TONY RETIRES FROM ARBORETUM
AFTER more than 45 years mowing the lawns of the John F Kennedy Arboretum and maintaining its hedges and general appearance, Tony Cullen retired on Thursday as the OPW’s longest serving staff member.
Born on July 19, 1954, Tony was 20 when he started working in the arboretum, six years after it opened.
The Gusserane man had many jobs in the first 20 years of his life, including farming and lorry driving, but his eyes were opened to a whole new world of work when he started working on the 600 acre woodland and park attraction.
He recalled one day when he got home from work on the lorries, he had a letter in the post for an interview for a job in the John F Kennedy Arboretum. He went for the interview and got the job, later finding out that a friend of his, Jack Whelan, had put his name in for the role without him knowing.
Tony started in the arboretum on January 20, 1975. He continued to drive lorries at the weekends for a few years, drawing everything from cement blocks to beet to fridges.
He drove for many different people including Dick O’Brien in Kilbraney and Gerry McNamara all the way in Adare, Co Limerick, which is now known as JPG Freight.
When Tony started working in Kennedy Park, he was one of 23 workers, now he is one of 13. He has seen many changes over the years, with everything from the way the planting of trees and plant specimens is done to the updated machinery.
Tony took over as a charge hand on January 2, 1989, from Jack Jackman when he retired. He took over as a tractor driver from Tom Sinnott when he retired on August 9, 1996. Ever since then, he has been driving the tractor cutting grass and, in the last eight years, has been using the hedge cutter on the tractor.
Tony (66) said he was excited to be finishing up, adding that he plans to enjoy his well deserved retirement.
The most recent celebrations that Tony was part of in the John F Kennedy Arboretum was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the park on May 29, 1968. An afternoon of celebrations on May 27, 2018, saw Tony get the job of cutting the cake as he was the longest worker in the Arboretum.
‘ That was a major highlight from my time there,’ he said.
Tony – who is married to Bridget Howlin from Ballykeeroge for the last 30 years and has two daughters, Alice and Tricia – said he loved cutting the grass, spending five days a week at the job. In recent years, the arrival of a 16ft wide mower has made the task somewhat easier, he added.
Tony worked his last day in the arboretum after 45 and a half years on Thursday, finishing at noon. The Office of Public Works (OPW), has never had a worker work for as long in their history and it will take another 33 years, at least, before someone catches up to him in the Arboretum.
‘I’m going to take it easy for a while. I want to thank the staff and management for all of their support,’ Tony said.