“Gene has a pretty blunt, matter-of-fact kind of personality, and I think that served him well,” said Fifth District International Vice President Glenn Brannen, a longtime friend.

“Coming out of a local the size of Atlanta, you’ve got to be pretty tough,” Brannen said. “You have to deal with a lot of large employers and longtime members. You’ve got to have a thick skin, and Gene certainly has that.”

That might have something to do with his family background, O’Kelley said. “We had some explosive Sunday dinners with an Italian great-grandfather and Irish great-grandmother,” he said.

Francisco Saverio Daprano, his great-grandfather, immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in 1903. He eventually settled in Atlanta, learned English and taught himself electrical skills by reading books and doing jobs on his own.

He helped organize Local 613, and he signed the charter under his Americanized name, Frank S. Daprano.

“He was poor, and there wasn’t a lot going on over there as far as career and family,” O’Kelley said. “He heard about this new country and a new way of life. He came over and got plenty of work.”

After high school, O’Kelley headed to Jacksonville State University on a wrestling scholarship. He stayed for two years before returning home following the death of his mother at the age of 40.

“When she passed away, my goals kind of changed,” he said. “I wasn’t really [going to college] for myself at the time. I was doing it for her.”

“Atlanta did some really good things under his watch as business manager. He made it stand out a little brighter on the map, especially in the Southeast, a tough union area.”

_{– Fourth District International Representative Neil Gray}

O’Kelley worked as a helper on jobsites after turning 16 on the advice of his grandfather, a Local 613 member. He enjoyed the experience and working with his hands, especially on motorcycles.

After leaving college, he applied and was accepted into the Local 613 apprenticeship, becoming a member in February 1982.

“I was already somewhat mechanically inclined,” he said. “But what really got my attention is how the union took care of people, even at that point in my career when I was working as a helper.”

O’Kelley noted that he majored in history and minored in political science while in college, so it probably comes as no surprise that he eventually ran for business manager.

He returned to the Atlanta area in early 2004 after working as a traveler in Chicago. He put together a campaign committee and began reaching out to members. His supporters handed out T-shirts and hardhat stickers and held cookouts promoting his candidacy.

He was elected to the position 15 months later, defeating a three-team incumbent in the process.

“When you sit in that seat, you’ve got a lot of push. You can do something for [a member] and their family. That part of being business manager was very rewarding,” he said.

O’Kelley was reelected three times, and he’s especially proud that Local 613 emerged from the 2008 economic crisis in good shape. He accepted a position as Fifth District international representative in 2016, in large part because “everything was going good at the local,” he said.

Local 613 had 3,900 members when he left, making it the largest local union in the Fifth District. It now has about 6,000 members.

As an international representative, O’Kelley serviced eight locals in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and found that he loved working with business managers and other IBEW activists.

“Even though you spend a lot of windshield time” driving from local to local, “it’s still the best job,” O’Kelley said.

“To work with a young business manager and help him become the best he could be, I loved that,” O’Kelley said. “It’s almost like a sport. I was the coach and I was helping the key players become All-Pros and All-Americans. I got as much reward from watching them as when I was [a business manager] myself.”

Brannen noted that O’Kelley played a key role in the IBEW meeting the intense manpower demands during construction of the Vogtle nuclear plant in Waynesboro, Ga., the largest in the U.S.

That was due to the strong relationships he had built with Bechtel, an IBEW signatory contractor on site, and Georgia Power, the plant’s owner. Atlanta Local 84 represents maintenance and operations employees at the facility.

“You knew he was not going to pander to anyone,” said Brannen, who also was working as an international rep at that time. “He was going to tell you the truth, whether you liked it or not.”

Fourth District International Representative Neil Gray met O’Kelley when he was working a temporary assignment in the Fifth District in 2016. The two have become close friends since.

Gray said O’Kelley had a presence and aura on the job few other leaders could match.

“Atlanta did some really good things under his watch as business manager,” Gray said. “He made it stand out a little brighter on the map, especially in the Southeast, a tough union area.”

O’Kelley and his wife, Jennifer, have been married for 42 years and have one daughter, Megan, and three grandchildren. Chris Sherlock, his son-in-law, is a member of the International Union of Elevator Constructors.

He and his wife live on Lake Oconee, about 85 miles east of Atlanta, and O’Kelley plans to spend more time hunting and fishing, two of his life-long passions, in retirement.

“The Fifth District is in really good shape,” he said. “There’s a lot of talented young brothers and sisters there. I know it’s good hands.”

The officers and staff thank Brother O’Kelley for his many years of service and wish him a long, happy retirement.