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People On The Move - Robert “Bobby” Taylor
02/27/2011 - By Teja Anderson
MAN OF STEEL
Robert “Bobby” Taylor grew up in Keansburg, N.J., the eldest of four boys and one girl. His mother Eileen tended to the children while his father (also Robert) was an iron worker and boss with Local 40 in Manhattan. All four boys followed in their father’s footsteps and became ironworkers.It started first for Bobby in the summer of 1972 when he was just 17 and his father brought him to work with him on a job in Staten Island building a college gymnasium. Bobby, who already had a propensity for mechanics and construction, was smitten. “I loved it right away; it was exciting to see all the big construction equipment – especially the cranes. I really was impressed with the cranes,” he fondly recalls. The money was good, too. So, he went to the Union Hall and got a job with The Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Pennsylvania, then the second largest steel producer in the United States, putting up a high- rise in New York City. Over the years he has worked on many landmarks around New York City including every bridge, the Citicorp Building, the Continental Building, 55 Water Street and many more.
Building cranes became Bobby’s specialty, a job that changed over the years as cranes went from being able to reach a few stories to cranes that could “jump” from 150–1,500 feet. Luckily, heights were never an issue for Bobby. “Maybe the first couple of times it was tough….when you had to go out on a small beam. But everyone was doing it – at that time it was kind of a macho thing. It was a mind thing, too, because once you were able to go across one, you could go across any of them. Until you got one that was wobbly or too small. Then you had to get down and climb them like a monkey, straddling it,” he says, smiling. “But you had to look down, so you knew where you were walking…some of the beams were only 4”-5” wide,” he adds.
Although his father worked on the building of the World Trade Center in New York as a “Walking Boss” in charge of about 100 men, the two main towers were completed the year before Bobby entered the field. He did work on Buildings 4 and 5 in 1973. Then on September 11, 2001 just after the terrorist attacks, Bobby got a call. “I was home watching it all on the television. I knew what it was – terrorism – but I didn’t think in a million years they would collapse. At that time I was Superintendent on the Williamsburg Bridge with close to 200 ironworkers working for me. My boss called me and told me to get to the WTC as soon as possible. I got there that afternoon but they didn’t let us in until that night.”
Bobby is overcome with emotion as he remembers, “We worked for two days straight. There was stuff all over that you didn’t want to see. It was like a war zone.” His brothers Ronald, Richard and Raymond were called in as well, although understandably none of them like to talk about it much. In October, with half of his men working the day shifts and the other half working nights during the clean up, the stress began to wear on him and his men. “After a month they figured it wasn’t about search and rescue anymore and I went through a lot of guys. Some got mangled, some had nightmares. Luckily we all had respirators so at least we were protected from all the ash and stuff…” he remembers, speaking with difficulty. Mostly they “burned,” using magnesium lance torches to cut countless tons of pieces of metal free from the rubble in pieces small enough to be carried away in order to get down to the very footprints of the towers. The cleanup job took less time than expected and by April of 2002 Bobby was back working on bridges.
Working now on the rebuilding of WTC has been both therapeutic and poignant for Bobby. Although he is able to retire next year at age 57 he isn’t quite ready to hang up his hardhat. “I don’t know if I will retire just yet; I love the work although the commute is starting to get to me,” he admits.
Bobby lives in Holmdel with his wife of 31 years, Theresa, whom he met in high school. Together they have two sons: Bobby, 30, who works in computers and Ryan, 27, also an ironworker, often working along side his father.
STATS
FAVORITE RESTAURANT
Pazzo, Red Bank
FAVORITE MUSIC
“I like all music but Frank Sinatra is who I listen to the most.”
FAVORITE MOVIE
“Tombstone”
PET PEEVE
People who talk on their cell phones in public places.
THREE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
My wife, my father (deceased), and my mother
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