From the August, 1938 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
AFTER almost a half century of service, John J. Heavey, veteran safety supervisor of the Erie, retired July 13th (1938) at the age of 70.
At Huntington, Indiana on July 26th friends organized a testimonial dinner for him which was attended by many members of the Erie family from other points on the railroad. A purse was given to Mr. Heavey to help finance a long desired journey to his homeland�Ireland.
Mr. Heavey has had a busy railroad career in the operating, war service and accident prevention work. Twenty-two years ago he was seriously injured in a train wreck and four years later he was studying the prevention of accidents as safety supervisor, with jurisdiction over the entire system. Mr. Heavey has made many friends along the railroad, has enlisted the co-operation of employees in all branches of the service and has succeeded in greatly reducing the personal injuries suffered by employees.
Mr. Heavey was born in Roscommon, Ireland, July 13, 1868. His father preceded him to the United States and joined the maintenance of way department of the Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad, now the St. Louis division of the Big Four at Carbon, Ind. According to the following account in the Huntington Herald Press Young Heavey accompanied his mother to the United States in February of 1882, when a boy of twelve. He started almost immediately as office boy for the railroad at Carbon. He served from April 1, 1882, to Nov. 10, 1886, as telegraph operator, clerk, track laborer and locomotive fireman.
He left the railroad for work in the mines of the Brazil Block Coal Co., where he was employed until Sept. 1, 1887, when he obtained work on the C. and I. C. railroad as switchman, brakeman, baggageman and conductor. He resigned Sept. 10, 1889, and six days later entered the train service of the Chicago and Atlantic, now the Erie, at Huntington.
Mr. Heavey was made a member of the railroad commission of Indiana on Nov. 6, 1908, and was a delegate to the state convention of the organization at Indianapolis. He served first as brakeman, freight and passenger conductor, general yardmaster, and assistant train-master. On April 22, 1916, a loco motive plowed into his train, and he suffered the loss of one foot in addition to other injuries. He was disabled by the accident until July 4 of the following year.
In April of 1917, he was appointed deputy state oil inspector. He was reappointed for four years when his term expired, but he resigned to become safety supervisor of the Chicago and Erie railroad.
On recommendation of Governor J.P. Goodrich, Mr. Heavey was appointed a member of the district board having charge of service regulations for World war enlistments by President Woodrow Wilson.
Thirty-two counties in northeastern Indiana were under the jurisdiction of the board, which had appellate powers on dependencies, and the power of the supreme court in determining how enlistments would affect industry or agriculture. Many were refused service in the United States army because of their value to industry or agriculture. The board had its headquarters in Fort Wayne. Mr. Heavey represented labor interests in the thirty-two counties on the board. He received an honorable discharge from President Wilson, March 31, 1919.
On Dec. 10, 1918, Mr. Heavey went to the Erie and subsequently served as chief
caller, chief clerk to the yardmaster, special checker in the mechanical
department until Aug. 1, 1919, when he was reappointed deputy state oil inspector.
The first safety committee had been appointed by the Erie railroad on July 26, 1910. First members of the committee were J.H. Klein, trainmaster, Bert Myers, road foreman of engines, D. C. Colclessor, road foreman of engines, Mr. Heavey, then a conductor, and F.H. Lee, engineer. The committee was organized for the purpose of investigating accidents. There was a general "Safety First" organization among employes at that time. Mr. Heavey is the only survivor of that first committee.
On March 1, 1920, Mr. Heavey resigned as oil inspector to become district safety supervisor for the Erie. He was named a delegate to the National Conference of Street and Highway Safety at Washington, D. C., by Governor Ed Jackson January 30, 1926.
On October 18, 1893, Mr. Heavey married Rose Toelle, the youngest daughter of John and Kate Toelle. They have two children, Earl Heavey, editor, manager and part owner of a weekly newspaper at New Castle, Weston county, Wyoming, and Ruth Gartland, of Chicago. They have six grandchildren.
The most interesting phase of his railroad career, Mr. Heavey says, has been his observation of the development of the Erie into one of the foremost freight and passenger lines in the United States. Officials of the railroad have concentrated on details that make for the comfort and safety of passengers, and reliable transportation of freight. "There is no safer railroad in the United States than the Erie," he says.
For 28 years while a conductor, Mr. Heavey had a no-collision record. He was seriously injured in the most serious accident of his railroad experience. He has experienced several derailments, which were attributed to failure of equipment. He has addressed thousands of school children along the Erie system in the interests of safety, and has won commendation and praise from rail and civic leaders for his success in reducing accidents.
