Lower Burrell man learned plastering from his dad, turned it into career, nationwide union leadership

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things they do.

Dan Stepano would help his father plaster homes during what turned out to be, in effect, a very young apprenticeship.

Ed “Peck” Stepano would wear stilts on the job. Every so often he would nudge his son from his elevated perch to keep things moving until the job was done.

“He would take us out on jobs when we were 10, 11 and 12,” Stepano said. “(He was) different than at home. No hollering or anything like that. Just, ‘Let’s go. Get moving.’ If I was in a corner plastering (or) trying to straight-edge a wall, he’d come over with his stilts and just bump you.

“There was a lot of respect from someone who knew his craft that well, and was efficient and produced excellent work. I just admired it. I think back about what he did and how he did it. It was just amazing.”

Ed Stepano, a World War II Navy veteran and longtime plasterer, worked out of Plasterers’ Local Union 31. He also owned and operated Stepano Plastering in Lower Burrell for years. He died in 2009 at age 82, but his work ethic and lessons live on through his son.

“No matter what the job is, you do it,” Stepano said. “Do your job and don’t complain about it. Nobody likes to hear anybody complain about the job they’re doing.”

Dan Stepano, 65, lives in Lower Burrell. But he was born in New Kensington and grew up along 16th Street in Arnold, a few blocks away from the ball fields and basketball courts.

It was a major recreation spot for youth leagues and sandlot games. There was a maintenance building where children would play ping-pong.

“Probably every other house had kids, so we all banded together and played together,” Stepano said. “We never locked our doors back then. … We always had, like, three or four teams because we had so many kids.”

He called Arnold a friendly city with a few rabble-rousers.

“If you lived below the tracks like we did, to the kids we were ‘river rats,’ ” Stepano said. “If you lived above the tracks, we referred to them as ‘hillbillies.’ I don’t think I could have grown up in a better neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood’s neighborhood.

“If you ever wanted to live in an ideal place, that was it. … We weren’t allowed to go down to the river, but when you’re not allowed to do something as a kid you did it. There were no two ways about it.”

He graduated from Valley High School in 1972 and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Edinboro University.

After a seven-month search for jobs in that science field turned up empty, he went to work for his father.

“I asked my dad, ‘Can I come to work for you,’ and he looked at me like I was from outer space,” Stepano said. “He goes, ‘You sure you want to do this? This is hard work.’

”I’ve got to make a living. Whatever it is I’ll learn to do it.”

Stepano would parlay the family business experience into working for Plasterers’ Local Union 31. He started in 1980 as a journeyman plasterer and will soon hit the 40-year milestone. He served on the union’s board, as well as its business agent, recording secretary and business manager.

Stepano was instrumental in improving its record keeping, apprenticeship training and recruiting efforts.

“Training was a key issue. It takes time to make changes,” he said. “All the different regulations have to be taken care of. When I got on the board in 1990, they also made me the apprentice coordinator. I wanted that. We started training from the ground up on plaster.

“We don’t do a lot of conventional plastering anymore. By doing that type of work, from conventional plaster on through, you learn how to use your tools. You learn how to use your hands. If you can do conventional plaster and become half-decent, you can do just about anything in plaster.”

Stepano’s efforts were noticed by officials at the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association in Laurel, Md. He accepted their office of executive vice president and general executive board positions in 2004.

He improved the association’s outreach, training, transparency and technology usage among many other projects. He was elected as general president in April 2016 when his predecessor died.

Stepano went from advocating for about 300 laborers in Western Pennsylvania to about 46,000 in the United States and Canada.

“We ensure that the local unions follow (our) constitution as far as training, as far as finances,” he said. “They can’t step outside of what the constitution says we’re allowed to do. We’re pretty much the oversight. … We do lobbying for our cause (and) what we think’s going to help our members, give them a better way of life and protect them. We lobby Congress all the time.

“The only reason I’m here is for those members, and more importantly their husbands, their wives and their kids. We have to work for them and make sure they have a better way of life. Everywhere I go I say that.”

Stepano recently celebrated 32 years of marriage with his soulmate, Jeanne. They have two sons, EJ and Ryan.