My Favorite Coal Miner

Booklist 61-70

61.The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
62.Jazz by Toni Morrison
63.Dracula by Bram Stoker
64.Gulliver's Travels by Johathan Swift
65.Danger in the Dark by J.E. Wood
66.Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
67.Night by Elie Weisel
68.Heidi by Johanna Spyri
69.Miracle in Seville by James A. Michener
70.Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Number 65 has a special place in my heart becasue it's about coal mining, and it was given to me by my father-in-law.  My family has always been coal miners.  My grandfather was a coal miner.  His father was a coal miner.  My husband is a coal miner.  His father and grandfather were both coal miners.  It's in the blood!

Danger in the Dark: A dramatic story of heroism in the Western Kentucky coal field by J.E. Woods was written in 1965.  It sold new for $3.  It takes place in a coal mine and coal mining town in 1928 and tells the story of what happens when an underground explosion traps twenty miners.  It tell of the courage of these ordinary men who risk their lives everyday just to do their job.

Jacket Painting by Vachel Davis 1946



 Although Wood was born in Dunmor, Kentucky, he grew up in Beech Creek, Kentucky along with Merle Travis.  Travis is probably best know for his song "sixteen tons".  Travis actually worked in the mine that Wood uses as the setting for Danger in the Dark.

Merle Travis
Source:  http://www.nndb.com/

J.E. Wood attended Western Kentucky State College and the State University of Iowa.  He taught at and was principal of two schools in Kentucky, and served as Muhlenberg County Judge.  He was a Navy Lieutenant and commanded a Division of Amphibious ships durring World War II.   He was very active in civic affairs, and married with three daughters.



J.E. Wood
Photo by Bryson's Studio



I'll end this post with a photo of my favorite miner...

My Husband
Thank you and I love you!