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Gene Kendzior grew up in Marion County, West Virginia, where it was commonplace to work in the coal mines after high school. His father worked in the mines for over 30 years but tragically died in a mining accident in 1967. Here, Gene tells his daughter, Jennifer, about his father.
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Piece Description
Gene Kendzior grew up in Marion County, West Virginia, where it was commonplace to work in the coal mines after high school. His father worked in the mines for over 30 years but tragically died in a mining accident in 1967. Here, Gene tells his daughter, Jennifer, about his father.
Transcript
GK: It was a hard, dirty job. And everyone who worked there suffered from it. And most of the people went right from high school to the coalmine. They all had some sort of injury that they had suffered. My dad had his foot run over in a mine by a car and then he lost his little toe. We went to the mine once; he took me to his mine where he worked. Tunnel was probably 15 feet wide and the walls were all covered with a gray rock dust and they spray it on the walls to keep the coal dust from getting into the air. If coal dust gets into the air and there’s any kind of a spark, that’s where the explosions come from. One of the sources. The other is methane gas, which they would sometimes run into.
JK: I never heard much about your dad. Nobody ever told me much about him.
GK: He was very quiet and unassuming. He didn’t try to be the center of anything. He was someone who’d work in the coalmi...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Time again for StoryCorps.
As the men killed in a West Virginia coal mine are remembered this week
...
... we'll hear today from a man remembering HIS father ...
... who died in a coal mine.
Gene Kendzior grew up in West Virginia.
WALTER Kendzior was killed on the job in 1967 when a tunnel collapsed.
Gene was interviewed for StoryCorps by his daughter, Jennifer ...
... about his dad's work.
OUTRO:Gene Kendzior talking with his daughter Jennifer at StoryCorps in West Virginia. Their interview will be archived at the Library of Congress.
Hear more stories on the StoryCorps podcast at NPR.org.
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Day in May | J.P. Fraley | Wild Rose of the Mountain. | Rounder | 2000 | 00:27 |
Additional Credits
NPR, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Atlantic Philanthropies
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