David Naleski, Vietnam vet, Plum Island mechanic and union leader from Southold, dies of ALS at 74

David Naleski had a gift for working with his hands from a young age, able to take apart, repair or build almost anything that crossed his path.

"If there wasn’t a part, he’d make a part," said his wife, Rosabelle Naleski. "He could fix anything, really."

That resourcefulness defined Naleski, a Vietnam War combat veteran, longtime Plum Island mechanic and devoted union advocate who spent decades restoring his Southold home with his own hands. Naleski was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in March last year and died at home of complications from the disease on Aug. 5. He was 74.

A life of service

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and raised in Auburn, Naleski graduated from Worcester Boys Trade High School in 1971 and joined the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He served four years aboard the USS Duluth as a lithographer’s mate.

The Duluth participated in Operation Frequent Wind, the final evacuation of Saigon as South Vietnam fell in 1975. Nearly 7,000 Americans, Vietnamese and other evacuees were airlifted out of the city during what became the largest helicopter evacuation in history.

Despite being deeply affected by his experiences in Vietnam and by the frosty reception he received after returning home, Naleski’s family said the experience did not diminish his concern for his country and others.

"He was someone who cared about this country and its people," said his brother-in-law, Grover Gatewood, of Bridgehampton.

Naleski received the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one Bronze Star, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.

After his military service, Naleski became a long-haul truck driver and studied diesel mechanics at the Baran Institute of Technology in Connecticut. He began working at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in 1994, where he became chief mechanic for the ferries and later worked in the motor pool.

Co-worker Adam Douglass, of Orient, said the two spent years working side by side, repairing everything from buses and golf carts to payloaders.

"You never know what you’re gonna get, you know, every day was a little different." Douglass said. "His strength was his ability to pivot and adapt."

Fighting for fellow workers

Naleski also served as a shop steward for Local 30 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. During a labor dispute in 2002, he was an outspoken supporter of a strike that lasted more than two years and he remained away from Plum Island for several years afterward.

For Naleski, representing his fellow workers was a responsibility he took personally. Christopher Mitchell, a longtime Plum Island co-worker, said Naleski was particularly passionate about securing strong contracts and resolving workplace disputes.

"I don’t know anyone more dedicated and fierce when it came to representing Local 30 operating engineers," said Mitchell, of Madison, Connecticut.

As his health declined, Naleski remained devoted to the workers he represented, personally asking Mitchell to help take on his union responsibilities and ensuring an experienced voice would remain at the bargaining table.

"I remember thinking, those are big shoes to fill," Mitchell said. "The three of us that represent Local 30 now are trying to carry on what he started."

A gift for fixing things

Away from work, Naleski poured the same energy into his family and the 1912 Southold house he and Rosabelle bought in 1999. Over the years, he restored it piece by piece, reusing old glass and salvaged wood, restoring staircases and, near the end of his life, constructing a front porch.

"There isn’t one thing I see that doesn’t remind me of him," his daughter Margaret Naleski Tripp said.

But Naleski’s hands were not always busy repairing something. He gardened, fished, played guitar by ear and made up songs. His daughters remembered a father who cooked dinner, coached their youth sports teams, handed out nicknames and was simply always there.

"He showed his love sort of by helping," daughter Marianne Naleski O’Connor said. "He was just a really encouraging father."

His family said that same persistence carried him through ALS. Even as the disease took away his ability to speak and move independently, they said he never complained.

"He had such a fight in him for life," O’Connor said. "He just kept trying."

In addition to his wife of over 30 years and daughters Marianne, of Patchogue, and Margaret, of Tucson, Arizona, Naleski is survived by grandson Ezra David Tripp; brother Victor Naleski, of West Hartford, Connecticut; and sisters Ann Henry, of Foster, Rhode Island, and Joanne Gering, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

A funeral Mass was celebrated on Aug. 12 at St. Patrick’s Church in Southold. He was buried with U.S. Navy honors at Calverton National Cemetery.