Bill
Baldwin –abt 1949/50
I am sure you have heard of the Coal Miner’s Daughter
But have you heard of the coal miner’s son?
I am sure there are thousands somewhere in the world
And I know for sure that I am just one.
The story I tell is neither good nor bad
But a story of life, so it seems.
It is a story of William who was my dad
And some of our life and our dreams.
He toiled in a coal camp most of his life.
He and his kids and a devoted wife.
He once was teacher, a good one they say,
But could not stay with it because of the pay.
He lived in a coal camp, Mohrland, the town
Until the company would shut it down.
They moved a few miles to another coal town
Hiawatha the name and coal wore a crown.
“King Coal” was the sign on the tipple there
To Hiawatha no other town could compare.
There was a store, a Doctor, a school and a hall
Where entertainment took place both spring and fall.
William, the teacher, served the union while here
He was Secretary/Treasure for many a year.
He helped many a miner who could not read
As they came for advise in time of need.
“Bill” did not dig down deep in the mine
But worked on the tipple most of the time.
After a shift at the tipple he would trudge thru the snow
With black coal dust left behind each step he would go.
The children were born in Mohrland you see.
Just the two of us, My Sister and Me.
With “Bill” and his wife we did move one day
To Hiawatha, which was just a mountain away.
Like most miners who did toil in the coal camps they say
That “Black Lung” did come and it came to stay.
The miners retired and most moved away
But the “Black Lung” was there till their dying day.
“Bills” friends and his neighbors slowly moved away
And he and his wife saw no need to stay
In Hiawatha, the Home Town they had come to love
Surrounded by mountains with blue sky above.
They moved to the city where their kids did reside
But still talked of Hiawatha, with a lot of pride.
Each year they did gather with friends and relation
To talk of the old days with much explanation.
A reunion “Bill” called it, but much more than that
It was to get together, to eat and to chat.
They talked coal, snow and of course the town
And how it was now—extremely run down.
Black Lung was forgotten, at least for a time
As they talked of “King Coal” ,their friends and the mine.
Most of the miners are now “over the hill”
But I will always remember my Father, “Bill.”
Wallace R. Baldwin
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