Underground Construction - April 2019 - 21

Opening photo: Cleary Construction crewmen check the coating as they prepare to install
a section of 16-inch gas main pipe while working on the South Knox Street Gas Pipeline project
last summer in Knoxville, Tenn.
Above: The Cleary Construction leadership team, from right, includes Darren Cleary, Shirley Cleary,
Joe Cleary and Wesley Cleary. In the background stands a piece of surveying equipment favored
by the late Ronnie H. Cleary.

among others, and we are always mindful to
be diverse and efficient enough to survive even
the toughest economy.
"That diverse mindset and drive has led to
not only the success of Cleary Construction,
but also to the success of Rock Solutions, a
drilling and blasting company that has taken
off and is doing well."
With its corporate headquarters in
Tompkinsville, a town of less than 2,000,
Cleary Construction operates in Kentucky,
Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois
and Missouri, and has auxiliary offices in
Louisville, Ky., and Birmingham, Ala. The
company plans to break ground on another
office this year in the Carolinas.

Quality is Clear
With a motto of "Quality is Clear," Darren
said that what also sets the company apart "is
doing it the Cleary way. We like to think we're
a step above everybody else. We strive for perfection and being the best. We want engineers
and owners to say, 'We want Cleary back. We
enjoy their work. We enjoy their people.'"

The company CEO, like his father and mother, two sons, daughter and three grandchildren, was born and raised in Tompkinsville.
"Right out of high school, my dad put me
to work on a paving crew and I quickly saw
I didn't like paving. I said, 'I'd like to get a
backhoe. I think we could make a living with it
and help the company.' Reluctantly, he agreed.
Shortly after, I started doing local private work
digging footers, septic systems, just small-scale
stuff, and I did that for a few years before advancing to doing municipal work," said Darren,
recalling that his starting pay was $5 an hour.
During his childhood, Darren helped his
father grow tobacco and hay and raise cattle.
For a diversion, he and his parents owned
and trained Tennessee Walking Horses. Many
weekends the family showed their horses at
equestrian events. For Ronnie, this was a passion that began in 1969 when he showed his
first horse at the local fair. He went on to show
his walking horses across the Southeast, where
they reaped numerous awards and honors.
Then things took a drastic turn.
One day in late December 2007, Cleary
became unconscious after suffering intense
headaches. Rushed to the hospital, he was
given tests and promptly informed by doctors
that he had cancer and had but three to six
months to live.

After getting a second opinion and the
same diagnosis, he began treatments, but they
proved futile. Ronnie Cleary passed away Feb.
5, 2008, some 40 days after his diagnosis. He
was 61.
That night the family gathered at Mrs.
Cleary's house. From the back porch they
noticed a red sky to the west and then spotted
a tornado.
"We saw the funnel cloud and heard that
noise like a train. We jumped in the basement
and it hit. I thought, 'This house isn't going to
make it.' Finally, it calmed down and somehow
the house was still intact. We went outside,
and the windows were knocked out, and
shingles were blown off," recalled Darren.
"As the crow flies, that tornado came right
through here [the office] and blew the roof off
this place. Not only had my dad just passed,
we had an office with the roof gone, and by
this time a torrential rain started falling.
Everything in here got wet: the paperwork,
copiers, computers and furniture.
"The next day we had to make the funeral
arrangements. We came over to the office, and
there were people everywhere, doing whatever
they could to help. They patched us up the best
they could.
"If you look back on tough days, that was
a horrible day, but we got through it. We lost
UConOnline.com | APRIL 2019

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Underground Construction - April 2019

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