Retired Coal Miner
Well it feels good to start the New Year off retired. Actually I offically retire on Jan 30th but I am on vacation from now until then. Come Jan 15th I will have 35 years of working for 4 different mining companies 3 in Kentucky and the last 18 year in Alabama
Mining Has really changed in my 35 years, I told the people at the mine yesterday afternoon, that I have really enjoyed my mining career.  Like everything else it has had its up’s and down’s but I have really enjoyed it very much.
I want to wish each of you a Great and Happy New Year.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Paul Turner Retires from No. 4 Mine
Paul Turner, Evening Shift Section Foreman at No. 4 Mine is retiring on January 31, 2009. He was born in Benham, a little coal mining town in Harlan County, Kentucky. After graduating from Lynch High School in 1964, Paul set out to make his place in the world. He tried out different jobs and even served a term in the U.S. Marine Corps before starting his coal mining career in Harlan, Kentucky on January 15, 1974. On October 6, 1975 he changed jobs and went to work for International Harvester Coal Mine in Benham, Kentucky, the town where he was born. The company was the same one his great-grandfather, both grandfathers, his father and several more of his relatives had worked. The company was sold in 1977 and on May 22, 1978 Paul went to work at Bell County Coal Corporation in Middlesboro, Kentucky.
“I worked in a coal seam that ranged from 28 to 42 inches from May 1978 until I came the to JWR on Feb 11, 1991,” says Paul. “I have spent my entire JWR Mining career at No. 4 Mine and have worked for many different managers and I have really enjoyed my short 18 years there.”
Paul has a 39 year-old son, Paul Jr., living in Manchester, Kentucky; a 38 year-old son, David that is an electrician at No. 4 Mine and a 22 year-old daughter Carol, who works for Sam’s Club in Tuscaloosa. Paul and his wife, Lisa, adopted Seth, a four-year boy. “Seth will really miss getting into my lunchbox,” says Paul.
Paul & wife Lisa (left)
Paul says he will be planting a garden, do some fishing and maybe move back to the mountains if he can find the right place during his retirement.
“I have really enjoyed my mining career with JWR and thank each and everyone I have worked for and worked with,” says Paul. “I have met some of the greatest people in the world at JWR. I really appreciate each and everyone at JWR. I feel several of the best people in the world are at JWR.”
I was planning on moving back to the mountians, but had a change of heart and a change of mind, and we have moved to the white sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast in Florida. With a much smaller garden, and a lot more fishin
March 24th, 2009 at 10:34 am
http://www.jwrworkings.com/
Here is the article from the Company Magazine.