Homer H. Hickam - Sky of Stone: A Memoir

CONTENTS

To Johnny Basso, Bobby Likens, and fellow coal
miners everywhere.

To motivate your coworkers, you must be thoroughly motivated yourself. Remember the credo of the medieval horsemen: Throw your heart across the ditch, and your horse will follow!

Dr. Wernher von Braun,
rocket scientist

Dont be afraid to tell a man hes no good. A man cant get good if he doesnt know hes bad.

Homer Hadley Hickam Sr.,
mine superintendent

Boys, there are only two things that are going to keep you alive in this coal mine. Me, and the tolerance of God.

Johnny Basso, coal miner

PRAISE FOR
HOMER HICKAMS AWARD-WINNING MEMOIRS

SKY OF STONE

The prose of [Hickams] third book is as vivid and alive as that of the first, and the bond with the people of Coalwood just as intense and complex.... Hickam has made [Coalwood] live again in his writing.

The New York Times Book Review

[A] cleverly constructed, richly detailed mystery... This pleasing book only reinforces his oeuvre.

Publishers Weekly

Related in such an engaging way that many readers will forget Sky ofStone is nonfiction instead of an elegantly crafted novel... Rocket Boys [aka October Sky] was a National Book Critics Circle nominee, and The Coalwood Way should have been. It will be no surprise if Sky of Stone wins that, along with a few other major literary awards.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

THE COALWOOD WAY

Another classic coming-of-age tale... the rocket boy soars again.

People

Irresistible... as compelling and rousing as a NASA liftoff.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

[A] sparkling memoir.

Chicago Sun-Times

Recalling a lost era, [Hickam] brings his American hometown to life with vivid images, appealing characters and considerable literary magic.

Publishers Weekly

OCTOBER SKY

A thoroughly charming memoir... [An] eloquent evocation of a lost time and place... Mr. Hickam builds a story of overcoming obstacles worthy of Frank Capra, especially in its sweetness and honest sentimentality.

The New York Times

Unforgettable... Unlike so many memoirs, this book brings to life more than one mans experiences. It brings to life the lost town of Coalwood, W.Va.

USA Today

A stirring tale that offers something unusual these days... a message of hope in an age of cynicism.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

A great read... One closes the book with an immense feeling of satisfaction.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hickam has a great story to tell....[His] recollections of small-town America in the last years of small-town America are so cinematic that even those of us who didnt grow up there might imagine we did.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

[Hickam] is a very adept storyteller....Its a good bet this is the story as he told it to himself. It is a lovely one, and in the career of Homer H. Hickam, Jr., who prevailed over the facts of his life to become a NASA engineer training astronauts for space walks, that made all the difference.

The New York Times Book Review

A refreshingly hopeful book about personal triumph and achieving ones dreams.

San Antonio Express News

Great memoirs must balance the universal and the particular. Too much of the former makes it overly familiar; too much of the latter makes readers ask what the story has to do with them. In his debut, Hickam walks that line beautifully. No matter how jaded readers have become by the onslaught of memoirs, none will want to miss the fantastic voyage of BCMA, Auk and Coalwood.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Compelling.

Chicago Tribune

Thoroughly captivating.

The Christian Science Monitor

Rocket Boys, while a true story, reads like a well-written novel. It deals with a wide range of issues, including the bittersweet experience of coming of age. It also provides an intimate look at a dying town where people still allowed kids to dream and helped them make those dreams become reality.

Rocky Mountain News

[A] nostalgic and entertaining memoir.

People

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THIS MEMOIR, the third in the series of what I call my Coalwood books, required the assistance of many people, including some real coal miners to keep me straight. My uncle, Harry Ken Lavender, a man much like my father who rose from basic miner to a high management position with a coal company, read an initial draft and made several helpful suggestions. Mr. Early Smith, who worked for my father during the time period I cover in this book, was also very helpful. Mr. Martin Valeri, the last general superintendent of the Coalwood and Caretta mines, added some expert advice. Dr. Robert Likens, my fellow college boy coal miner, reviewed the manuscript when it was nearly completed and reminded me of several important events. Team leader Johnny Bassos sister, Mary, was very gracious with her time, providing me with many details concerning her late brother. Linda Hickam, my wife and first reader, saw the book from its first incarnation and made it much better, especially by keeping me on track and not off in the creative weeds. Emily Sue Buckberry, my high school buddy and forever friend, also got a look at a draft and made some great suggestions, as did David Groff, my touchstone on these books. My brother, Jim, reminded me of a great story about one of our dogs. My mother, of course, got her two cents in (make that three), as she always does. A special nod goes to Mrs. Betty McClamrock for helping Queen Elsie go back to the mountains from time to time.

Of course, I always like to mention my agents, Frank Weimann and Mickey Freiberg, who also happen to be my friends. I wouldnt get very far without them.

Continuing to inspire me are the people of Coalwood, especially those folks of the Cape Coalwood Restoration Association. All of them work so hard for the community, the county, and the state. Special accolades should go to Peggy Blevins for her great organizational skills in putting on Coalwoods annual festivals. Red Carroll, the father of Rocket Boy ODell and the unofficial tour guide of Coalwood, continues to be his remarkable self and a great source of wisdom to me and all who know him. His wife, Ivy, is also a most remarkable woman, as is nearly every West Virginia woman Ive ever known. In fact, should Beth Rashbaum, the editor of this book, ever decide to move to the Mountain State, she would fit right in.

THIS STORY is based on actual events that occurred in the summer of 1961 in my hometown of Coalwood, West Virginia. Names have been changed and events rearranged and compressed to clarify for the reader what happened, and to protect certain individuals, mostly including myself.

THE COALWOOD PROPOSITION

WHEN ONCE the president of the United States called his nation to greatness, and told the world we were going to the moon, Coalwood, West Virginia, remained what it had always been, a town that mined coal. When President Kennedy also said Americans were going to do many grand and wonderful things, not because they were easy but because they were hard, Coalwoods men continued to walk out of fog-shrouded hollows and descend beneath their mountains to grub out the coal by the millions of tons to send to the blast furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania so as to make steel. For if coal failed, the people of Coalwood believed, steel failed. And if steel failed, so did the country, no matter what else might happen, even with a young presidents dream of glory on the moon.