Sunshine memorial ceremony is today
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 11 years, 7 months AGO
<p>More than 300 people are expected to attend today's 42nd annual Memorial Ceremony of the Sunshine Mine Fire Disaster at the statue north of the Big Creek exit off Interstate 90.</p>
Today, more than 300 people are expected to visit the Sunshine Miner's Memorial Statue to honor the memory of 91 men who lost their lives on May 2, 1972.
The 42nd annual Memorial Ceremony of the Sunshine Mine Fire Disaster begins at 11 a.m. and will feature a reading of names from surviving family members and other community members as well as words from guest speaker Mark Savit.
Savit, who began his career at the Department of Interior as the head of its special investigation unit of the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration, was sent to the mine at the time of the fire and is responsible for taking a photo of two survivors. According to a press release, Savit is currently an attorney with expertise in health and safety law, industrial disaster response and environmental law.
During the ceremony, 91 chairs will face the audience, arranged according to levels where the miners were found. Each chair will have a name, short biography and illuminated hard-hat representing a miner that would have been sitting in it, had they not perished.
"As each name is read, the hat's light will be extinguished," the press release reads. "One special hard hat will be prominently placed and remain lit until the completion of the ceremony, symbolizing our respect and appreciation of the miners from the many Mine Rescue units, who gave selflessly and unrelentingly to save their brothers."
The back of this year's program will include the names, ages and dates of other area miners who have since lost their lives in Silver Valley Mines, beginning with Gerald McDaniels, who lost his life the second day of the fire.
"The lives of every single person in the Silver Valley, and the entire mining industry were forever changed on May 2, 1972," the press release states. "Miners and rescuers, businesses supporting the mining industry, and even schools where many children suddenly lost their daddies, uncles and grandpas - everyone knew someone who had perished. It was a time where everyone had to try to be strong, for themselves and for each other."