MANNINGTON —
After 44 years, many of the details about the 78 miners who perished in the 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster have been obscured by the mists of time. The community knows their names, etched on a monolith and engraved in their families’ hearts, but so much of who they were has been lost.
At Sunday’s 44th Year Anniversary Memorial Service hosted by the United Mine Workers of America at the memorial site, located over the presumed resting place of the 19 miners who were never recovered, Dave Bienkoski and Chuck Moyers presented a report representing six months of research and identifying how many veterans were killed in the deadly mine disaster.
Cecil Roberts, UMW president, noted that the crowds gathered to remember their lost fathers, grandfathers and even great-grandfathers grow larger every year, and it’s at least in part because there’s so much to remember.
Local News
Related Photos
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Sharon Clelland, whose father was killed in the Farmington Mine Disaster when she was 5 years old, places a wreath on behalf of victims’ families at Sunday’s memorial service commemorating the 44th year since the fatal mine explosion. PHOTO BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
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Members of VFW Post 9916 raise the flag before the memorial service for the 78 men who died in the Farmington Mine Disaster begins. PHOTO BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
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Tanya James, a member of UMW Local Union 9909, reads a poem she wrote in remembrance of the victims at the explosion in the Farmington No. 9 mine. PHOTO BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
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Mike Caputo, UMW District 31 vice president and Marion County delegate, welcomes visitors to the 44th Year Anniversary Memorial Service for the Farmington Mine Disaster. PHOTO BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
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Cecil Roberts, president of the UMW, delivers a keynote address at the annual memorial commemorating the fallen miners of Farmington No. 9. PHOTO BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
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A UMW member places a wreath in front of the monument dedicated to the victims of the 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster. PHOTO BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
‘Their lives are worth remembering’: PHOTOS
Victims of No. 9 blast are honored in annual service
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