Dec 7, 2006 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

MONONGAHELA TWP. – Gene Zvolenski of Masontown said visiting the Robena Monument, a tribute to the 39 miners, including his father, who died in two accidents in the Robena Mine in 1962, makes him feel good. “It makes me feel good to come here,” Zvolenski said Wednesday following a ceremony marking the 44th anniversary of the accident that claimed the lives of his father, Paul C. Zvolenski, and 36 other Robena miners.

Zvolenski was 9 years old on Dec. 6, 1962. He said he and at least two of his four younger sisters were at home in Palmer suffering from measles that kept them out of school that day when a tragic explosion occurred in the mine.

Two other miners died in an Oct. 2, 1962, explosion.

At Wednesday’s memorial service, Zvolenski joined three United Mine Workers of America officers in placing wreaths around the monument after the names of all men who died and two who survived the Oct. 2 explosion were read aloud.

A miner like his father, he said he passes the memorial when he drives to work at Mine No. 84 in Eighty Four, Washington County.

The monument, which is lighted at night, is a tribute to the memory of how the Robena miners lived, he said.

“It means a lot that Robena carries on the memorial,” Zvolenski said.

He said he also felt good about what keynote speaker Daniel J. Kane, international secretary/treasurer of the UMWA, said about the union’s ongoing efforts to make mines safer places to work.

“We’ve had a bad year in mine safety and there’s no excuse for it,” Kane said.

According to the UMWA, 43 coal miners have died in mine accidents in the United States this year.

The most publicized incident occurred when 12 miners died and one survived an explosion at the Sago Mine in Upshur County, W.Va., on Jan 2.

Then on Jan. 19, two miners were killed at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine in Logan County, W.Va.

Kane said the union is fighting President Bush’s appointment of a former mining company manager and executive to run the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“It’s our health. It’s our safety,” Kane said. “We should be put back in charge.”

He said productivity should not have a higher priority than workers’ safety.

“We’re proud of people in the coal fields. We’ll put our arms around them,” Kane said.

Edward D. Yankovich Jr., UMWA District 2 international vice president, also addressed the audience of about 80 miners and relatives of Robena miners.

The Rev. Rodney Trobic of St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Carmichaels gave the invocation and benediction during the service.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4584 in Masontown performed a rifle salute.

State Rep. H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg), state Rep.-elect Tim Mahoney of Uniontown, and Greene County Commissioners Pam Snyder and Dave Coder also attended the ceremony.