By: Carissa and Jordan

Mrs. Mary Leister came to our class on November 22, 2012. That is her in the picture above with her dog Trixie.  She told us about the old church that is close to the high school. We learned about how her sister, Helen, was born on the day of the mine disaster so her dad did not go to work. Lillian Rohovie, Mary’s mom, although thankful that her husband (Nick) had his life spared, always felt awful for the man who took her husband’s shift that day and died, along with 15 others, that fateful day December 9, 1935.

At the age of 13, Mary Rohovie worked in one of the stores and only got paid 75 cents. That was a lot back then. When Mrs. Leister and her sister needed a bath, they had to go in a metal tub and wait their turn, as there were 4 children in the family.  The small  house that they lived in had been moved from Diamond City after being purchased for $150.00. The house only had four rooms – 2 of which were bedrooms. Mrs. Leister shared with us that her mom and the two girls slept in one room and her dad and her two brothers slept in the other room.  The other picture above is of Mary and her brothers and her sister. 

They had a stove that was heated with coal in the house. Her mom and brothers used to pick coal off the slag heap.  Her mom would make them pajamas out of flour sacks. There were some cars in those days but when she was very young, people road in buggies drawn by horses.