By Eric Mark

September 18, 2017 - Joe Gimble wants his lifelong hometown of Larksville, Pennsylvania to build a better monument to the borough’s anthracite heritage and those who toiled in the mines. He wants help from the public to make that happen.

Gimble, 86, a former colliery worker and the son and grandson of coal miners, is also a longtime Larksville councilman. His term expires at the end of this year.

During an interview last week, Gimble said he vowed that before he left public service he would do his best to establish a fitting memorial to the coal industry workers who formed much of the borough’s heritage and history.

Gimble has called a public meeting for 7 p.m. on Thursday at the borough municipal building on East State Street to gauge the level of public interest in the project and “just to see what happens,” he said.

Those who attend the meeting will kick around ideas for what kind of monument would work best. The group will also figure out ways to finance the project, which will not involve any taxpayer funds, according to Gimble.

“It will be privately funded, completely,” he said.

Larksville already has a small monument to its mining heritage, put on display outside the municipal building in 2009 as part of the borough’s centennial celebration.

Gimble said that monument, which includes a large chunk of coal, is a nice tribute but “it’s faded away, it’s not what it should be.”

A volunteer effort is needed to construct something more substantial, according to Gimble.

“We should establish a permanent marker,” he said. “If we don’t do it, maybe it won’t get done.”

Gimble, who grew up in Larksville and graduated from Larksville High School in 1949, knew the coal-mining life first-hand, though from above ground.

In the 1950s, Gimble worked on the maintenance crew in a colliery for several years before the Knox Mine disaster effectively ended the anthracite coal industry in the Wyoming Valley. His father and grandfather worked in the mines, as did the fathers and grandfathers of several of his fellow council members, Gimble said.

Gimble believes his friends and neighbors will pitch in to help build a new monument the same way they did eight years ago, he said.

“When we had the 100-year anniversary, people came forward and helped and donated,” Gimble said.

Gimble said he envisions a monument that would honor both men and women, both living and dead, who played a part in Larksville’s anthracite heritage. 

“And boy, do they deserve it,” he said. 

Information on the Public Meeting

What: public meeting to discuss a monument to Larksville’s anthracite coal heritage

When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 21

Where: Larksville municipal building, 211 E. State St.