Recently during some late night sleepless YouTube perusing, a recommended video caught my interest.. It was from 1982, a PBS special narrated by Martin Sheen about Centralia.. I vaguely remembered the video.. but immediately recalled the footage in my own memory, as these were my earliest pictures and memories of life: Parakeets in the basement.. canaries in a coal mine.. Smoke billowing on snowy days .. the offensive smell from the fire taking grasp of your nasal passage and destroying your enjoyment on sunny summer afternoons…
Key interviews are provided by Tom Larkin and Joan Girolami.
Both were members of the Concerned Citizens Action Group Against the Centralia Mine Fire.. it goes on to show further residents and clips of town halls… moments in time that are just now distant, distant memories.
The documentary goes on to showcase a few images that can bring back memories for former residents.. like the baseball field on a summer day with smoke billowing nearby from boreholes..
Or images of a quaint scene with families carelessly enjoying Sunday morning sidewalks in the town..
Then the news came in..
People become divided.. families fought.. some left town and some waited for buyouts.. People began to blame the Reagan Administration and even burned effigies of then Interior Secretary Watt at Fourth of July bonfires…
And the rest??
The rest is history.
My family is featured in that movie.
Thank you for the comment! I am sure it is a stroll down memory lane!