Mulligan helped start local Sister City relationship with Headford, Ireland
Published in the March 16- 29, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Photo by Robert Airoldi
Bernie Mulligan behind the bar in his Holiday Lake Estates home.
Bernie Mulligan loves beer and politics. Always has. So much so that he built a custom bar in his upstairs living room that includes several taps of his favorites — Guinness, Harp Black Butte Porter and others.
As for the political side, he was the campaign manager for Dennis Kennedy’s successful Morgan Hill City Council and mayoral races, the campaign chair for the Morgan Hill office of now-Congressman Jeff Denham and for 27 years he’s thrown a St. Patrick’s Day party for about 100 people including local, regional, state and national politicians, community leaders and friends.
“I enjoy talking to politicians and leaders about issues,” the 73-year-old retired insurance salesman said. “I’m a people person. I enjoy raising funds for various organizations. You can get a hell of a lot done here if you just ask nicely.”
Asking nicely helps, but sometimes to get things done he just acts. When he and Kennedy were exploring the idea of Morgan Hill starting a Sister City relationship with Headford, Ireland, they ran into a bureaucratic morass. So the pair flew to Ireland, met the right people and established the relationship that will celebrate 10 years this year.
“We just went there and got things done,” he said of their efforts. He also helped start the relationship with Seferihisar, Turkey.
Raised in Red Bank, New Jersey, Mulligan aspired to be a rock star.
After graduating from high school he and a few friends started a rock and roll band in 1959 called the Del-Tones, not to be confused with the West Coast’s Dick Dale & His Del-Tones. With Mulligan on guitar, they were together for three years, playing around the area.
“That’s why I didn’t go to college right out of high school,” he said. “My dad, a physician, was so disappointed. At that time it was supposed to be either college or the military.”
And when that dream ended after the band broke up, Mulligan got a job in the shipping and receiving department for an electronic company and realized that’s not the type of work best suited for his personality.
So he went back to college, first at King’s College before transferring to Temple University where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science.
“That’s why I’m a political junkie now,” he said. He enjoys talking to politicians and others about the events and issues facing Morgan Hill, our county, state and country.
But, after graduating from college, wanderlust kicked in. He recalled a 1963 visit to California and fell in love with the Golden State, thinking to himself that one day he’d like to live here.
Married in 1965, he and his then wife decided to live adventurously, so that year they packed their things and headed west. Upon arriving in the Bay Area, the couple settled in San Jose. Mulligan spent a semester in law school at Santa Clara University, but again realized it was something he was suited for.
“I couldn’t handle writing briefs all night long,” he said. “I quickly found out it wasn’t for me. I’m a ‘working the tables’ type of guy. I’m a salesman.”
Now, not in school, out of work and his wife pregnant with their son Sean, the couple headed back to New Jersey. Sean was born in 1969 and Mulligan went to work selling vaults to banks for Diebold Corp.
“But like a magnet, California was calling again,” he said.
So in July 1970, with just $2,000 in his pocket, Mulligan and his family headed west.
He was just here a few weeks when the tape deck was stolen from his car. When the insurance agent came to take the claim, he told Mulligan Allstate was hiring. Interested, Mulligan applied and a few days later he was hired and after working for three months he was signing up more and more clients.
“I was just hustling,” he said. He helped get the San Carlos Street office opened and worked there for one year before transferring to the Eastridge office.
“I really thought it would be boring,” he said. “But it wasn’t. It was exciting.”
He worked at the Eastridge office until 1977 when he had so many accounts they asked him and two other agents to open an office in Milpitas. At that time he moved to Morgan Hill when another agent was talking about what a great place Holiday Lake Estates was.
“He said he’d bought a lot overlooking Lake Anderson,” said Mulligan who had never heard of Lake Anderson nor Morgan Hill.
“I drove down here and fell in love with the place,” he said, paying more for the premium lot with the lake view.
He designed the five-bedroom home that includes a basement living area and a granny-unit out back. The upstairs living room just off the master bedroom includes a shuffleboard table, pool table, four slot machines and a well-stocked bar with several of his favorite beers on tap.
He had an architect put his ideas together, then hired a contractor to build the home.
He worked at and opened several offices before he sold the office in Almaden Valley in 2001 and retired.
Now, with more time on his hands, Mulligan looked for ways to get more involved.
Mulligan now sits on the board for the St. Louise Regional Hospital Foundation and the Morgan Hill Community Health Foundation. He was part of the group that helped get the property zoned for medical use and worked on the city’s voter-approved slow-growth initiatives.
About Morgan Hill, he said: “I like the people here and the sense of volunteerism. I’ve built lifelong friendships here.”
