Published: January 5, 2016 |

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In many ways, Fred Ware Junior was a simple kind of guy.

“These were his mining boots. They still have the coal in the bottom of them. I still have all of the belongings he had on him…nails, safety goggles, chew…” said Peggy Cohen, Ware’s daughter. “He was a sweets man. He liked his candy….pudding, applesauce that’s now discolored after 10 years, Hershey bar, and peanuts. He loved peanuts.”

Born and raised in Upshur County, Ware lived just down the road from the Sago Mine. He was an avid outdoorsman who loved camping, hunting, and four-wheeling.

“He loved nature in general. He’s had a pet deer. He found a baby raccoon when we were camping and then started bottle-feeding it, and he kept it until it got big enough,” said Cohen.

But when he wasn’t helping baby animals in the wild or spending time with his family, Ware was working in the Sago Mine, just up the road from where he lived. A lifelong miner, he got the nickname “Bear” working for Upshur Coal.

“I was trying to get him to retire, and he said, ‘I’ll probably die in the mines,’ and ironically, that’s what ended up happening,” said Cohen.

That fateful day was January 2, 2006.

“When we first got to the church, it was quite awhile before we see someone from the mines, so we had to go in a little Sunday School room and tell them who our family member was. I said my dad’s name, and he said, ‘Yes. He’s one of the confirmed missing,’” said Cohen.

Family friend Virgil Miller was the sheriff of Upshur County at the time.

“It was hard for me the first night to know those guys were down there. I’m up here on top of the ground breathing good air, and they’re down there,” said Miller.

“Then when we heard the news, it was bad. My dad and one of the other miners were already in the funeral home position, so they think they were the first to go. He had the cherry red glow, as they call it. He looked peaceful,” said Cohen.

But Peggy Cohen found light through the darkness, speaking at the Senate hearings in Washington, D.C. She thanked the heroes who were there that day.

“All of the rescue workers, when I met them in D.C., I just wanted them to know that we did appreciate them,” said Cohen.

But now that the coal dust has settled, Cohen is keeping Sago and her father close to her heart.

She lives in his house, so close to the site of the memorial, so close to where he spent his final moments.

“It helped me feel closer to him,” said Cohen.

Source: (December 30, 2015) WOWKTV.com

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