b'\x02John HartterWater Use InspectorFounding Member 1952John Hartter, who lived to the age of 92, was a founding member of Local 237,which was chartered in 1952. He retired from his job as water use inspector for theNew York City Water Department in 1975 after 27 years on the job. After he retired,he pursued his long- neglected talent in art and developed a new talent for gardening.Following are excerpts of an interview with Hartter conducted in April 1999 at his home in Brooklyn, New York, wherehe lived with his wife, Marie, until his death in 2005.I graduated from Brooklyn Tech in 1931. I had taken the electrical course there, but they werent paying much for electric-ity then. The fellow I was working forevery once in a while a check would bounce and my mother would be embarrassedwhen she went to the grocery store. So when I was offered a job as a plumber, I took it, and I went to evening tradeschool. Around 1936 there was a possibility of getting into the Navy Yard as an apprentice. I applied but I never heardfrom them.Then I heard the city was going to hire water inspectors. I was doubtful if I wanted to work for the city because theyhad a bad reputation. That was approximately 1936 or 38. I was about 26. I continued with plumbing. I passed the test for subway plumber, but everyone and his uncle said, Do you want towork in other peoples filth in the subway plumbing system? I was talked out of it. That was just before [transit workerleader Mike] Quill organized the outfit. Not taking it was probably one of my bigger mistakes. My mother said to just go,go, but everyone else said no So finally I just continued with the plumbing.During this period, around 1941, they were starting to build up the war hysteria. I got a call from the Navy Yard.I thought it was one of Roosevelts mandates. When I got down there I found they had dug up my 1936 application forapprentice. I was assigned to a plumbing division. We were going to build the battleship Missouri. We were on that for a couple of months. Then repairs started coming inships being outfitted with more equipment, destroyer escorts and destroyers, and so on. . .It was the best education I ever had. Work on ships was much more complicated than apartments.Going to Work for the CityI met a fellow at the Navy Yard who was roughly in my category. His name was Herman Schultz. He graduated fromone of the technical institutes in Manhattan and he had been a union plumberhe managed to get into the union duringthe Depression years. We got friendly; we became fishing buddies and all that. After a while we got teamed up in the Navy Yard. The topjobs were handed to us because we worked at it. 21 '