PANAMA (Union Cemetery)
The ten-foot-tall memorial in Panama’s cemetery was erected in 2003. It commemorates a series of deadly explosions at Shoal Creek Coal Co. Panama No. 1 mine in 1910 and 1915. The loss of life in these disasters gives meaning to the words of UMWA President John L. Lewis that are inscribed at the base of the front of the memorial. 

The text says:
The public does not understand, and I think never will. That almost spiritual fealty that exists between men who go down into the dangers of the mine and work together. That fealty of understanding and brotherhood that exists in our calling to a more pronounced degree than in any other industry. The public does not know that a man who works in a coal mine is not afraid of anything except God, that he is not afraid of injunctions, or politicians, or threats, or denunciations, or verbal castigation, or slander. That he does not fear death.
John L. Lewis, Panama Union Local 1475 President 1910
United Mine Workers of America President 1920-1960

The back of the memorial has this text:
This Monument is dedicated by the cemetery committee and its many volunteers to the Coal Miners who lie in these hallowed grounds [.] Our thanks to the numerous organizations and to the citizens who opened their hearts and graciously gave of themselves. May these miners rest in Peace, for without them there would be no village. God’s blessings be upon them, and on everyone who helped to make this monument a reality. Dedicated May 25, 2003

The reverse inscription, transcribed above, is interesting because of local interest nearly one hundred years after the tragedy, particularly given the absence of coal mining in the decades preceding the initiative to create the memorial. Related to this issue is the phrase “for without them there would be no village.” This speaks to the establishment of a town around the coal resource and the enduring sense of community in Panama and its resilience in surviving the end of coal mining here.