Friday, June 18, 1999

'Only in America' resonates with son of Irish immigrant

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BY JOHN JOHNSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        A friend recently gave Tom Tierney a pair of gold cuff links engraved with the words, “Only in America.” To make sense of that, you have to know a few things about Mr. Tierney, a white-haired 67-year-old retiree who lives in Bridgetown. You have to know about his roots.

Everyone has a story worth telling. At least, that's the theory. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear on Fridays.

        His mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Rita Casey, was born and raised in a tiny village in County Sligo, Ireland. She and her family, living in a cottage with a thatched roof, endured some hard times. Hoping for a better life, in 1922 Margaret boarded a ship bound for America. She was 18.

        She arrived in Cincinnati, where a wealthy family hired her as a domestic. The family's name was Taft. They lived on Pike Street, and today their former home is the Taft Museum.

        Margaret always enjoyed telling her family about the time she served dinner to a very special guest: former president William Howard Taft.

        Margaret eventually met and married Mark Tierney, who also had Irish roots. He worked as a railroad switchman for the Chesapeake & Ohio. They had seven children, including Tom. During the depths of the Depression, the nine of them lived in a three-room home in Mount Adams.

        They didn't have a lot, but they had what they needed.

        As a child, Tom remembers wearing green every St. Patrick's Day. He also remembers Irish Day at Coney Island in the late '30s and early '40s. Sandwiched between rides, aboard the Island Queen was plenty of dancing and fiddle music.

        In 1951 Tom enlisted in the Air Force, eventually developing an interest in data processing. His superiors, however, wanted to assign him to an electronics unit. First they said he would have to pass a test that measures color blindness (because electronics technicians must be able to distinguish wires of different colors).

        Mr. Tierney's blue Irish eyes dance a bit when he says he failed the test. Miserably.

        And so he wound up in data processing. The computer age was in its infancy. Young Tom Tierney worked hard and learned a lot.

        When he got out of the service, he worked for Procter & Gamble for a few years. Then in 1958 he was hired by an up-and-coming businessman who owned some dairy stores in Cincinnati.

        The fellow's name was Carl Lindner.

        In those days at United Dairy Farmers, “Everything was pencil and paper,” says Mr. Tierney, who went about the task of setting up the company's data processing systems.

        Mr. Lindner, of course, kept expanding, buying more businesses, creating an empire. This increased Mr. Tierney's responsibilities.

        He held various titles through the years. Assistant vice president of United Dairy Farmers. Secretary and controller of American Financial Corp. Senior vice president of American Computer Leasing Corp. When Mr. Tierney retired in 1990, he was senior vice president of Great American Insurance Co., another of Mr. Lindner's holdings.

        You've heard of the luck o' the Irish? Mr. Tierney says he was in the right place at the right time. He loved his work so much it never seemed like work.

        As Mr. Tierney tells his story, he and his wife of 44 years, Ruth, are sitting in the sun room of their Bridgetown home. Picture windows offer a view of the swimming pool, surrounded by a wrought iron fence.

        At least once a week, sometimes more, the Tierneys drive to Mount Adams, have dinner and visit friends. Tom likes to stay in touch with the neighborhood where he was raised.

        Tom's father died in 1973. In 1983, his mother made her first and only return trip to her homeland. She died six months later.

        The Tierneys also have made a number of trips to Ireland. Tom has visited his mother's little village. He has seen his humble roots.

        How different everything might have been, but for an 18-year-old who dreamed of a better life and had the courage in 1922 to board a ship bound for a faraway land.

        Tom Tierney is proud of his Irish roots. He's also grateful for the opportunities he's been afforded.

        Which is why the words on the those gold cuff links resonate within him: “Only in America.”

       

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