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CHAPTER 1

The Scotia Widows

Reda Turner of Cumberland, Kentucky, knew coal mining was dangerous. When she was fifteen years old her father died in a coal mine roof collapse. He left behind eleven children in the days before workers’ compensation benefits provided some minimal aid for a dead miner’s family. Reda remembered, “It was hard on Mom. I can remember lots of times when we barely had enough to eat, just gravy for supper and breakfast lots of days.” Tragedy struck again four years later, when Reda’s older brother was electrocuted in the Scotia mine.

When Reda married Dean Turner, her childhood sweetheart, her “fairy tale love,” they left Eastern Kentucky for Detroit, where he found work. They had been living there a few years when they took a family trip back home. While there, Dean decided to apply for work at Scotia so they could stay in Kentucky and he could earn more than he was making in Detroit. Reda “tried to get Dean not to go in the mines, but he said they were paying twenty-six dollars a day and that would be good for our security. He wanted the best for his family.” On March 9, 1976, they had been back in Kentucky for six years.

That morning, after Dean left for work at Scotia, Reda took their children to school and went to her aunt’s house. While she was there, someone called to ask if everything was all right, because they had heard ambulances go by. Reda said everything was fine and went on to the store to buy ham for Dean’s lunch bucket for the next day. She heard the checkout boy say “something about Scotia, but it didn’t dawn on me what he said.” She picked up her lunch items, and when she went to check out she asked him, “Did I hear you say something about Scotia?” He replied, “Yes, they had an explosion up there, and they have some men trapped.” Reda “just went to pieces then.” Her husband, Willie Dean Turner, was thirty-two years old. They had two children.



Vickie Scott heard a man over a CB radio at a friend’s house frantically calling out, “We need help over at Scotia.” She told him to “slow down, take it easy and tell me real slow what happened.” When he excitedly repeated that there was an explosion at Scotia, she hesitantly asked, “What mine was it?” He said it was in a lower mine, so with great trepidation she asked if he knew what section the explosion happened in. He said it was in the Two Southeast Mains section. Vickie “knew that was where my husband was working. I just fell apart right there.” Tommy Scott was twenty-four years old. They had no children.



Carol Combs was cleaning her home about ten miles from the mine when she heard an ambulance go up the road. She gave it no thought until a few minutes later when she was sweeping her porch. A neighbor rushed over to tell her there had been a serious accident at the mine, and she thought Carol should go there. Carol’s husband, Everett Combs, was twenty-eight years old. They had two children.



Some of the miners’ wives were urged to stay at home with loved ones until someone could obtain information about what had occurred at the mine. Diana McKnight waited to hear news of her husband, Larry, and of her brother, Everett Combs, both of whom were still in the mine. Larry was

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