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Castle Dale • As a choir of women in white dresses sang the final chords of "Amazing Grace," 27 white doves sailed skyward, capping a Saturday monument dedication honoring 124 people killed in Emery County coal mines.

The solemn ceremony was a fitting way, said retired mining executive Brett Harvey, "to let those people on the other side know we still care. Those miners are here with us today. Take a moment to feel their presence."

Many among an overflow crowd clearly did so as covers were removed from the monument, revealing statues of a miner and an angel mounted above a black plate bearing the victims' names.

To the audience, these were more than just names. They were sons, husbands, fathers, friends, co-workers and, in the case of 1984 Wilberg Mine fire victim Nanette Wheeler, a daughter.

All, said speaker Dave Lauriski, represent "a life lived but ended too soon," taken unexpectedly from those they loved without ever getting a chance to say goodbye.

At the same time, this monument and a similar one in Price honoring 1,400 miners killed in Carbon County coal disasters serve "as a motivator to continue to improve mine safety for generations to come so that these miners did not die in vain," said Lauriski, former head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Lauriski was a safety officer at Wilberg on Dec. 19, 1984, when he got a call at home saying there was a fire at the mine, a big one. Twenty-seven people were trapped inside.

His first sight of the dense smoke billowing from the mine's main portal "was a changing moment in my life. … I don't want to dwell on it, but I don't want to forget it."

None of those people made it out alive, making Wilberg the worst mine fire in U.S. history.

Gordon Conover nearly escaped. Evidence collected later showed he lived four hours behind the flames, trying every which way to get out. He made it to a place where would-be rescuers had left a note of atmospheric readings that showed the air there was breathable.

But by the time Conover got there, deadly carbon monoxide gas had migrated into the area. When he took off his breathing apparatus, the next breath was fatal.

A bench next to the monument bears a picture of the 24-year-old Conover, whose family turned out in full force for Saturday's event.

"I'm thrilled and so happy they're doing this for Gordon and the other miners," said his mother, Joyce Nelson Stevens. "It's brought all the sad memories back, but that's OK because we loved him so much."

Added Conover's daughter, Adrienne Anderson, then a preschooler and now a grownup living in Woods Cross: "We believe in eternal families so we'll see him again."

Justin Cingolani was 7 years old when his dad, Vic, died at Wilberg. Now living in Payson, he brought his two boys, Jackson and Anthony, to see their grandfather's name on the monument. "It's important for them to know," said their mom, Amanda.

What impressed Cingolani was not just that victims of highly publicized tragedies such as Wilberg were honored, but that this monument pays equal homage to all who were killed in the mines, including those whose deaths attracted little attention from the outside world because they died alone.

"This is a special one because it recognizes every one of them," he said.

Third-generation miner Scott Olsen of Castle Dale came to pay tribute to his grandfather, Swen Olsen Daniels, who was electrocuted at the Deer Creek Mine before Olsen was born, and to his close friend Dale Black, one of three men killed in 2007 while trying to rescue six other doomed miners trapped by a massive implosion at the Crandall Canyon Mine.

"It tears me up inside all the time, haunts me every day," Olsen said of losing his pal, Black. But he was gratified that his grandfather's sacrifice also will be remembered. "I feel great for him to finally get the respect he deserves," Olsen said.

A lack of public respect for what coal miners have done — and continue doing — in making life warm and comfortable for all Americans was a pervasive theme Saturday.

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, praised Emery County residents for understanding the meaning of coal, exhorting the crowd to "give coal miners across this nation and in this area a round of applause because they built this nation."

"No group of workers," he added, "have given more to this country than coal miners."

Led by Dennis Ardohain, Frank Markosek and Lori Ann Larsen, the committee that developed the monuments in Price and Castle Dale plans to erect smaller memorials this summer marking the mining heritage of Scofield, East Carbon, Helper, Huntington and Castle Gate.

mikeg@sltrib.com The artists

The monument to fallen Emery County miners, like one dedicated last fallen to the miners who died in Carbon County mines, were produced by renowned artists Gary Prazen and Danny Blatten of Original Creations in Helper.