White House Plumber Dies - I Mean the Real White House Plumber

I know this is a story that's tailor made for the Genealogue, but I couldn't resist when I found it in the Wall Street Journal.  Howard Arrington was THE White House Plumber from Truman to Carter and this article has interesting and funny stories about a job that spanned almost 20 years.  Hey, even the White House has to have plumbers - I imagine that people who have worked in these kinds of support jobs in the White House have some really good stories to tell.

Comments

[Miriam]

There was a fascinating book written years ago called _My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House_ by Lillian Rogers Clark, an African-American seamstress who worked in the White House. It also includes the stories of her mother, Maggie Rogers, who was housemaid for 30 years herself (and rose to headmaid position). Together, they served all the presidents from Taft through Eisenhower. This book was turned into a TV miniseries, which aired in 1979.