John Leonard Pelkey, known as “Jack,” was born on May 7, 1928 in Shadyside, Ohio. At age eleven, Pelkey moved with his family to the Washington, D.C. region.¹From 1945 until 1949, Pelkey served in the U.S. Navy.²

Pelkey began working as an electrician at the White House in September 1957.³ He worked alongside other White House electricians to maintain the lighting, power systems, and electrical equipment inside the public and private areas of the Residence. By the time he retired in July 1985, he had been promoted to Assistant Foreman of the electric shop.⁴All told, Pelkey worked at the White House for nearly thirty years under seven presidents.

In 1968, he “almost got into a fist fight” with fellow White House worker Traphes Bryant, who took care of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s dog, Yuki. According to Bryant, Pelkey was angry that Bryant repeatedly took Yuki into the electric shop who then sat on Pelkey’s pillow on the couch in the room.⁵

Pelkey was a charter member of the White House Mansion Staff Open, a golf tournament hosted by and for members of the Executive Residence staff.⁶

After retiring in 1985, Pelkey moved to North Port, Florida, where he volunteered with the local Coast Guard Auxiliary unit. He passed away on February 4, 2006.⁷

Port Charlotte Sun (Port Charlotte, FL), February 8, 2006, pg 21.
“John Leonard Pelkey,” U.S., Korean War Era Draft Cards, accessed via Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62234/records/2986840
White House Office of the Curator, e-mail message to author, March 16, 2026.
In 1973, a White House staff list identified Pelkey as a “working foreman-electrician,” while Walter F. Martin was “Foreman-electrician.” The modifier “working” suggests Pelkey may have briefly acted as foreman in 1973 for unknown reasons. See Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973), 48, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hearings/6VHVAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1. Records within the White House Office of the Curator state that Pelkey retired on July 27, 1985 as Assistant Foreman in the Electrical Shop. See White House Office of the Curator, e-mail message to author, March 16, 2026.
Traphes Bryant and Frances Spatz Leighton, Dog Days at the White House: The Outrageous Memoirs of the Presidential Kennel Keeper (Pocket Books, 1976), 234.
“Charter Members of the White House Mansion Staff Open,” photograph, Henry Haller Collection, White House Historical Association Digital Archives.
Port Charlotte Sun (Port Charlotte, FL), February 8, 2006, pg 21.

Birthplace

Shadyside, Ohio, USA

Unclear from context

Related Workers: Walter F. Martin Jr.; Traphes L. Bryant
after 1961