By Teresa Brooks

September 5, 2017 - Although the weather was cold and rainy, several TECO Coal Company employees, family and friends gathered on September 2, 2017 at Briar Creek Park in Williamsburg, Kentucky to reunite and reminisce.

TECO Coal Company, a large mining corporation initially located in Nevisdale, employed 1200 employees at their largest. The home office moved from Nevisdale to Corbin in the late 90s and sold to Booth Energy in 2014.

Paul Matney, TECO Coal’s former Personnel Director, who initiated the reunion,  addressed the group. “In my opinion, TECO Coal had some of the best employees of any company that I know of.” He then held prayer and a moment of silence in honor of employees who have passed on.

A drawing was held for prizes that Paul distributed to winners in attendance.

Some co-workers drove from Tennessee to attend the reunion. Several mentioned that they believed the attendance would have been much larger if the weather had been better, and they were not disappointed in the size of the crowd that showed up. There were close to 60 in attendance.

There is talk of plans for another reunion in the future, maybe even making it a yearly event. The next reunion’s date and time will be posted in the newspapers, placed on the radio, and posted on the TECO Coal Reunion Facebook page.

Former TECO Coal employees are encouraged to invite others who may not have left contact information.

Employees are also invited to submit photos they may have on the TECO Coal Reunion Facebook page, and also submit contact information for others who may not be on Facebook.

Subsidiaries under TECO Coal Company include: Gatliff Coal Company, Rich Mountain Coal Company, Clintwood Elkhorn Mining, Perry County Coal Company, Premier Elkhorn Coal Company, and Pike Letcher Land Company.

Walmart of Williamsburg gave a small donation to help sponsor the event. 

Pictured left to right in the photo above are: Wayne Hensley, Estes Mahan, Sarah Powers, Tommy Mahan, Marvin Powers, Robert Lay, David Brooks, Danny Powers, Teresa Brooks, John Cooper, Deborah Moses, Donald Powers, Bob Jones, Jim Faulkner, John Walker, David Lay, Terry Cox, Jerry Carver, Clyde Griffith, George Sutton, Gary Harned, Jerry Baker, Paul Matney (Personnel Director), James Griffith, Michael Cooper, Glenna “Abby” Shackleford, Jim Shackleford (former TECO Coal President), and Walter Baker. 

Photo by Ryan Collett

Other people who attended, and some arrived after the group photo was taken and are not pictured include Bob Zik (Vice President of Operations), Larry Reynolds, Jim Roark, Bruce Cox, Lee Hensley, Margaret Powers, Christine Harned, Willard Gibson, Ryan Collett, Cindy Mahan, Tammy Bray, Ashley Bray, Lisa Miller, Roger Bray, Robert (Marty) Crunk, Leonard Davis, Kim Davis, Carly Davis, Lindsay Davis and family, Mark Muse, and Lisa Muse.