Schuylkill County lost a devoted historian, coal mining re-enactor and veterans advocate with the recent passing of John Stuart "Stu" Richards, of Orwigsburg.
Richards passed away following a courageous battle with ALS on Nov. 3, according to an obituary in the Pottsville Republican Herald.
The author of books on coal mining and the Civil War, "Shaftdigger" Richards was a partner to Tommy "Mule" Symons in "The Breaker Boys," troubadours of mining history who performed throughout the coal region.
In a Facebook post, Symons revealed that Richards was to have been awarded a Quilt of Valor and receive commendations from State Reps. Jamie Barton and Tim Twardzik on the day he passed.
Quilts of Valor are awarded to veterans who performed exemplary service.
Richards served in Vietnam in 1970-71, and was an electronics technician at the Cumberland Army Depot for 40 years. He was a Disabled American Veterans service officer and past president of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, chapter in Orwigsburg.
Symons said Richards wore many hats -- historian, author, veterans rights activist and DAV volunteer -- but most of all, he was a friend.
As The Breaker Boys, they participated in the 14th annual Coal Miners Heritage Festival and performed "Once a Man, Twice a Boy" at the Mountaineer Hose Co., Minersville, in 2022.
The show marked the life and times of anthracite coal miners in story, song and verse.
Together, they celebrated the culture of the coal region for about 25 years.
"I always wanted to keep the history of coal mining in the anthracite region alive because my grandfather died in the mines along with my uncles," Richards told Republican Herald reporter Wes Cipolla in 2022.
Similarly, Symons performed to honor his father, who died of black lung, he told the Republican Herald in 2019.
Their material, Richards said, was based in part on stories his grandmother told him about life in mining patch towns.
Other songs and stories came from George Korson, anthracite folklorist, who wrote of the hardships, disasters and injustices experienced by miners in the anthracite coal fields.
Richards played guitar and harmonica, and Symons the mandolin, banjo and washboard.
The troubadours of the old mine patches, Richards said, were a unique breed of men who brought joy and happiness to the people.
In his book, "A History of Company C, 50th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment," Richards relied on letters and diaries to tell a story of heroism.
Schuylkill Count sent one soldier for every seven residents to the Civil War, he noted. Formed in Schuylkill Haven, members of the regiment were primarily men who worked around the Schuylkill Canal. Two of them would receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor.
The 50th fought at Antietam, Spotsylvania Court House and the siege of Petersburg. Some of its members ended up in the infamous prison at Andersonville.
In "Death in the Mines: Disasters and Rescues in the Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania," Richards chronicled the dangers of Pennsylvania's most perilous profession from 1869 to 1943. The Avondale mine fire in 1869, which took the lives of 110 miners, led to the first regulation and inspection of coal mines, he noted.
His "Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region," an Images of America book, includes photographs of miners, breaker boys and mules whose lot in life was as hard as the coal they mined.
In his Facebook post, Symons confided that he and Richards had "shared many a laugh and many a cry."
With tears in his eyes, Symons bid farewell to his Breaker Boys partner Stu Shaftdigger. "You're at peace and the suffering is done. God Bless brother, see you on the other side," he wrote, accompanied by a miner's pick, an American flag and hands folded in prayer.