I grew up in a very small family and my late Grandpa played a huge role in my life. After he retired from his lifelong job at Inland Container, he and my Grandma moved from Indiana to live a mile away from where we lived in Ohio when I was about 10 years old so they could help my Mom raise me and my brother. It is not an overstatement to call my Grandpa a “national treasure,” as one of my brother’s friends proclaimed when we were in high school. He was honorable, warm, funny, kind and adorable.
Jimmy O’Donnell was a true kid of the depression. He was mostly raised by his sisters in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a kid he worked as a grocery bagger and did whatever he could do to get any spending money. He enlisted in the Navy to fight in WWII. While in the war, he became pen pals with my Grandma. He continued to court her after the war and eventually moved to Indianapolis to marry her and begin a new life.
He got a job in the warehouse of Inland Containers, a company that still makes corrugated cardboard packaging today. He rose up in the company after always being noticed for putting in extra hours, and going the distance. He worked for them for over 40 years and ended up being a manger overseeing their telecommunications needs. So Inland was always a source of stories from my Grandpa, and its logo was omnipresent at my Grandparents house. That company became his family and foundation, created stability for him, and allowed him to buy a house, take care of his family, enter the middle class, pay for his children’s education and retire well. His retirement meant we had Grandparents who were there for us growing up – they were a constant presence at my brother’s little league games and my dance recitals. And he was always ready to pitch in to help support us in our jobs – by driving us to our jobs on weekends, or helping us out with our paper routes when the weather was bad.
I share a number of traits with my Grandpa, my corniness for instance. He was also humble, reserved, loved sports, and never complained – anyone who knows me would never describe me in those terms! But the long hours, hard work, dedication and loyalty that my Grandpa gave to his company are so recognizable in how I have showed up in most of my professional working life.
Liz Cattaneo is the Communications Director for Jobs With Justice
Photo: Liz’s Grandparents Jimmy & Charlotte O’Donnell pictured together after purchasing their first house in Indianapolis in 1947.
