Dead miners honored

BIG CREEK, Idaho – Hundreds of teenagers milled about, some huddled in groups gossiping, others wrestling or play-fighting with each other. One bobbed his head slowly to the music blaring from his headphones.

But all fell silent and turned attentive when the Kellogg-Wallace Color Guard carrying American and Idaho flags emerged in front of the Miners Memorial statue to pay tribute to the 91 miners who died in the Sunshine Mine fire 34 years ago Tuesday.

“Each person who was here during that time was affected, and many still are today,” said Gail Harding-Thomas, principal of Wallace Junior-Senior High School. “I want students to know their heritage.”

More than 200 junior and senior high school students from Wallace, Kellogg and Mullan joined about 100 community members Tuesday at the memorial near the mine to commemorate one of the worst mining disasters in U.S. history.

“They take it pretty seriously,” said Jann Higdem, whose husband, Brad, works for the Sterling Mining Co.’s Sunshine Mine division. “They don’t goof off like you’d expect high school kids to do.”

Young people didn’t just watch the somber ceremony, they took part. Students read the names of all 91 miners, and performances by the Kellogg High School band and the great-granddaughters of William Delbridge, who died in the fire, marked an observance that for many is the only time they gather to reflect on the disaster that devastated the Silver Valley.

“It’s nice to hear those names again,” said event organizer Bill Delbridge, William’s son, after the final name was read. “They were such a part of our community.”

He encouraged those assembled to pray not just for the Sunshine Mine victims and their families, but also for those touched by recent fatal mine accidents on the East Coast and in Tanzania.

“Among miners, there’s always a kindred spirit,” Delbridge said, the memorial statue of a lone miner towering behind him.

The number of people who saw the Sunshine Mine fire’s devastation firsthand is dwindling, making it even more important for younger generations to learn what happened, said Wallace resident Stanley Taylor and his sister, Erma Dunn, of Osburn.

Taylor was one of the rescuers who spent several days trying to save the trapped miners. He said his memory of those days never fades, no matter how many years pass.

Samantha Petersen, a seventh-grader from Wallace, never met her great-grandfather, Casey Pena. He was among the dead pulled from the mine in the foothills east of Kellogg. Petersen previously visited the memorial with family members, but said seeing so many young people there Tuesday was special.

“It’s really a good thing,” she said.

Harding-Thomas began her speech by sharing her initial reaction when first asked to speak: “I’m just an ordinary person – I’m not anyone special. Then it hit me that the miners who went to work on May 2, 1972, would not have thought themselves as special, either. They were just going to work just like any other day.”

It was Dilila Wild’s first time attending the annual ceremony. Wild lost her father and a brother in the fire, and though she lives just a few miles from the memorial, the pain of remembering kept her from visiting until Tuesday.

She was impressed with what she saw.

“It’s wonderful what this community does for the remembrance of those who have gone,” Wild said.