To Thine Own Self Be True

To Thine Own Self Be True

The Enduring Legacy of Eugene Willis Bramlett

by Deb Draper • Photos courtesy of Bobby Bramlett

This is the story of a man who made a difference in the lives of his family, his workmates and associates, and in the lives of African-American people in the sheet metal industry.

Eugene Willis Bramlett, founder and CEO of Aire Sheet Metal in Redwood City, California.

Photo courtesy of Bobby Bramlet.

In January 2019, Eugene Willis Bramlett, founder and CEO of Aire Sheet Metal in Redwood City, California, left behind his beloved wife of 63 years, Wilhelmina Johanna (Monna), and his two sons, Marlo and Bobby, who are continuing his life’s work.

For 48 years, Eugene Bramlett steered his company through often turbulent times to become the longest tenured and largest African American-owned HVAC company in the United States. He served as president of the San Mateo Chapter of SMACNA and sat on the Board for two decades while acting as the co-chair of the sheet metal JATC from 1972 to 1976.

“Eugene was a professional through-and-through,” says Matthew Smith, principal and managing officer of Smith Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. in Stockton, California. “He was an outstanding SMACNA contractor, but there is so much more to his story.”

Bobby Bramlett talks about how his father came from a family of 13 kids in Oklahoma and later moved to California. While still

in college, Eugene joined the United States Air Force, serving in foreign deployment as a master sergeant and member of the military police. In 1954, while stationed in Soesterberg, Holland, he met the love of his life, Monna. When he sought permission from his commanding officer to marry, the answer was an unequivocal “no.” There was no way he would be allowed to marry a white woman.

Eugene Willis Bramlett (right), his wife Wilhelmina Johanna, and their two sons, Marlo and Bobby.

Photo courtesy of Bobby Bramlet.

“My dad said he was doing it, like it or not,” Bobby says. “He never backed down, despite their threats to send him back to the United States and despite failed attempts to discredit him. No one was going to tell him what to do—that’s how he lived his entire life.”

They married, and Bobby was born in Holland. In 1958, the family was sent back to the United States and soon began the long drive from New York to California.

As they travelled through the southern states, Monna had to sit in the back seat and keep her young son on the floorboards for fear she and Eugene would be seen as a couple—still illegal in parts of that region at that time.

“In Kentucky, we were run off the road by a group of men who saw mom reach over and give dad a bologna sandwich,” Bobby says. “They likely thought she’d kissed him on the cheek, and she probably had.”

Had it not been for an off-duty sheriff coming the other way, Eugene may very well have been lynched that night, Bobby says. “And yet my mother always chose to focus on the goodness of that sheriff as opposed to the ignorance of the seven men who surrounded my dad.”

In California, Eugene went to work for his brother, stoking furnaces and pouring concrete, before he got his opportunity in the sheet metal trade with Frank Purcell of Redwood Plumbing.

Years later, Purcell says he hired Eugene—at a time when there was little racial diversity in any of the trades—because during the job interview he asked Eugene what he expected out of the experience. Without hesitation Eugene answered, “Your job.” Purcell hired him on the spot.

Bobby laughs recalling how his father started that job stuck at the back of the shop making government clips. “The shop foreman wasn’t happy about him being there and vowed he wasn’t going to let him get any further,” Bobby says. “Instead of complaining, Dad built his own machine in the shop that allowed him to make those clips faster. In no time, they were overstocked with government clips. That was my dad’s business and life model: ῾You get them drunk with service, and you’ll always be able to mug them for sales’.”

Many of Eugene’s struggles were less worthy of a chuckle. Once, Eugene was working on a job underground in a vaulted area with two big steel doors at one end for securing the worksite. He was gathering up his tools at the end of the shift when two crew members locked him in and drove away.

“Luckily, the foreman noticed Dad’s truck was still outside and went back down to see where he was,” Bobby says. Following the faint voice calling out from behind those doors, the foreman rescued Eugene.

“Those two were fired, but Dad could never easily get into an elevator after that and suffered from claustrophobia for the rest of his life,” Bobby says.

It didn’t stop Eugene, though. He soon became a journeyman, and through hard work and his passion for learning, he became foreman and later superintendent. In 1971, he started Aire Sheet Metal.

“Eugene grew up in times when he was not accepted and didn’t get some of the opportunities he should have, but he rose above it and said, ‘I’m not going to let that discourage me or take me from my focus on doing good, quality work in an industry that I care about’,” Smith says.

Don Basso, business representative for Local 104 from 1982 until 1994, recalls that before the days of affirmative action initiatives, there weren’t a lot of minority-owned businesses. “Eugene’s was one of the better shops for promoting the individual and promoting the union,” Basso recalls. “He was a sheet metal worker before becoming a contractor, so he saw both sides of the picture.”

In the late 90s, Eugene was instrumental in merging the San Mateo SMACNA chapter with others to create the Bay Area Chapter, currently the largest in the United States.

“He was heavily involved in the apprenticeship training program, and he deserves a lot of credit for improvements made there,” Basso says. “He was very good at recruiting people to come into the sheet metal apprenticeship program, and he followed them all the way through.”

Smih recalls stories about how Eugene brought in minority employees and helped them understand and deal with discrimination so they could rise above it all and not miss out on the opportunity to succeed.

“Many of those individuals came back later and said to him, ‘I worked 30 years in the industry, and now I have a pension. I just want to thank you because, given the abuse, I was ready to give up.’ To have someone like Eugene lead by example and mentor those recruits, it was an incredible thing for him to do,” Smith says.

“My father had a ferocious way of approaching life,” Bobby says. “It wasn’t loud, but it was directed and it was intense because he believed performance is what matters.”

Against these odds, Aire Sheet Metal grew and prospered under Eugene’s leadership. He brought his sons up through the company, and they ran it together until it was time for Eugene to step back.

“Eugene grew up in times when he was not accepted and didn’t get some of the opportunities he should have, but he rose above it and said, ‘I’m not going to let that discourage me or take me from my focus on doing good, quality work in an industry that I care about’,” says Matthew Smith, Smith Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc.

Today, Bobby and his brother Marlo don’t like to use their official titles: President and Executive Vice President. “Titles mean nothing,” Bobby says. “Dad taught us to respect the person, not the title.”

Recently, the California State Assembly and concurrently the California Senate conferred its highest commendation upon Eugene Bramlett for his “dedication and service to the San Mateo Community, for professionalism in the sheet metal and HVAC industry, and for his generous contributions to youth as mentor, role model and patron.”

Eugene Bramlett changed the sheet metal industry and mentored many of his peers, but he left the brightest mark on is own children. “We had only one hero,” Bobby says. “The most loyal, the most gracious, the toughest human being I have ever known in my life was my father. And I grew up with him, so how lucky am I?” ▪

From her desk in Calgary, Alberta, Deb Smith writes for trade and business publications across North America, specializing in profiles and stories within the hospitality, food service, mining, recreation, and construction industries.