Tim Joy, a retired business representative and apprenticeship instructor with IBEW Local 48, passed away June 13 at the age of 95.
Joy was one of the original six trustees of the Edison Pension Fund. At the time, only a small percentage of the American population had pensions other than Social Security. The industrial and construction unions led the way to securing benefits for the retired. Joy’s philosophy was to establish a pension that would enable each employee to live out the rest of their life in dignity. He continued to serve on the Trust after his retirement in 1987.
Newell White “Tim” Joy was born in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 13, 1925. Due to the economic uncertainties of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Joy family moved from Portland to Chicago, Missouri and California as his father pursued job opportunities.
Joy graduated from Stockton High School in California. Shortly after that he went to work for contractors in the Stockton shipyards. He joined IBEW Local 591 in Stockton in 1946 and completed his apprenticeship there as an inside wireman in 1948.
Because he had relatives in Portland, he attended Multnomah College for a school year, then studied electrical engineering for a year at Oregon State University.
Joy was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He worked as an electrician in the First Marine Air Wing based near Inchon.
Joy married his wife, Hilda, in 1954, then returned to Portland the following year. He transferred his IBEW membership into Local 48 and worked as an inside wireman.
He worked for several contractors including Dimitre Electric, Tice Electric Company, and Bohm Electric, and was appointed press secretary for Local 48 in 1964 and 1965.
It was as a working journeyman and instructor at Metro Electrical Training Center during the late 1960s that Joy began helping develop what would later become the Edison Pension Trust. He was a founding pension fund trustee who helped write the 1969 agreement. He served as one of six trustees—three from the union and three from the National Electrical Contractors Association—from 1969 until 1992.
In 1970, during the Trust’s second year, he was appointed business representative for Local 48, a position he filled for 16 years until his retirement in 1987.
Joy also was active in politics, and helped set up a Local 48 Political Action Committee that supported union-backed candidates and encouraged members of the union to run for public offices and raised campaign funds for them.
Joy was inducted into the Labor Hall of Fame in December 2006. The award was selected by the retirees group of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, which has since disbanded.
Joy is survived by his wife of 66 years, Hilda; two daughters, Sandra and Kathleen; a son, Timothy; and five grandchildren.
At his request, no service is planned. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations made to a charity of your choice are appreciated.
