A
Real Coal Miner's Daughter...Pat Ballock
You
grew up in Pennsylvania and your family
has a close relationship
to mining. Tell us about it.
 |
Pat
Ballock on the
2003 Mine Tour
|
My
dad was a coal miner in Pennsylvania, where
I grew up, and he worked in a coal
mine for
a number of years. I was thinking about
this last night after I found out about
being
interviewed for the newsletter. I was remembering
what
it was like to grow up and live with a
coal mining family. I remember helping
my dad
study for his supervisor’s exam and
remember having the coal delivered to the
basement to
heat our house. It was always my job to
keep the linoleum clean from the coal dust.
When
I first came to work here, my dad got really
emotional about it—he was glad to
know that I was part of something he could
relate
to. When I went on the tour of mines in
2003 not long after starting here, I shared
the
pictures with my dad. He enjoyed seeing
the coal mine photos and was glad to see
that I
could better understand what he did when
he was a coal miner. Of course, he talked
about
how he had to go into the mines on his
back when working low coal seams, so I
didn’t
get to experience that on the tour, but
just being in an underground coal mine
gave me a
better understanding of his and my claimant's
work environment.
Growing
up with my dad really instilled a strong
work ethic in me—I was truly raised
as a coal miner’s daughter. Working
hard for a honest day's pay was what he lived
by. And that’s what he taught me. He
had a very strong work ethic
and he instilled it in my sister and me.
I
remember what it was like when there were
accidents in the mine and the whole
community would pull together. Even as young as I was, I remember worrying
about my dad when he would go to work—he
always said never go to bed angry because
you never know if it is the last time you’ll see someone.
