By Paul F. Vang
Dennis Kelleher, a long-time bartender at Borrie', a landmark bar and restaurant at Black Eagle, across the Missouri River from Great Falls, is the winner of the inaugural Gary A. Langley Memorial Worker of the Year award, an honor sponsored by Continental Communications of Butte, publisher of Montana Tavern Times.
The Grasseschi family, including co-owners (and siblings) Barry Grasseschi, Debbie Thomas and Cindy Bey, the third generation to operate Borrie', nominated Kelleher for the award.
In their nomination essay, the Grassseschis wrote, "When we read about your Worker of the Year competition, we shouted in unison, "That' Dennis.'"
They go on to say, "From his first coming on board, Dennis has been a faithful, honest, hardworking employee and has served as a wonderful example for the rest of our staff…Over the 35 years Dennis has worked for us he has proven his reliability over and over and is always available to work a fill-in shift should the need arise.
"Dennis has acquired quite a following over the years and it' not unusual to have out-of-towners, from across the country and Canada, stop in merely to say hello.
"During the entire time he has worked for us, Dennis has only taken two vacations, one to attend a Yankee game in Seattle, the other to attend an Oakland Raiders game in San Diego.
"Dennis has not lived without adversity. Perhaps his greatest challenge came from being diagnosed with cancer in 2005. Following the diagnosis Dennis underwent seven months of chemo and radiation therapy. However, even the 'Big C' couldn't keep him down and he missed nary a shift.
"The members of our family involved in the business have often commented that ours would be a much easier business to run if we could simply clone Dennis."
Kelleher was on hand at the 2006 Montana Tavern Association convention banquet Sept. 13 to receive the specially created plaque adorned with a bartender's jigger and stir-spoon, as well as a crisp $100 bill, which came as a complete surprise to him. He took time, after receiving the award, to chat with a Tavern Times writer.
Kelleher is a native of Great Falls. "My dad worked for the Great Northern Railroad at the old roundhouse," he said. He had uncles that worked in the underground mines in Butte, and mining and smelting were a strong part of family tradition. As part of a railroad family, they took advantage of opportunities to get on the train and go to the Columbia Gardens in Butte.
As a youth he learned boxing in the Golden Gloves program and traveled over much of Montana for boxing events.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1966.
He worked many years at the Anaconda Company smelter in Black Eagle. "I was a rod-catcher at the smelter," he said.
When smelting operations closed, Kelleher went to work, for some 20 years, at the Super Valu warehouse in Great Falls, where he labored in the frozen foods department, generally putting in full-day shifts in the 25 degrees below zero freezers.
While he put in long careers at the smelter and warehouse, Kelleher, who says he gets along without much sleep, always worked at least more than one additional job, and got his start tending bar on what he describes as the old "skid row" of Central Avenue in downtown Great Falls. "I'd work at the Pension Bar--there were five bars in that one block--the only one left now is Club Cigar."
After becoming a smelter man, he was working at the 3-D Club in Black Eagle when, in 1969, Ernie Grasseschi, the father of the current owners, asked Dennis to "come work a couple shifts at Borrie'."
Debbie Thomas laughs and says, "Dennis has been here five days a week ever since."
"The only days I ever missed was when I was in the hospital with cancer," Kelleher said, almost with a note of embarrassment regarding those seven days of hospitalization. "That was the first time I'd been in the hospital since I was born."
Of course, part of the reason he' been so faithful at Borrie' is that' where he met his wife, Mel (now a 37-year employee at Borrie'). Dennis and Mel have three children, Missy, Kelly and William, all graduates of the University of Montana.
Debbie Thomas related some of the history of Borrie'. It started as a bar back in 1938, founded by her grandfather, Borrie Grasseschi. It was a popular watering hole for smeltermen coming off shift, and they maintained a regular line of bank credit so they'd be able to cash paychecks on Fridays.
"At first," she reminisced, "our only food was sandwiches. Then we started making spaghetti sauce and raviolis at home to supply area grocery stores, and finally decided to start a restaurant to sell it."
She says they were culinary pioneers, creating, back in the 1950s, deep dish pizzas in pie plates at home and taking them to the restaurant for baking.
Ms. Thomas says she' still the ravioli maker and makes fresh ravioli every day.
"I worked for three generations," Dennis Kelleher said, telling of working with Borrie, who started it all, his son Ernie, and the current owners.
Some 30 years ago, the Kellehers made a good investment, buying riverfront property on the Missouri River in the heart of the recreational corridor along I-15, between Great Falls and Helena.
"I bought it for a song," he laughs. While he' never gotten interested in fishing, he spends his days off mowing the lawn. "I mow the lawn. I used to push the mower. Now I'm so damn lazy I have a riding mower." It' a continual challenge keeping up with the grass. "It' fertilized by deer in front and the geese in back."
While Dennis Kelleher enjoys his retreat on the river, his lawn-mowing doesn't interfere with work.
"He never wavers," says Debbie Thomas. "He' always there. We depend on him. A lot of ladies come in and they don't know what to do if Dennis isn't there. They say, with a look of panic, 'Dennis makes our drinks.'"
While Dennis and Mel Kelleher have combined for over 70 years of service at Borrie's, Dennis has no plans for retirement. After working two and three jobs most of his adult life, he says, "I am retired. I only work one job. I can do it with my eyes closed."
He also owns rental properties in the Great Falls area, which keeps him busy doing his own plumbing, painting and other work.
That' not enough, though, so he keeps showing up for work at Borrie'.
"What would I do? Sit and watch the river? I gotta have something to do."
Debbie adds, "I tell Dennis, "If you go, I go. I'm not sticking around if you're not there.'"
Of the award presentation, Debbie said of her friend and employee, "The hardest part was getting Dennis to take a night off to come to Butte for the MTA convention."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Oct., 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.