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Nevada Utility Pioneer Leaves Behind Legacy of Activism

June 22, 2011

When Sylvester Kelley, a 63-year member of Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245 returnedfrom World War II, he applied for a job with Sierra Pacific Power. But the company wouldn’t hire him because his finger, disfigured by German shrapnel, would not fit into a work glove. So Kelley went to the Veteran’s Administration hospital and had the finger amputated. Then he went to work as a troubleman, a foreman and was elected to the local’s leadership in the 1950’s.

Kelley, who died on June 3 at 87, exhibited nearly the same determination fighting for worker justice that he demonstrated in securing his job back in 1948.

 Last year, Kelley, a Purple Heart recipient, was featured in full-page newspaper ads and TV spots opposing cuts in medical benefits for retirees at NV Energy, Sierra Pacific’s successor.   

In a series of 2010 interviews in Local 1245’s media library, Kelley discusses the highlights and challenges of his utility industry career, including his service in WW II, his decision to join the union, and meeting President John F. Kennedy. He laughs when the interviewer asks why he didn’t support former President Richard Nixon for president. Speaking of modern-day members of Nixon’s party, Kelly says,

Some of these people advocating doing away with Social Security must be millionaires who don’t give a damn about working people. They’d pay you $.50 an hour if they could get away with it.

In an obituary in Local 1245’s Utility Reporter, Editor Eric Wolfe wrote:

Kelley struggled with many health problems in his later years. His left arm was badly injured on the job, and even after weeks of physical therapy remained misshapen the rest of his days. He suffered the usual ailments of old age after a life of hard work, but he was too much of a lineman to talk a lot about it or seek sympathy. All he wanted was to live outside Silver Springs, Nev. in the well-maintained modular home with the American flag out front, secure in the knowledge that his growing medical needs would be taken care of. In his last years, NV Energy took that security away.