FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP — Volunteers Misty Cowden, standing, and Tina Greer assisted Danny Staley, James Castellucci and others in participating in a Chinese auction or gun drawing held during the Weirton Steel 25-Year Club’s picnic to raise money for next year’s event. Held Saturday at the Serbian Picnic Grounds, the event drew hundreds of former Weirton Steel employees. -- Warren Scott

WEIRTON — For 79 years, long-time Weirton Steel employees have been gathering for a day of food and fellowship, and that tradition continued Saturday with hundreds turning out for the Weirton Steel 25-Year Club’s annual picnic at the Serbian Picnic Grounds.

“This is a Weirton tradition. It’s a reunion, and they look forward to it,” Ron Baker, the club’s president, said of the 450 men and women expected to attend the event.

Baker noted the event brings together former co-workers and people who worked in the various departments of the steel mill during different time periods.

He expressed thanks to those who lent their time or support to the event, including more than 20 area businesses, the Holy Resurrection Church’s Serbian Men’s Club, which oversees the picnic grounds; and the club’s fellow officers.

They are: Dave Dulaney, vice president; Brenda Ice, treasurer; and DeeAnn Pulliam, secretary. He noted Pulliam, who works as Weirton assistant city manager, is not a former Weirton Steel employee but agreed to serve as secretary at a time of need.

Baker noted the club and its events once were open exclusively to 25-year veterans of the steel mill but was expanded to others as many of the original members died.

This year’s picnic was attended by many who offered a picture of work and life during the steel firm’s heyday.

Carl Loughridge of Follansbee noted he retired 31 years ago after working for 38 years, many of them as a crane operator in the tin mill.

He said for a time he worked with the anneal furnace used to soften the steel so it could be bent and shaped and the heat from it was so great, he wrapped his arms in rags to prevent them from becoming burnt.

A native of Philippi, W.Va., he said he got the job there with the help of a friend of his family, for whom he had worked on a Shenandoah Valley, Virginia farm.

He noted he was among many from southern areas of West Virginia who moved north to seek work at the flourishing steel mill.

Lee Edwards of Weirton said he has been retired for 35 years and worked at Weirton Steel for 35 years, primarily as a pipefitter.

“I took care of all of the piping in the mill. Hydraulic, steam, all kinds,” he said.

Asked about working conditions, Edwards said, “In the sheet mill, there was a lot of noise.”

He said while many of his former co-workers later experienced hearing loss, he was fortunate and did not.

Edwards said steel from the mill was used to produce a variety of things, from gas cans and car parts to guardrails.

He said he was 18 years old, just out of high school, when he started and more than 13,000 people worked there, including his father and an uncle.

Ted Konicki of Wintersville said he retired 20 years ago after working at Weirton Steel for 29 years, doing “a little bit of everything” but primarily serving on cutting lines in the strip steel plant.

He said he was 23 years old, having enlisted in the Air Force at a time when many young men were being drafted for the Vietnam War.

Konicki said he and other steelworkers always needed to be conscious of their surroundings and follow proper procedures.

“Safety was a big thing. We always said just walking into the mill could be dangerous,’ he said.

But Konicki added, “It was a good job. Everybody was nice, easy to work with.”

Don Herbst of Steubenville said he also was delayed by service in the Air Force, having entered early in the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, though ultimately he was stationed in Newfoundland, Canada, as part of a defense against the Soviet Union.

Herbst said he also had worked as a bill collector for a finance company, but the pay was better at Weirton Steel.

He said he hopes the local steel industry can make a comeback because this region needs good jobs to prevent more young people from leaving.

Also asked about the future of the local economy, Konicki said steel continues to be essential to many American products and services and the domestic steel industry should be preserved.

“Without steel mills, the country won’t survive,” he said.

Edwards said not much remains of Weirton Steel facilities, but new businesses have moved into or expressed interest in their properties and he’s hopeful that will secure the city’s future.

Baker said, “Weirton is going to survive. It’s a tight community, and we will come back. We’ve got a great place here. We’ve got the river, we’ve got highways. Taxes are reasonable.”

“We’ve got education– colleges and the John D. Rockefeller Career Center. And we’ve got people who still believe in Weirton,” he said.

“We’ve got everything that meets the definition of America.”