Last Dispatch
By Robert Magden

During the depths of the Great Depression Hector Goulet decided he had had enough of the “awful Fink Hall.” In 1931 he walked into Local 38-12 Longshore Hall and signed the membership rolls.

He wouldn’t be finding work as often, but he would have his selfrespect. He would not have to wash Fink Hall Boss Merl Ringenberg’s car or buy a fifth of Scotch for an alcoholic hatchtender.

Hector knew the union dispatcher Ernest “Limey” Ellis would send him out for his fair share of jobs, based on the rotation system. Hector helped recruit new members, among them a young Missourian named Shelvy Daffron, who was a gifted speaker capable of inspiring others.

Goulet and Daffron worked in Gang 34 as stevedores, toiling in the holds of ships for 35 cents an hour. He served the union faithfully and well, but never aspired to leadership; he was a dedicated rank-and-filer.

At the beginning of the Great 1934 Strike, Daffron and Goulet were among the union men who cleared the Seattle docks of scabs. They were teargassed by police at the Garfield Bridge incident and fought scab-wannabes hand-to-hand in front of the Alaska Building.

Goulet and Daffron were together at Point Wells, near Everett, when a bushwacker from an employer dirty-tricks squad shot Shelvy Daffron in the back. Goulet sat in the lead truck with other members of Gang 34 in the funeral entourage to Lakeview Cemetery.

On Nov. 18, 1986, Hector Goulet returned, leading his union brothers to Shelvy Daffron’s seldom-visited grave. For the first time anyone there could recall, Brother Goulet spoke about the past. 

He recalled the bitter years, the eight lost lives, the suffering families and the final victory. He saw the real meaning of the Big Strike as “An Awakening” of brotherhood among working people. In the 1930s and 1940s longshoremen were there to help lumberjacks, woodworkers, seamen and a host of others succeed in getting decent pay and safety enforcement. 

“All we ever wanted,” Goulet said, “was a fair shake.” In his later retirement years Hector Goulet was surprised that of the 1,182 Seattle longshore workers who fought in the Big Strike he would be the last one to answer the dispatch call.

When Goulet came to the Seattle pensioners’ annual meeting in May 2004, he received a standing ovation. Brother Goulet had a broad smile on his face as he remarked to those near him that he was proud the union had not forgotten its old timers. Goulet, who was born Sept. 22, 1909, died July 25.

Photos of the Gathering