CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Navy veteran recalls life in coal camps during Great Depression

The Herald-Dispatch - 3/20/2018

By CLYDE BEAL

For HD Media

Eighty-nine-year-old Laurence Wolfe remembers the deplorable living and working conditions coal miners and their families endured among the coal camps of Eastern Kentucky. He remembers the tired look on his father's face coming home from the mines covered in black coal dust before the union pressured the company to install showers. Wolfe also knows the heartache associated with the Great Depression and how it affected his family. It was responsible for miners losing their jobs and being ejected from company housing in 1929.

"I was born in a company-owned house in a mining community on the edge of Pike County, Kentucky, that was owned by Henry Ford," Wolfe said. "I was delivered by a doctor in 1928 who worked for the coal company. More than likely the doctor's fee was deducted from my father's pay. Stone Mining Company was quite an industrial place until the Depression hit. That's when a great number of miners were laid off. In those days when miners were laid off it was just a matter of time before you were evicted from company-owned housing."

Something his mother once told him that always seemed strange was the law regarding women who taught school back in those days. Women who marry in the teaching profession could no longer work in that capacity. When Wolfe's mother married, she lost her teaching position.

When the Depression hampered coal production, layoffs were numerous, and the Wolfe family was among that number. They relocated to Inez, Kentucky, with hopes of finding work - which didn't happen for nearly two years until they moved to Fedscreek, Kentucky. Less than 20 miles away was the coal community of Big Rock, Virginia, where his father found work - a job that would eventually take his life in a mining accident.

"My older brother enlisted in the Army when World War II began," Wolfe said. "He was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division in Europe. This left my older sister and me at a home already struggling for survival. Not long after that a government agency was recruiting women for administration positions in Washington, D.C. My sister was recruited for one of those positions that turned into a full time federal job where she stayed until retirement. The war changed my brother. When he came home he was much more aggressive and easily irritated."

His mother eventually operated a country store and post office where she eventually was offered the postmaster position.

"I attended Tut Elementary in Martin County, Kentucky," Wolfe said. "It was close to Inez with grades 1 through 8. The school was about three quarters of a mile from home. There were no buses, so I just walked. I was never in trouble in grade school because I never got caught. I was also at an advantage over most kids because my mom's experience as a teacher had me reading before school started. We had outside restrooms and a well for water at school. Most kids brought their own drinking cups. Those that didn't just shared with others."

Wolfe began his high school education at Fedscreek, Kentucky. A year later they moved to Oil Springs, Kentucky, where he graduated from high school in 1945. The school is no longer there, but the gymnasium constructed by the Works Progress administration still stands today.

"There were two events in high school that impacted the direction of my life," Wolfe said. "The greater of the two was my first glance at the most beautiful girl in the entire school. The second was my agriculture instructor, who was a great teacher and trusted mentor."

According to Wolfe, conditions at Oil Springs High School weren't much different from grade school: Six rooms for four grades with a coal stove in each room, and bring your own "brown bag" if you expected to have something for lunch. There was a basketball team, but it always lost more games than it won.

"After high school I continued working as a clerk in a Paintsville grocery store making $10 a week until I was drafted," Wolfe sai. "I was driving to work when I was 15. My brother lied for me about my age so I could get my driver's license early."

When asked about his best Christmas gift, Wolfe mentioned fresh fruit and candy were always special because they were both so rare. Thanksgiving was a little extra on the table - not much. Halloween was the usual country fodder: stocks burning in the road, a few porch swings found hanging from trees. Sleigh rides were on any hill that looked favorable where they would ride anything available.

"My tour in the United States Navy began shortly after high school and lasted from February 1946 to December 1947," Wolfe said. "My oath of enlistment was at the Ashland Post Office, and my physical was at Ashland'sVentura Hotel with many other young men. I went to boot camp at Camp Peary in Williamsburg, Virginia. I saw more food at boot camp than I had ever seen in my life, and it was being served by German POWs who worked in the chow hall. After Camp Peary I went to Bainbridge, Maryland, where I was taught how to become a baker - and I became quite good at it. After that I was assigned to Norfolk, Virginia, Naval Air Station where I stayed until discharged."

Between baking pies and cakes, Wolfe burnt the midnight oil answering letters from the girl in high school. They were married in August 1948. It was a marriage that lasted for more than 65 years before God called her home. Virginia and Laurence have three wonderful children, super grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"I graduated from the University of Kentucky after being discharged from the Navy," Wolfe said. "I took a teaching position before going back for my master's degree. Later on I was offered a position with the Social Security Administration where I stayed until retirement in 1988."

Wolfe used to enjoy fishing, and he was once active in the Rotary Club and volunteered for the Red Cross. Nowadays he enjoys family visits and reading a good book.

When asked about the condition of America, Wolfe replied, "I'm concerned about the moral decline of our people and the gullibility to accept everything that comes from Washington, D.C."