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JANUARY 2-8, 2020
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Cement Workers of the Month
Looking by Back Ed Pany Breweries Part 3 of 3
Today’s column will feature artifacts from the Tru Blu Brewery. All photos are credited to John
Demczszyn and the Atlas Cement Museum. Additional photos on pages 4 and 9.
Left to right: Tony Plucker, Austin Plucker and Mark Plucker By ED PANY Tony, Mark and Austin Plucker, and former family members, have over 130 years of service at Evansville, the current LehighHeidelberg cement plant. They were reared in Molltown, Berks County and graduated from Fleetwood High School. Tony was hired in 1989 starting as a feed operator and repairman. Today he is a pay loader operator, saying, “I move material at the plant each day which includes 70,000 tires a week. They
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are used as alternate fuel. Old timers Richard Hottenstein and Ray Weindt shared their years of work experiences with me.” Mr. Plucker has been married to the former Mary Heffner for 30 years and they are proud of sons Colton, Alex and Sydney. Tony is a soccer enthusiast and enjoys time with his family. His brother Mark started in the labor department in July 1990 right out of high school. Later he was promoted to repairman. Presently, Mark is a lab technician. He said, “I work in the physical lab testing cement before shipping. We test eight different types of cement to ensure Lehigh-Heidelberg produces a quality product. I enjoy the diversity of the job. The lab supervisors are chemists Nick Dovi-
dio and John Disepio, who is in charge of quality control, both fine men.” Mark has been married to the former Stephanie Schadler for 24 years. They have three fine sons Austin, Taylor and Jeremy. In his spare time, Mark both hunts and enjoys his sleek Harley. Mark’s son Austin was hired in 2013; he continues the family tradition at the plant. Austin started on the labor gang and was promoted to the lab. He said, “I am a shift analyst, testing clinker and cement every two hours. We work swing shifts so there are technicians on duty 24 hours daily, checking our product.” Greg Reinhart, Austin’s mentor, helped him refine his laboratory skills. The young ceContinued on page 2
Season’s Greetings Northampton Brewing Co. 1911 poster from Betty Seidel’s parents’ hotel that was operated in the same location of her business, prior to her opening the gift shop.