The Legacy Lives On Through My Amazing Brother!

This post is mostly for my children as it contains a lot of family history. It was prompted when I saw a picture of the monster of a crane my brother Mike is running in Torance, California. Hope you enjoy. My Dad, Pat Jordan, has been a member of the Local 428 Operating Engineers Union since January 30, 1955! This is a small glimpse into the life of some remarkable men.

Phoenix 1963

That's me sitting in Daddy's Crane

This was the year Mike was born!

Mom, who doesn't look like she just had a baby, and I

July 1963

Mike was about 7 weeks old.

1963 Phoenix, Newpaper article showing the boom on dad's crane. The articles talks about the crane lifting the 9 ton trusses into place. He was building the now famous Gammage Auditorium at ASU. Who knew his grandson would graduate from High School 43 years later in that building!

D.J. Graduation Day, Gammage Auditorium, 2006

Dad, Pat Jordan, Strawberry, AZ

Bridge/Road work 1965

Uncle Ted Jordan, Dad's Brother, they lived on the job site. Sleeping on the boards and cooking on their little stove. Notice their little red gas lamp hanging from the bottom of the crane? Dad made many sacrifices for his family.

Uncle Ted Cooking on the stove.

See Mike's little head looking out the window.

This is dad's crane in Flagstaff, Az 1966.

Mike (3), Francine(mom 22) and Liz (6)Flagstaff, Az

Mike 3 years old!

Dad, in crane, Mom (left) Aunt Kink (right) Uncle Johnny's wife

Pinetop, AZ 1967 Bridge Work

1969 That's Dad's boom from his crane in the bottom of the Virgin River Gorge. This road was built in Utah and dips down into a portion of Arizona. It is inaccessable from Arizona, guarded on the east by the Grand Canyon and on the south by an umbridged stretch on the Colorado River. This job was very costly and dangerous. There were many accidents on the job including a helicoptor crash piloted by the engineering crew in 1960, a mammoth steel bridge beam fell from the "mother" crane on the river bed below and then my grandfather's, Fred Jordan's, terrible accident. This was the last job he would ever work as the accident forced him into retirement. He was moving his crane to the cliff's ledge when the brakes failed him and he fell to the bottom. Just before the crane hit he made the decision to jump from the crane. This decision saved his life but not without it's price. He landed on his feet and the impact crushed his legs all the way up to his hips shattering his bones into pieces. After many surgeries he did learn to walk again but required the use of a cane. Fred, , Pat and Johnny all ran cranes on this job. Ted and Howard were working in Lake Havasu City, Arizona putting the London Bridge back together again.

This is my dad's 65 ton link-belt parked along the edge of the Virgin River Gorge, 1971. Left to right: Liz, Mike, Francine, Pat and Pastor T.J. Gambles wife. Pastor Gamble baptized our family into the First Southern Baptist Church in St. George, Utah.

1972 Tucson, Arizona

That's Dad's 240 foot of boom laying in the streets of Tucson. The boom took up the entire block of Alameda Street. It was one of the largest cranes of it's day with a lifting capacity of 80 tons. They are buildng the 8 story felderal building. July 20, 1972.

Cholla Power Plant, Joseph City Az, 1975

In the early stages of building

You can see all the booms. My dad, Pat, and two uncles Ted and Johnny each ran cranes on this job. Uncle Charlie was running a crane at the power plant in Page, AZ at the same time. This is where I lived, Joseph City, when I met Teele.

See the mammoth 80 ton sections of duct that was to be lifted by the crane operators. The work they do is nothing short of amazing! June 14, 1979 The Job is still 2 1/2 years from completion.

This is my dad's desk at the Cholla Power Plant. I'm proud of this desk because he worked hard to earn it. I love seeing that old silver coffee thermos on the left hand corner of his desk. I bet my mother poured thousands of gallons of coffee into that thermos over the years. The first thing dad did when he got home was rinse the thermos, take off his boots, and take a shower. Any way back to the desk...Dad earned this desk by taking correspondence courses from the University of Utah and he graduated with his Civil Engineering Degree. That degree earned him, along with years of experience, the title of Superintendent and the desk. No more sleeping on the cold hard ground! The six years we lived in Joseph City was the longest we stayed any where. Dad promised that he would not move me once I started High School. But my sophomore year he did try to move us to Saudi Arabia and then South Africa. He told me I could teach the Africans English...guess he thought that would interest me! But when they made me Editor of my High School Year book and Captain of the Cheerleading squad he made the sacrifice and stayed! Thanks Dad!

Dad in his Crane, Cholla Power Plant

Over the years dad has built roads, bridges, dams (Glen Canyon Dam-he can be seen in the movie they show in the visitor center of the construction of the dam), buildings, power plants and he even built the landing strip for our space shuttle in White Sands, New Mexico. So for some geneology, Fred Jordan, my grandpa, and his brother Howard or Uncle Dump were both crane operators. Grandpa, Fred Jordan, had 5 sons all crane operators, Ted Sr., Charlie, Pat, Johnny and Howard(buddy). Buddy was forced into early retirement from construction due to a back injury. His back was never the same after serving in Vietnam. Now Pat's son Mike is carrying on the family legacy. This is what prompted this post. Here is the crane my amazing brother Mike is now running...

BRAGG cranes. Teele Managed a ranch for Steve Bragg then co-owner of Bragg cranes in California. Steve sold his share of the company to his brother around 1993.

This is the LIEBHERR 1300 Crawler Crane. Mike runs in Torance, California. He is working on an oil refinery. Mike runs the crane at night and another operator has the day shift. This crane has a state of the art electronic system including the most modern power train mangement system available. It can lift up to 300 tons! It's boom capacity is 98 - 120 m. or 393.7 feet of boom! That's 153 more feet of boom than the picture, shown previously, of boom laying in the streets of Tucson that took up an entire city block.

Now if I could only get a picture of Mike behind the wheel of this monster to go along with the one of him when his little legs were feet from reaching the peddles! I'm so proud of you Mike and all that you do.

My brother, our father, 4 uncles, 1 great uncle and our grandfather were all crane operators. These men have built most of the roads and bridges in the state of Arizona. Not to mention many of the sky rises and Highways. I remember dad PAVING the Mogollon Rim. Yes when it was a DIRT road! We lived in Flagstaff, Tucson, Phoenix, Kingman, Payson, Holbrook, Pinetop, Strawberry, Seligman, St. George, Utah, Chandler, Montana, Casa Grande, and Joseph City to name a few. We moved to some of those places more than once. I am proud of the amazing men in my life and the contribution they have made to building the state of Arizona. Now Mike has ventured beyond Arizona. Working in Washington, Las Vegas (buiding tall casinos), Oregon, Utah, and California to name a few. I love you Mike and I'm so proud of you!

Mike and his wife Kathy