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United Methodists minister to families in mine tragedy

Jan. 11, 2006

News media contact:   Kathy  Gilbert * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {017}

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org
<http://umns.umc.org/> .

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

When the community of Buckhannon, W. Va., gathers to remember the miners
who died in the Sago Mine tragedy, it will probably be the voice of a
10-year-old boy they will never forget.

Ti (Thomas Issaic) Anderson, son of Tom Anderson, will read Psalm 91 at
a community memorial service being organized by church leaders who were
with the families throughout the ordeal. The service will be at 2 p.m.,
Jan. 15, at United Methodist-related West Virginia Wesleyan College in
Buckhannon.

Psalm 91 was his father's favorite, Ti told the Rev. Mark Flynn, a
United Methodist pastor, as they waited in the Sago Baptist Church for
news about the miners.

Flynn, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Buckhannon, went to
Sago Baptist Church early Jan. 4 after getting a phone call from his
wife, who had heard news reports of a mining accident that had left 13
men trapped underground. The families were gathering at the Baptist
church to await news about their loved ones.

Flynn, the Rev. Carol Duffield and the Rev. Clifford Schell were with
the families when they received word first that the miners were alive
and then later that 12 men - including Ti's father - had died.

"I am not sure I have the words for it yet," Duffield said of that
night. "It was overwhelming." She is pastor of the Upshur Parish House,
a United Methodist mission project in Buckhannon.

"I can't imagine this happening in a worse way," Flynn said of the
erroneous reports that the miners were alive. "I was angry at how the
coal company had handled the families, but these folks showed a lot of
grace and a lot of faith and really ministered to me."

Schell, superintendent of the Wesleyan District of the West Virginia
Annual (regional) Conference, said the news that the miners were alive
went through the crowd like "a brush fire."

Then at 2:30 a.m., Jan. 3, after three hours of celebration, a coal
company executive accompanied by West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III and
state troopers, came into the church and told the families only one
miner had survived.

"Immediately the joyful elation of the families turned to disbelief,
indescribable grief, anger, accusations and an emotional spin down that
hurt as they had never hurt before," Schell said. "After anticipating
their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers would walk into the church,
they now had to suddenly deal with their deaths."

The surviving miner remains in critical condition.

The long hours of waiting with the families in the sanctuary were
punctuated with many wonderful moments of sharing with the families,
Duffield said.

"Steadfast hope and faith" were the overriding emotions within the
sanctuary, she said.

"I think the overall atmosphere within the sanctuary, which no news
media really reported, was this oneness. You would see families moving
around and trying to support each other. I think that unity was amazing
to me. There were moments where anger prevailed, but that was not the
norm; the norm was families sitting together or walking around and
checking on other families."

Flynn is working with the college chaplain to plan the community
memorial service. He said one of their biggest problems is so many
people want to participate. For him, working with so many church leaders
in the community has been a blessing that has arisen from the
experience.

"Most of the pastors I worked with in this effort were from churches
that are not part of the W. Va. Council of Churches, pastors who are not
in our ministerial association - Baptist churches, Pentecostal churches,
independent churches -	and these folks were all so gracious, so good to
work together.

"It occurred to me if the only other folks we talk with are mainline
denominations, we are not as ecumenical as we need to be, and we are not
as prepared as we need to be to handle a crisis like this. We really
need to be talking with pastors and lay people in these other churches
too."

Both Flynn and Duffield said Buckhannon is not a mining town and is
different from the way it has been portrayed in the media. The main
employer is the United Methodist college. Flynn said only 5 percent of
the population makes a living in the mine fields.

At a visitation for one of the families, Flynn said the family shared
with him the letter the miner wrote while trapped underground.

"After telling me some of what was in the letter, the widow's
grandmother said, 'And he had perfect grammar!' One thing that says to
me is that people's stereotypes about West Virginia miners need to be
revised, need to be shattered. The other thing is that man had a deep
and abiding faith, and he knew he was in God's hands. If he could say
those things - and say them perfectly - he was composed. To me, that was
something to rejoice about after all we had been through."

In addition to Anderson, Gov. Manchin will participate in the memorial
service by escorting the families into the chapel. The governor spent
many hours with the families during the ordeal. Flynn said a family
member told a colleague, "Mr. Manchin stepped out of his role as
governor and became part of our family."

One of the 12 miners who died was a member of Corley United Methodist
Church. A memorial service for Jackie L. Weaver, Philippi, W.Va., was
conducted Jan. 8 in Philippi led by the Rev. Destry Daniels, pastor at
Corley, and the Rev. Arden Beck, retired.

Schell said many pastors and United Methodists helped minister to the
families during those fateful hours. Several other United Methodist
pastors stood watch with the miners' families during the ordeal,
including the Rev. Mitch Griffin, retired; the Rev. Dan Lowther,
Frenchton Charge; the Rev. Sue Lowther, Wilsontown Charge; and Tim
Kelley, Burnsville Charge.

"Folks did what they could," Schell said. "God knows this, and the rest
was in God's hands."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in
Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470
or newsdesk@umcom.org.
********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org <http://umns.umc.org/>

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