he bought some gas and started the fire then left the site. I was furious, nothing I could do though. This was A.J., he would rather do something on the shady side than do it the right way. You could not help but like him, just don't trust him.

Carl was just the opposite. He talked very little. When he did talk it usually meant something. He did have a sense of humor. I can remember one time I saw him grading a street in the same John Sansalone subdivision off North Bend Road. John's brother, Tom, laid out the street and Carl had questions about the grading.

I was on site sometime after Tom left. “Hee, hee, hee,” thats how he laughed. “The smartest man in Hamilton County told me to grade this street by his stakes, look at them if I grade it that way it won't drain to the catch basins.” He preceded to tell me how Tom Sansalone told him he was the smartest man in Hamilton County. “Just look. Hee ,hee, hee, it won't drain, hee, hee, hee. The smartest man in Hamilton County told me to grade that way, hee, hee, hee.” He fixed Sansalone's mistake and no ever knew but him and me. This was Carl, he took pride in what he did and always wanted it to be right.

They are both gone now, I am a little sad. Two characters in their own way. Mike Whitaker summed it up best, A.J. lived to be seventy seven, in Whitaker years thats a long time. Even though Carl died two months earlier, he had a longer life.