First Posted: 1/19/2015
JENKINS TWP. — Sunday, Jan. 18 was Memorial Day in Pittston and Port Griffith. There were no military salutes or flags, however. Instead, the veterans were the aging men who worked in the local coal mines and the family members of those who lost their lives in the Knox Mine Disaster 56 years ago.
On Jan. 22, 1959, waters from the Susquehanna River breached the six feet of soil between the river and the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith. Sixty-nine miners managed to either scramble to safety through the emergency shaft or be helped by search parties. Twelve men never returned to their families.
During a Jan. 18 memorial service, a wreath was put on the memorial in front of the Baloga Funeral Home, owned by John Baloga, grandson of John Baloga whose body remains in the mine. It is the site of the former St. Joseph’s Church where mourners attended the funerals of many of those missing miners. Its pastor, Fr. Joseph Skursky, was one of those at the mine that day, comforting and consoling wives, children and friends who waited for news of their loved ones.
The events were held as part of Mining History Week, a series of programs and memorials held Jan. 10-24 throughout the Wyoming Valley to commemorate the Knox Mine Disaster and local mining history.
The events were sponsored by the Anthracite Heritage Museum, Anthracite Heritage Foundation, King’s College, Luzerne County Historical Society, Luzerne County Community College, Wilkes University, Huber Breaker Preservation Society, Greater Pittston Historical Society, Anthracite Living History Group, Old Forge Coal Mine, and Knox Mine Disaster Memorial Committee.
There were prayers Sunday as Sam DeAlba hung the wreath on the coal-black memorial stone on the front lawn. A small flame burned in a miner’s lantern at the base of the stone. And there were memories.
Many recalled the day as sharply as others in this country remember where they were when President John F. Kennedy Kennedy was shot or when two airplanes took down the World Trade Center.
“I was on patrol outside of the mine,” said Bill Hastie. “My father-in-law was the superintendent and he told me he wouldn’t allow me to go down that day. It was because Megan (Hastie’s daughter) was about to be born.”
Hastie said he ran into Amadio Pancotti climbing shoeless out of the emergency shaft. It took a few minutes to get through Pancotti’s Italian accent, but once he understood what was going on, Hastie hustled to summon whatever rescue forces were needed.
The lanky, white-haired 95-year-old now walks with a cane but is determined to get to the memorial every January. So does Megan, who makes the trek from her home in Connecticut. She visits more often now, helping her dad recover from surgery.
“It was a terrible shock for so many of the people in their families,” Megan said. “It was a shock for the whole town. It affected people’s health; it affected their whole lives.”
Most of the shock came to widows like Stephanie Stefanides, whose husband was one of the 12. She was left with four children, the youngest 18 months old.
The petite 88-year-old said she found strength to be able to raise the children by taking things day-to-day.
“You get used to life and accept what was going to be,” she said. “Everything worked out.”
And others honored their relatives with handwork.
Audrey Calvey wanted to create something in honor of the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. Her husband suggested she do needlework, something she had worked on since her mother taught her the skill when she was just 8 years old. It was her way to create a memorial of her own. The needlework piece on fine Irish linen now hangs in the Anthracite Museum in Scranton.
Audrey Baloga Calvey was 15 years old when she was called out of school and joined her mother, sister and two brothers at the mine site to wait for news of her father, John.
“It was hard, yes,” she said. “But you do what you need to do.”
Calvey graduated from high school, got married, lived on. She still lives in a house at the top of the hill overlooking the site where the water eddied into the mine hole and engineers sent hay, culm and even railroad cars to try to block the deluge. The mine was finally sealed with concrete.
“Things change, we change, we move on,” she said. “But I’m here today because I always hold my father in my heart.”
Just as it is important to remember those who serve their country in the military, it is vital to remember the men and women of this area who worked in coal mines and garment factories, industries that made this country great, said Msgr. John Bendick during his homily at the annual memorial Mass, now held in St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston.
Bendick was a 17-year-old when the principal interrupted classes at Central Catholic High School with news of the flooding mine to call for the students to say the rosary. Some of the students had fathers in the mine.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said. “But it’s far in the past now. So we hold this memorial every year to remind people. These were people who were a great part of the history of this town – and of this country because they were doing work to help the nation. We don’t want anyone to forget the disaster and what brought it about.”