Born to Build Blog

Schmidt comes to O’Shea from Memorial Health System, where he worked for 12 years, most recently as CEO of Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville. During his career at Memorial, he was Manager of Information Technology Customer Support and served as Vice President of Facilities Management.

Get to know Devin Powell, Construction Administrator!

O’Shea Builders started when John Timothy O’Shea (O’Shea President Mike O’Shea’s great-grandfather) listed himself as a contractor in the Springfield, Illinois City Directory in 1900.

     His parents, James and Johanna O’Shea, immigrated to the United States in 1852 from Ireland, at the end of its devastating potato famine. About two million Irish fled here to escape hunger and poverty, according to the Library of Congress.

Beach started his career in construction as a union carpenter, moving to foreman, then superintendent for Stelle Construction, Associated Contractors and Clayco. He has worked on many notable higher education and healthcare projects such residence and dining halls at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, Heartland Community College’s Workforce Development Center, and Carle Spine Clinic. 

Kelly Boston fondly recalls the excitement from her and her sister Janelle Boston Fanning when their father built them the clubhouse they’d been begging for as children.

“He also constructed several sheds around the house for farm equipment and tools, and he built our brick family home in 1986,” Kelly says. “My dad is a very self-taught man when it comes to construction, and he is very particular about the construction process every inch of the way.  Even though he didn’t make a living in the construction industry, I could tell it was something he was passionate about.”