Ronnie Segada: A strong advocate for miners and their union, the UMWA, in his life, but was angry at the local historical society

RIP Ron Segada

Lilly, Pa. was a coal-mining town in its early days, and many of the men in the community spent their time working underground to provide that resource and earn a good living for themselves and their families.

The work was difficult, challenging, and dangerous, and in the early years, the miners had to fight for their rights. That meant that they had to join together to pursue their benefits in those years even if that meant going on strike.

When I sadly read in May of the passing of one of those Lillyites who fought for miners, I fondly remembered a young man who grew up in what was known as the “Stumptown” area of the community, and who dedicated much of his life to working for the welfare of coal miners.

While I have been gone from the area for almost a decade, I remembered an engaging discussion I had with him a number of years ago. It was a long, intense conversation with Ron “Ronnie” Segada about the essential needs of miners that unions provided— and a promise that I had made to him.

Unfortunately, I left the area shortly after that and was not able to keep that promise at that time, but now I can — and he would be happy with my recollection of what he talked about that night — even if the quotes are not quite as accurate as they might have been a while back.

Background of Ronnie

I remember Ronnie Segada from the 1950s when he was in grade school and played little league and pony league baseball for teams. He was two years younger than I was and was a classmate of my sister’s at St. Brigid’s School.

He went on to attend the former Lilly-Washington High School and then one year when the school became the Penn Cambria jointure. After graduation, he eventually entered the U.S. Army and served his country.

However, what he did later is what he dedicated his life to, something that he spent more than 50 years doing. That was working and dedicating his efforts to coal miners.

While I had not talked with Ronnie for many years, I met him more than ten years ago at a War Memorial dinner in Lilly, and he told me about his experience — and how he was outraged that his own community had turned its back on the miners with its callous action.

Here is that story.

The outrage

Ron explained to me how he became involved in the mines. He had worked in a number of them, including Bethlehem’s Mine 33 in Ebensburg. He was a member of the United Mine Workers local 1368 and ultimately became its president.

From what I read in my research, he was eligible for 50-year pin for his efforts.

He started in the mines after returning from his service in the U.S. Army. What he was proud of was working to provide benefits like health care and retirement for the miners, along with battling for safety regulations to be enforced.

Our conversation lasted a while, but his major concern in talking with me was that he wanted me to write a story. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that while I was still writing for magazines, I have given up the free-lance newspaper gig, as he had remembered me for in earlier years.

I told him that I could write about this issue on my blog because I agreed with him about the essence of his argument. However, I left the area shortly after that.

Ron’s anger was directed at the local historical society. The group had decided to build a monument to honor the miners in the community, which was certainly a positive idea. However, he was angry at how they funded the effort.

Recalling the conversation

I cannot remember the specific quotations, so will place them in italics, but I remember the context very well. Here is the essence of what Ron told me about his outrage, and some of my reactions,

The miners in Lilly and Washington Township made some tremendous contributions to the community, and we are proud of that. The UMW has been a force in the area and has supported the miners in every way. It took a while for the union to take control, but they did it. We are proud of what the union did for miners in Lilly, from the early days to today, though we have few left.

However, we have a problem today with honoring them.

The historical society is building a monument at the War Memorial in honor of the miners from Lilly. That really sounds good, but there is one problem. The money is coming from a non-union strip-miner. This is a terrible reflection upon the history of the miners from Lilly, who were UMWA.

I mentioned that the UMW was key in raising money for the construction of the War Memorial, with Theodore “Dorry” George leading that effort before becoming treasurer of it. The miners gave many dollars to the War Memorial for its construction.

Ron did not realize that, but appreciated it.

By using non-union money for this “memorial,” they are denigrating the efforts of the UMW. So many of my friends had fathers who gave their lives to the mines, and they lived good lives because of the higher union wages that they earned.

The people [who worked for the guy who owned this] non-union mine had low salaries, and one I know worked for him for 40 years and is now living on Social Security since they had no benefits. No health care, no retirement, and lower wages. All strip miners earn low wages compared to those of the UMW miners.

This action really angers me and I would like to stop them.

The result is some kind of “sculpture” that is garish and ugly and does not reflect on the miners who got their hands dirty and sometimes gave their lives in the effort to earn higher wages and benefits. This is what angered him, thinking that it was a desecration of the efforts of the miners.

Ron gave so many hours to District 2 and to the UMW in general over the years, and this was something that angered him because if reflected poorly on the hard-working union miners.

While this is late, I think that it is a fitting tribute to Ron Segada, UMWA.

Ron passed away on May 3 after undergoing a difficult few years health-wise in that last few years of his life. We can remember him, though, for his fight and tenacity on behalf of the mine workers.