Abbott

Dear Dale,
I have passed on to you this thermos which your father carried into the mines for 35 years. He won it on a football game bet from Fred Lovett. Fred was a graduate of Keyser High and of course you know your father was a star player at Romney High School, of which he was very proud. Those two were always clowning around and passing away the down time together, down in that hell-hole.
Strange, your father loved this thermos as it reminded him of his days in the coal fields. He always seemed to me to be a Marlboro Man of sorts. He was handsome and rugged and the man that I loved for 45 years. Equally as strange is the fact that it was Marlboro cigarettes that contributed to the end his life, along with the coal dust of course. So let this be a keepsake and a reminder of his death all in one. Why you might ask would I send this to you along with that knowledge: 1) I know you have smoked for far too long now and I want this to be a reminder to you that it will take your life if you don’t stop and 2) Because I know you were proud of your father’s heritage, even though you got out of this town before you went down in those mines and ended up with the Black Lung like everyone else. Your father was mad when you left but it wasn’t because you left, it turned out; it was because he didn’t- when he was your age. Your father was a smart and talented fellow and he could have done more with his life had he left, but we got married out of high school and I soon got pregnant with you. So he did what all young men did in Moorefiled, West Virginia, he went to work for Peabody Coal, Co. Mind you, he never regretted it and he did the very best he could to make a life for all of us. He was a proud father and loved you so very much.
So take this thermos and use it as he did, every day in your work. Your father would always get your articles sent to him and read them religiously. He was especially proud of the ones you did against mountain top mining. He knew that to be wrong and hateful to the beauty of West Virginia, the land that he loved. Let this be a symbol of his love, as well. It is a bookmark of a time and a place called home.

Please give my love to Wanda and a grandma kiss to those children. I give you my heart and soul.

Love,
Mom
P.S. –Look inside the thermos before you fill it. There is a check from an account your father had secretly saved for Willie’s and Jonna’s college fund. He certainly loved those children with all his heart.