Mr. Dennis Liberto was raised in East Allen Township. He graduated from Northampton High School in 1971, where he was a hard-running halfback on coach Lou Wolf's Lehigh Valley League championship Konkrete Kid football team.

After a brief period as a bricklayer, he embarked on his cement career, employed by the Coplay Cement Company.

"I started on Ray Schrampf's labor gang for $3.75 hour, and later I worked in the packhouse," he recalls. "In 1979 Coplay closed and constructed a new plant in Nazareth and most of us were unemployed."

A few years later, Dennis received a call from Mr. Joe Domitrovits, labor foremen at the Keystone Cement Co., offering him a job. Dennis was elated.

"I was hired by Plant Manager Mr. Frank Silfies, a wonderful man, and I have been employed here for 28 years," he says.

In his tenure at Keystone, Dennis has worked in every department of the plant – finishing mill, packhouse, quarry, crusher, electrician and presently is a millwright Class A on the 12-man maintenance team. They are supervised by Roger Derr, Mark Dlugos and Greg Lawrence, all fine men.

"Our job is to see that the plant operates in a safe, efficient manner," Dennis says. "Our new plant uses the dry process and the equipment is much larger, so we always learn something new. I remember all the skills shared with me by retiree Umberto Pasquariello."

Mr. Liberto has spent 24 years representing employees as a union leader. He is presently president of United Steel Worker's Local 10-0547, faithfully representing employees at Keystone, Lafarge Corp. and Prime Conduit. He works closely with classmate Bob Beslanovits, union secretary.

"We work closely with our employers to resolve any problems," he says. "I am proud to say Keystone has never had a work stoppage."

Mr. Liberto was a fine student of this writer and is an amiable gentleman who enjoys coming to work each day.

"We have good workers here at Keystone," he says. "I appreciate my job, for it has provided a good living for me and my family."

Dennis has cherished memories of his grandfather and Nicholas, his father, who were dedicated cement workers at the old National Portland Cement Co.

He is married to the former Lynn Geiger and they are proud of their seven children and three grandchildren. They reside in Catasauqua.

It was a pleasure to honor Dennis and I hope to return to honor more of our neighbors as Cement Worker of the Month next year.