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Photo of the Month |
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Circa July 1920, first aid and mine rescue teams line up in foul territory at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, where they competed in a contest organized by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The third base chalk foul line may be seen cutting diagonally across the image in the lower left-hand corner.
German immigrant Richard C. "Dick" Reese, a resident of Stauffer, Westmoreland County, PA, and the husband of Bertha O. Minerd, is believed to be in this view. Over many years, he was employed working as a driver in local coal mines, working at Stauffer, Bessemer and Mount Pleasant, PA
Richard was a member of a safety team at the Standard Mine which, in 1918, won the 4th National Mine Safety contest, held at Forbes Field. Other members of the 1918 team were William Gefsky, master mechanic and team captain Curtis Spence, hoisting engineer "Rube" Spence, blacksmith Oscar L. Armstrong and hoisting engineer Milton Anderson. In 1921, he was captain of the Standard First Aid team in competition with other Frick Coke Company plants. Richard and his 1918 team are pictured in the book, A Town That Grew at the Crossroad: Borough of Mount Pleasant 1828-1978 Sesquicentennial.
Richard and Bertha suffered more than their share of heartache during World War II. Both their son Richard (in England) and grandson in law Jack Barr (New Guinea) were killed in action within a three-and-a-half-month time-span in 1944. More>>>
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Copyright © 2018 Mark A. Miner |
