ORAL HISTORY OF TOM BEEHAN
Interviewed by Keith McDaniel
March 30, 2016
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MR. MCDANIEL: This is Keith McDaniel and today is March 30, 2016. I'm at my studio here in Oak Ridge, with Tom Beehan. Tom, thank you for coming by and talking with us.
MR. BEEHAN: Well, Keith, this is a pleasure. You know, it’s a great project you're doing. I support it 200 percent. Only in a town like Oak Ridge would you have something like this, so I'm glad to be here.
MR. MCDANIEL: That's exactly right. As a matter of fact, it's one of the, to date, it is become one of the largest oral history collections in the country, and by far the largest on the DOE [Department of Energy] sites.
MR. BEEHAN: Oh, yeah.
MR. MCDANIEL: So, we're very proud of it. I want to start, you've not always been an Oak Ridger, and I want to start before you came to Oak Ridge and learn something about you.
MR. BEEHAN: All right.
MR. MCDANIEL: So, why don't we start at the beginning. Why don't you tell me something about where you were born and raised, something about your family?
MR. BEEHAN: Ok, yeah, well I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. I have Irish and Swiss background. My dad was a police officer in Nashville. He was a sergeant, and he ended up being Sergeant of Arms. My mother was a bookkeeper, and she worked, worked at The Stockyards. So, if you've ever been to the restaurant, The Stockyards, that's where she worked.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh.
MR. BEEHAN: I went to Catholic schools in Nashville. I graduated from Father Ryan High School. A lot of people probably will know a little bit about that. It was for boys, at the time. It's now co-ed. After that, I went to Northern Kentucky, to Covington, to study to be a Catholic priest for the diocese of Nashville.
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok, let's, let's go back to Nashville, just a little bit.
MR. BEEHAN: All right. Yeah, right.
MR. MCDANIEL: Did you have any brothers or sisters?
MR. BEEHAN: Yes, yes, I did. I have three sisters. They're ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: ... all younger.
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: They are all, well, let's see two of them are still in Nashville. One of them has the family disease, she was on Metro Council. The other one's a social worker. And I have a sister in Louisville.
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: So, I'm the oldest, and I ended up, ended up here.
MR. MCDANIEL: Where did you ... where did you grow up in Nashville? Where did you live?
MR. BEEHAN: I lived on Blair Boulevard, which is in the, close to the Hillsboro Village.
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: So, it was, it was interesting, because that house is still there and we visited it -- I won't get into that -- but it was a classic, I think, immigration-type of situation. My grandmother lived with us, too, so you had different generations. You don't see that much anymore ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Right.
MR. BEEHAN: ... because people scatter. But she was from Ireland, and her sisters were and they all lived close by. My mother's spouse -- not spouse -- her siblings were close by so, we had all of these cousins and a whole ... And what's interesting, one of my mother's brother was a Catholic priest.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, is that right?
MR. BEEHAN: So, my wife, Kay, says I had no choice, you know, the oldest son in an Irish Catholic family.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, yeah.
MR. BEEHAN: It was, like, pre-ordained that you would go away to study to be a Catholic priest, which is what I did.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure. The ... So, the ... So, you grew up, I imagine, in the '60s ...
MR. BEEHAN: I did.
MR. MCDANIEL: ... in Nashville.
MR. BEEHAN: I did. I went to Father Ryan, which was one of the first integrated schools in the country. We just celebrated the 50th year, the first time a black school played a, what ended up being a mixed, you know, integrated, basketball team, so I was very proud of that.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure.
MR. BEEHAN: One of my basketball, football coaches, was a guy by the name of John Seigenthaler.
MR. MCDANIEL: Is that right?
MR. BEEHAN: Siggy coached, and we've been friends, family friends, for a long, long time. As you, as you well know, he ended up being The Tennessean's publisher ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Publisher.
MR. BEEHAN: ... and started the First Amendment Center at the, at Vanderbilt University.
MR. MCDANIEL: Right. And didn't he just pass away here, not too long ago?
MR. BEEHAN: He did, he did.
MR. MCDANIEL: A few years ago, I think.
MR. BEEHAN: Well, it was, it was about a year ago really ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, was it. Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: ... because I watched it, I watched it on my computer ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Yeah.
MR. BEEHAN: ... the funeral, because, I mean, I knew a lot of the people.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure, sure, sure, absolutely ... The ... So, so your father was a police officer. I mean, do you remember any, any turbulent times in the '60s?
MR. BEEHAN: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
MR. MCDANIEL: I mean, in Nashville.
MR. BEEHAN: I went to the seminary and I dropped out because, obviously, you know, I'm not a priest.
MR. MCDANIEL: Right.
MR. BEEHAN: I came home and I lived, and I taught in Nashville, at St. Henry's School. It was time, during the, the time, for instance, the night that Martin Luther King was killed, and he was in Memphis. My sister, Ilene, was over at, I forgot, what's the name of the, the all black school in Nashville? Tennessee ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Hume?
MR. BEEHAN: No, no, high -- college?
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, oh, Fisk?
MR. BEEHAN: Not Fisk. The other, the state one.
MR. MCDANIEL: East Tennessee ...
MR. BEEHAN: Tennessee.
MR. MCDANIEL: Tennessee State.
MR. BEEHAN: Tennessee State.
MR. MCDANIEL: Yeah.
MR. BEEHAN: She was there. They were going to give her a scholarship. So, I went over to get her. That was scary. But my dad was part of the riot squads and ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, really?
MR. BEEHAN: ... and I still remember seeing the National Guard drive down our street. It was, it was a kind of crazy, crazy time.
MR. MCDANIEL: You know, it's interesting that you, that you would mention that. Just on a side note: I interviewed a lady who was a school teacher at Linden Elementary School for many, many years, and she said that -- this was back when they did this kind of things -- the classes would get on a bus, and be gone all day, and they'd take trips around the state. A class had gone to Nashville ...
MR. BEEHAN: Oh, my God ...
MR. MCDANIEL: ... to the state capitol, the day that Martin Luther King had, was shot.
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah.
MR. MCDANIEL: And they were on their way back and, of course, nobody had cell phones back then ...
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah.
MR. MCDANIEL: ... or anything, and the parents were all worried. You know, they wanted to make sure that the kids got home safe before anything could, could happen, you know.
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah.
MR. MCDANIEL: So ... a group of Oak Ridge kids were in ...
MR. BEEHAN: Wow ...
MR. MCDANIEL: ... in Nashville that day.
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah, it was kind of conflicting to me, because, well, I was in the seminary at the time, where, I wasn't conflicted. I was very much in favor of integration, and civil rights. And my dad, he had to go out and protect people.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure.
MR. BEEHAN: So, it was really kind of, and, of course, I didn't want to see him hurt.
MR. MCDANIEL: Of course.
MR. BEEHAN: We listened to the police monitors a lot.
MR. MCDANIEL: I bet you did. So, so, you left Nashville, and you went to Covington, Kentucky, to, to Catholic seminary?
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah. Now, here, here's the ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: I went to the seminary there ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: … for four years and went to theology in Baltimore, Maryland. That's where I really did a lot of… I went to the prison there, where I prayed, played music a lot, you may know that.
MR. MCDANIEL: Yeah, right.
MR. BEEHAN: So, then I came home to Nashville, and taught for two years at St. Henry School.
MR. MCDANIEL: Right
MR. BEEHAN: And I needed ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Was that where you had gone?
MR. BEEHAN: No, no ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, ok, that was ... ?
MR. BEEHAN: Cathedral. It's an elementary. And then, I went, I needed to get a Master's degree. Xavier, in Cincinnati, would take all my seminary credits, so then, I moved to Cincinnati, where I'd been in the seminary, and reconnected with a lot of folks there.
MR. MCDANIEL: Were you still intending to become a priest?
MR. BEEHAN: No, no, no, no. I was married then.
MR. MCDANIEL: Ok, ok.
MR. BEEHAN: I'm sorry.
MR. MCDANIEL: All right.
MR. BEEHAN: I'm sorry, I was married then.
MR. MCDANIEL: All right, Ok.
MR. BEEHAN: So, I went up there to go to Cincinnati ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Right.
MR. BEEHAN: ... and to go to Xavier. And I ended up staying, 'bout 18 years. (laughs)
MR. MCDANIEL: Well, did you, did you get your Master's degree?
MR. BEEHAN: I never did. Lacked three hours of a Masters. Isn't that horrible?
MR. MCDANIEL: And what would that have been in?
MR. BEEHAN: Guidance and counseling.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, ok, all right.
MR. BEEHAN: I've used some of those skills through my life, though.
MR. MCDANIEL: I bet on, I bet on City Council you do.
MR. BEEHAN: Particularly on City Council. (laughter)
MR. MCDANIEL: So ...
MR. BEEHAN: The listening and repeating back and, maybe, trying to figure out ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Right.
MR. BEEHAN: But anyway, that's a whole other story.
MR. MCDANIEL: So you, so you went back to Cincinnati, to Xavier, to get your ...
MR. BEEHAN: Right.
MR. MCDANIEL: ... to finish in ...
MR. BEEHAN: And then, I'd, well, I'd worked for non-profits in Cincinnati.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, ok.
MR. BEEHAN: I worked for the Lung Association and they'd started a legislative effort for clean air. So, I ran the Clean Air lobbying operation, really.
MR. MCDANIEL: Right, right, right.
MR. BEEHAN: That was kind of interesting. I'll tell you -- you may know this, you may not know this -- I became friends with a local politician there, and that's kind of how I got my start. His name's Jerry Springer.
MR. MCDANIEL: Jerry Springer.
MR. BEEHAN: Did you know that? (laughs)
MR. MCDANIEL: No, I didn't know that, but I figured when, you know ...
MR. BEEHAN: So, anyway ... So then, I ran, I went to the Lung Association. Then I was, then I went to Little Miami, Incorporated, which is a river preservation non-profit, similar to the Nature Conservancy. There, we got the river, first scenic river in an urban area. But the, I think the most important, one of the most exciting things I did there, was to get, purchase a railroad right-of-way that went 50 miles along the river, and now it's a hiking and biking trail. We did that to protect the scenic river, and now, it's really revitalized that whole corridor up through there.
MR. MCDANIEL: So, you were, you were kind of an activist. I mean, kind of, you know, you ...
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah, I was.
MR. MCDANIEL: ... could put it that way.
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah.
MR. MCDANIEL: You were kind of a community organizer, weren't you?
MR. BEEHAN: Exactly, I was. That was exactly what I was.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure, sure.
MR. BEEHAN: But then, well, I was married and divorced, and then, I think, you probably know my wife, Kay Brookshire.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure, yes.
MR. BEEHAN: Kay and I were married in… In fact, April Fool's Day is our, two days from now, is our anniversary.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, ok.
MR. BEEHAN: And she, she was a reporter for the Cincinnati Post, and I was doing this non-profit. What ended up happening is that, her dad needed help at State Farm and I'm really transitioned from non-profits. I was an activist, but you don't make a lot of money. (laughs)
MR. MCDANIEL: Well, that's true. You don't. That's just the nature.
MR. BEEHAN: Now, I was, let me tell you, I don't know if I ... You may know this. I don't know if you know this or not, I spent seven years on the Oak Ridge, on the Covington City Commission.
MR. MCDANIEL: Right, right.
MR. BEEHAN: So, I started as a non-profit guy there, ended up at State Farm, and I ended up being mayor there for three years.
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure, yes, yes.
MR. BEEHAN: That's when I, some of Jerry's people came over and ran my campaign.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, is that right?
MR. BEEHAN: We used some of the data that, we used computers -- this was 30-something years ago -- that nobody else was using. And anyway, so ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Right. So, so ... you were in this non-profit. You had met your wife.
MR. BEEHAN: We got married.
MR. MCDANIEL: You got married. You were happy in Cincinnati and ...
MR. BEEHAN: Well, we were in Covington.
MR. MCDANIEL: Oh, Covington, which is right outside Cincinnati.
MR. BEEHAN: Yeah, yeah ... We were part of the rehab area, because there's, there was, -- and you'll see this, it's happening in Knoxville. We had a whole neighborhood and we, there had been white flight, for lack of calling it anything else ...
MR. MCDANIEL: Sure.
MR. BEEHAN: ... to the suburbs, that left this great housing stock. So, we all bought some of the houses, and re-did them and, you know, that was kind of an ...