OpalGeraldineReynolds.txt

-n -n -n It was my fault. [BLANK_AUDIO] Who me? >> It's my fault. >> Yeah. Well, I learned that in school from a guy I used to work with. He always says after I stayed in trouble a lot when I was a teacher. And I'd always, whenever I get in trouble, I'd finally just say, well, yeah, I did it, I'm sorry. And after you say that, after you say I did it, it's my fault, I'm sorry. Then when you went, well, were you gonna take him out and shoot him now? You know, what more can we do? You wanna cut their head off? What more can you do? I did it, I'm sorry. [LAUGH] And it's a lot easier to do that, I discovered, than trying to either dodge the blame or shift it off to somebody else. [LAUGH] Yeah, or who else is falling? >> And I feel mad at you. >> Yeah. >> But you say I'm sorry. >> And then usually they'll, okay, and then that's it. Then they'll get over being mad. [LAUGH] Okay, interviewing today, Opal Geraldine Reynolds, Swords Creek SWRDS Creek, two words, Virginia. [BLANK_AUDIO] And it's Saturday, May 28, 1994, 230 Eastern town. >> Eastern daylight. >> Eastern daylight town. Yeah, we're in daylight now. [LAUGH] And his tape is being done for the Kentucky Historical Society. Okay, I'd like to ask a couple of questions right now if I could about the, [BLANK_AUDIO] Your grandparents on both sides of the family, where they're from, their names, and how long they've been around in the region. >> My grandparents on mommy's side was, I die, I don't know what their name was, they died before mommy was married. And daddy's, mother and daddy, John Gross. And my daddy, name was Dewey Gross. And my mother's name is Nanny Bale by Gross. >> And what year did they move, did your grandparents move in? >> They've always been around in Russell County all their life. >> What kind of work were they doing? >> Granddaddy, he used to be a farmer. He used to run that old wheat grinder and much. It runs that wheat and stuff out and make flour. Well, yeah, I guess you'd say a farmer. And daddy was a farmer until he gave it up and went to coal mines. And I don't want mom and daddy. >> So he was the mine. >> Yeah, daddy was. >> How many brothers and sisters did you have? >> He was 10 and all of us. Three girls and the rest of them was boys. >> Could you name off all their names? I don't know if I can remember a whole 10 if I had 10. James, Paul and Millie, Betty, Ralph, and Jeff and James and Lee, myself. >> Now, when you grew up, in what town did you grow up in? >> In Russell County. >> Out in the county? >> Yeah. >> Schooling. >> When I went down to Swatch Creek School, I didn't go no further in the third grade. >> Uh-huh. >> Whenever you -- go ahead. >> They make me quit when I was in third grade. >> Did they need you at home to work? >> They need me at home to work and take care of the kids. >> Would you have gone on further? >> Yes, I would, yeah, for I might start as long as I went. >> So you like school? >> Yep. >> Whenever you were working at the house, what was the first job you had outside the home? >> So in factory. >> Uh-huh. And had you -- were you still single in or were you married? >> I was done married. >> Uh-huh. And what year -- how old were you when you got married? >> 15. >> And who did you marry? >> I married Estelle Reynolds. >> And let's see, what year was that? >> '58. >> '58. And what did Estelle do? >> He was a -- he helped me steady farm when we got married. And then after we got married, he went to Colt Mines. >> So he started in the market. >> Yeah. >> Which mines did he start? >> He started up on Sword Creek. I think he started for Sherman Hill. I don't know what the name of it was. >> Uh-huh. Did -- when you got the job in the sewing factory, that was after you'd gotten married? >> Yeah. >> What did they have you doing there in the sewing factory? Were you? >> I sewed pockets. >> And how long did you do that? >> I stayed at Hoennaker four years and a half and quit there. I went to Eastern Oz at Richman's. They'd there about four years and quit and went to Mines. >> So you were about -- how old when you started in the Mines? >> No, I don't really know. >> About 25? >> Uh-huh. Something like that. >> Okay. Now, you'd had kids during that time. >> How many children did you have? >> Three. >> And their names were? >> David, Shelby, and Laurie. >> And all three of them still live in? >> Yeah. >> Let's see. What was the first man that you started working? And what -- well, first, why did you decide to -- you'd been working in the sewing factories for what, several years? >> Yeah. >> Why did you decide to stop working in sewing factories and go to work in the mines for the money or? >> For the money. My husband got sick and decided, well, if I'm going to work, I might as well go work and I can make money. >> Uh-huh. And just a second. Everywhere we go, Cosby, we have motorcycles. We had a motorcycle come through. We interviewed Cos. >> And your husband got sick? What was wrong with him? Did he get injured? >> He had heart trouble. >> Okay. And so the -- working in the mines aggravated that, I guess, with the cold ass. So what was the first man that you started working in? >> Number two, Allen Creek. >> Allen Creek number two man. >> Yeah. >> And you remember your first day on the job? >> Yeah. >> What day did we start, Murray Jack? I started -- >> I started in October. You came in November. >> I don't actually know what day it was. >> But you all started pretty much the same time? >> Yeah, pretty much the same time. >> So you went Allen Creek number two and what was the first job that you had there? >> Up on the section, a rocknest. >> So you were -- what is it they called, general? >> General Insight. >> General Insight. >> Yeah. >> And you were rockdusting and how long did you do that? >> Well, I done that for a few days and then they just kept us sharing yonder with a boss going in general inside work until we -- we was redhead for 90 days and then after that they put me on a belt drive and I took care of a belt drive until we had a layoff or what did Murray Jack -- they put me on the third shift. Then we done in general inside. >> I did what? >> Did you -- what kind of jobs did you have throughout your career that you've had? >> Well, we come -- they hired us over at six and then I started over there, general inside and then I was doing the juggling belt and stuff like that and then I signed for a supply motor job and I run a supply motor job until we had another layoff and they cut some of the people off that run the supply motors and then had to go back to general inside and I signed for me a belt drive job and I've been on that belt drive job ever since. >> How long -- how many years total have you worked in the past? >> 17 years. >> 17 years. Now, can you retire after a certain period of time at -- is it 20 years you can retire after a certain period of time? >> You've got to be 55. >> You've got to be 55, yeah. >> So what do you plan on doing, just keep on working until you're 55? >> Yeah. >> Well, you said though you were under the doctors. Did you get injured? >> No, my husband died. >> And how long ago was that? >> I was the first. >> So it's not been long back then? And so that's been awful tough on you then. >> How long have you been on that? What was the time I ever been through? >> Um -- Um -- [ Inaudible ] >> So it was heart trouble. >> He died with a heart attack. >> And how was he when he passed away? >> 55. >> 55. >> Yeah. >> Um -- >> Do you think you're going to be able to go back to work? >> I hope. I'm going to see if they'll let me go back after vacation. >> So you feel -- >> I just like to get away from my house. It's too long. >> Get back underground with the people you used to work with? >> Yeah. Get back with my friends. >> Uh-huh. >> My father passed away about three or four years ago. It was awful tough on mom for about three years as she was headed. She's doing a lot better now. You know, she got involved in some stuff at church. And are you active in the church? Have you -- >> Yeah. >> What church do you attend? >> I go Harmony Church over at Bale Faste. >> Mm-hmm. So has the church been -- >> Oh, yeah. >> Have they been helpful? >> Yeah. >> I see. Well, when you start back, will you have the same job? >> I don't know. They said they took them all -- about all the people off the belt drives. So I don't know. >> Mm-hmm. So you don't know -- you know, you'll be -- with your seniority, you'll certainly be able to get back in, but you don't know what -- what doing, huh? >> Yeah. >> Let's see. What's it been like working in the mass? >> It's been a while. >> What was the part that you -- what was the part that you liked the most about it and what was the part that -- >> I always liked my work anything I done and tried to do my best at it. So it wouldn't be no grumbles. I always liked the people that we worked with. >> Mm-hmm. >> I always said, "You -- you wouldn't can be an oddhead." >> But then that's ever where you were. >> Oh, yeah. >> That's like -- >> I think it's like -- >> That's like up to him. We lined up and kicked that old boy out of the bus over his old dirty mouth. >> Uh-huh. >> We kicked him out of the bus and it was running. [ Laughter ] >> Now, when you say the bus, which bus do you mean? >> That's where it takes us more ranges to the bottom. >> Man, Chris. >> Yeah. >> So he just threw a threep off and it running, huh? >> Yeah, we done told him that. Yeah, Ralph Duck -- we done told him if he crawled in that in when we come back at -- in the shift, what we was going to do. He crawled right back in there with all the women and we beat him to the bus and he was right to the front of it, darn it. He started running his old mouth and we turned across the way the bus kicked him out. Ralph Duck said, "Wait a minute." He said, "Ralph, words fell out of the bus." [ Laughter ] >> That's a great story. >> He didn't know he kicked him out. [ Laughter ] >> Tell me some more stories. Have you got some more good stories about funny things that's happened and -- [ Inaudible ] >> I ain't got one the time I slapped that guy over, too. I slapped him. >> What for? >> Putting his hands on my shoulders and I told him and told him that was the second day I was in there. I told him to keep his hands off me. He wouldn't keep his hands off me and they had me rocked us and the boss told me to come over there to him. When I got through rocked us and he came over he told me to please come over and sit down so he could see me and not come up in the face or I wouldn't lay out up in the face with my red hat on. He told me to sit down. When you get to rocked us, scattered here said you come over and sit down where I can see you and I'll give you something else to do. Every time he'd catch me over or sitting down he'd break down where I was at in that arm and go up around my neck. I told him I said, "You better keep your hands off of me." He didn't believe what I told him and I hauled off and slapped him far out of him. The old boss said, "I hear that come up into the face." He said, "I'd give $50 to see that." [Laughter] [Laughter] But he never did feel his arms on me anymore. [Laughter] And one time we got to six. Everybody down six moved something back. [Laughter] How many different mines have you worked in? Just two. Two and six. Island Creek two and Island Creek six. Yeah. That's great. [Laughter] Let's see. [Laughter] I had a girl when I was teaching in Ohio. She was a black girl from southwestern Ohio or southeastern. She worked in the mines. She was just starting. She worked once on them. I said, "Well, did those men give you a hard time?" She said, "They did it first, but after I hit them over the head with my shovel, they left me alone." [Laughter] That boss... She had a solution for that problem. That boss told me, "If you don't leave me alone, I'll give you my hammer." See, them bosses always packs a hammer to test the top. "I'll give you your hammer," I said, "I don't need no hammer." [Laughter] I didn't need no hammer either. [Laughter] Let's see. I guess while we've got the tape going here before, this is other good stories. Have you got Axum heroism? I'm sure they've been some down there. We know people doing things, going out of their way to save other people, help other people. Any good things come to mind? Anybody? Talk about saving people, what Hold back the minds where we work at. I hope and pray that if I ever get hurt seriously over there, that there's not any formance around me and some of the union people too, because they go out. We had a guy get hurt over one day. A cable broke, we was pulling the line wall belt back together. It was loaded down the call when the belt was pulled in two. We was pulling it back together with steel cable. It had a shift wheel hung because the belt line was over in the other entry from where the track was at. We was using motors. Supply motors pulled that belt back together. Anyway, the rope broke. I was on one of the motors and I was arguing the whole time that we was just setting ourselves up for somebody to get tore out of pieces because that rope weren't going to hold and somebody was going to get wiped out. It was sure enough when we pulled it, it broke. In the mine form, he was standing there, he was in behind the line of timbers, but he had his head stuck out. When that rope broke, it come up and it got, I mean, tell you it tore his cut little places all over his face and stuff. A couple places it was cut pretty bad. Still, still cable. Anyway, when this happens and we're shut down there trying to, and we got all of our rides blocked in by the motors. We were going to go right out to take him to the bottom, you know, so here we got to switch out all this stuff and get him out of there. Well, there's three other formants here on this job besides the mine formant. And the couple of them, oh, wait, it's going on that one. He took his shirt off and took his t-shirt off and ripped it up. They didn't even have a first aid box there. They didn't know if it was a guy. So they ripped his shirt up, put it there, had a place cut over top of his eye and he was trying to get that fixed, but he had a big old place popped out right in his temple iron, blood just oozed out down his face. And right after we went to work in the mines, I took EMT training and stuff. So I went up our, after they had hauled down our city, got all cut up that cable. I went up our stuff and stopped the bleed. Well, I ended up having to take my shirt off coming off of there to get his head to stop bleeding. It was just running the drip and all I had was paper towels and he'd drip through that and weren't doing any good. So anyway, when we came to the bottom, that belt boss that was with us, he was going on and going on, said, "Tow'r all the pieces. Tow'r all the pieces." And here this guy is, panicking anyway, because he notes his face and he's told it up. And the boss is going on, "He's told all the pieces." And I'm thinking, "Just shut up. Just shut up. Let us get him outside because he is cut and he is bleeding back." And he was a big old guy anyway, and he was, well, he was getting lighter by the minute. Going in the shot. Yeah. And he was right down around the cage. And the other boss that met up with us there on the bottom, we got him on the cage, stood him up against the wall before the cage took off before he'd have some hold where you couldn't stand him out in the open. I was afraid, I was afraid. I didn't got to the point. I was afraid he was going to pass out anyway. And we got him up against the wall there, pushed him, buttened him up and butteurne forgot it. The other boss had gone on the cage with his shirt, said, "Man, I bet he's got metal all in him. His face is tore out." [Laughter] And I told him I told him to be the safety mate the next day. I said, "If I ever get hurt I said I don't want none of y'all coming around me." [Laughter] Y'all wipe anybody out yourself just going on. He would shut up. Don't even, wouldn't even have been hurting and scared him to death. And that's exactly what they was doing with this guy. You know, he ended up with a few stitches. I think they put several stitches in his face here on there. Major psychological trauma. Right. For them going on his "Tor-all the pieces." That, getting in on a less lighter note, getting into the idea of people getting hurt injuries and stuff like that, have any of, you ever been in any of you been on a shift where somebody got killed? No. I worked in the mines where Dory Baker got killed. But, you know, I did. Well, I take it, we had one guy, there's been one guy killed at BP 6-9. And that was on the surface and he was, he was an employee at the mines. He was a truck driver that brought in some belt. They bring our belt in on a big old round spove for a belt line. And he had unloaded the belt and one of our supply men had picked the belt up with a fork left. And anyway, this guy standing between his truck and the loader that was picking up the belt line. And the belt rolled out of it and crushed him up against his truck. That was on day shift when he was working over. That's been several years ago. That's on guys that have dropped killed. So actually then in terms of safety, in terms of life threatening safety, you've not had We fight real hard to keep. To keep people alive. That's right. People were killed at 9-9, one before everybody came down there. And then a boss while we was on strike got crushed with us. Jack, we had two bosses. I almost got killed with getting into high voltage. 12,000 some bolts. We've had some problems. Close calls. We had a guy get, we had an electrician got in that. 7,200 power over. And it just so happened when he got into it, his arm was grounded against the frame of the box where he was in. And then burned his arm and stuff. Nobody's still traveling through his body and killed him. Well mercy God kept him alive because I don't see how he survived it. We've had several get into the power. When they pulled Roger out of the transform and he was gone far. He pulled it out and he was here in mouth to mouth. Which EMP went all the pieces and he just took it out. This is the one you're talking about. That's what you're trying. And just one of the guys gave him mouth to mouth on the Indian guys. So did he make it? Yeah. It took him months and months and months. To get better. And the guy got burnt. The end of his penis and one of his testicles. He didn't really make the man up. He was like two years old. He came back to work. I don't think I could, it'd be hard to ever come back after going through an experience like that. We had a boss had a phone that got burnt really bad at 6. Not long after we went there. They got, what they do over there, they, when they're going to set up a belt drive and then we build overcast, a regulator air flow in the mines too for a return air to travel over the intake air. Anyway, they'll drill and shoot this out. So we got high areas in the mines. And for a long time they didn't do a whole lot to keep a check on that stuff. Anyway, this guy was inside the mines by his cell fire bossing on the weekend. And he went to the end of the section there and there was an area there where they shot out going to put either an overcast or a belt channel in one. When he went up and done his fire boss and come back to the ride, he put the pole on the trolley war on his ride and see all of our track equipment, which we've got some diesel track equipment now, but before all of our track equipment operates on the copper wire that we call trolley wire. That's where our power comes to feed those big engines. But you get into that trolley wire you're trying to get. It's a naked wire. You can get, you know, there's been a lot of people get into that too. You know, luckily nobody's been here. How many volts is it? 300 volts, these. But anyway, this guy, he puts the pole on the trolley war and has an explosion. There's an accumulation of methane in this high top area and has an ignition there. And they said the only thing to save him was he was right in the center of the blast. It blowed out all around. He was right where it blowed and it blows out all around if something kept him alive. But he crawled from where he was at to the bottom, got on the cage pushed the button on the cage, crowed and we gravel our trackway with gravels about big old gravels and stuff. And he was down on his hands and knees and he crawled that after being burnt. He had on uniform clothing, polyester clothing they said it was melted, he had skin. And he crawled to the bottom and put his stuff on the cage and hauled outside and told the timekeeper he was on his way up to get an ambulance that he'd been burnt. Did he live? He lived. He'd done a lot of reconstructive surgery. I seen him I guess six months after that he was wearing gloves. He had it burn his ears off, his nose his eyelids his fingers and stuff like that he was reconstructing his fingers trying to put his bridge of his nose back and stuff. He was seriously burnt. I guess in terms of injuries and disabilities and things you probably end up with more back injuries than you do anything people lift in their turn. I hurt mine a couple weeks ago, shuffled. The thing about a back injury is most of the time the coal miner is just left with a fat back. No compensation because it's gone. You know what they tell us about that? They tell us that goes along with age that you might deteriorate until you get older. That's what happens to everybody coal miner's backs. That's what happens to all of them. We get older and they deteriorate and it's all off the road. It makes you absolutely just break your back. It has to be specific. It has to show up and you have to know be able to pinpoint the exact time. So if you hurt your back you better. Right, I know Yeah, they're very back injuries are real subtle and very hard to find. I mean you're right. You have to report the accident by the end of the shield. But I know a lot of people have got bad backs that walk crooked. You go home and sit down for a while. And then you don't ever straighten up again. You kind of get up. Dad was like that with his. Well, let me go back and finish this one out right here. This interview and that. But I wanted to get into some good stories and I wanted to get some stories because we weren't getting. I knew there had to be some good stories here. I hope we dislike it. Some of them could even be told on tape. Eating in the mines. Now when you want to talk about the conferences I can tell you some good stories. Uh huh. Yeah, look at this. We got a good one from Washington. Bart, now this was in Washington, DC. No, last year, our conference last year was in Gallup, New Mexico. Uh huh. A friend of ours, we was going, there was ten of us stayed together after the conference and went on to Texas to El Paso Texas and went into Mexico, into the war as Mexico. Anyway, we was going to see this place on the way that was Indian Pueblo. No, I'm telling this. You started, I'm telling it. Anyway, it was a Pueblo and these people still living on top of this it's supposed to be the old, I guess the old city. Pueblo city. Yeah. Anyway, we was going to go do the, we was going to go see this and there's this big old church. We could see the big old church from the interstate. So we get off on this road and we're, there's three vehicles and anyway we're following this one right here. We've seen the church coming down the interstate before we got off on this road. Well, we go down and go by the church and we figure, well, this can't be right. Anyway, we passed this church three or four times during this time which we get to the place where we're going and they're done closed. They're closing for the evening so we don't get to go on the tour to get to see it. So we go back down through there. I'm in front going back to the interstate and we get down there. Well, the other two's not behind me. So we can't get on the interstate and go on because, you know, we weren't sure exactly where we was going that evening anyway. So a turn around, go back. Here they are up in front of the church and taking pictures. Well, there's a big old cactus beside the road here. And this one lady she gets out and she backs up toward the cactus, have her picture made and she ends up with her butt full of cactus needles. When we get back up there here's one lady, got her shorts out. She's sitting in the car in her underwear and her t-shirt and this one lady's got her shorts out trying to pull the cactus out. And I get out with camera, go take some pictures and here she takes off out down the road there. She weren't going to let me take no picture but I ended up with pictures anyway. That was wild. So y'all had a good time. Yeah, we had a real good time. Well, I guess we'll go ahead and finish this interview up and then we'll go take the pictures. Yep, well I got air. Yeah, if you had to summit all up your life here in the mountains and coal mining and what it's all been like how would you sum it up? What would you say? I'd say it's been nice. Been a good life? Yeah. What part would you do over if you had to do it? Would you do any of it over? The only thing I'd do over is I like had to change when school. Got my education. Well, if you retired and went to say back to junior college or something, would there be anything you'd want to go to school to do that? I don't know. I never have thought of that now. Well, you might, it might be something to give you, you might want to think about it. I've had last semester I had one, two, three. I had four women that were about your age in my English class. You know, who were going in at Rome State Community College. And they made age so it can be done. It has to be hard. I mean, here we are. We've got to send our kids to school. Well, you know, I'm starting a PhD program this fall and I'm 44 years old and most of the kids that are there are 25 and 26 and I felt the same way, you know, like, you know, can I keep up with these kids and I talked to the guy that's running the program. He says, well, he said there won't be as many young ones as you think. He says, I picked everybody and he says I like to retreads. He says when I have to pick between a 40 year old and a 20 year old, he said I always picked a 40 year old. He says they've got more to offer, you know. And so, it's, but it's going to be you know, I'm kind of apprehensive and but I figure I can't sit up there and tell all them other people go back to school and not do it and be afraid to do it myself. Yeah, well, where it gets me though, I didn't go no further in third grade. I went further in the school. Well, have you thought about as a starting point, have you ever gone back to get your GED? Yeah. You might want to give that a try. Go back and try to get your. I'd say you couldn't do that what he thinks is now. I'd say it'd be too hard. I'm afraid to give it a try. Well, I'm not actually free to give it a try, but I'd say more not to learn when I went school. I'd say I'd never make it. Well, we'll call it quits