Willow Island Memorial

On April 27, 1978, a cooling tower collapsed and killed fifty-one men: Joseph Bafile, James Blouir, Robert Blouir, Steve Blouir, Kenneth Boring, Richard Bowser, Thomas Cross, Roger Cunningham, Larry Deem, Roy F. Deem, Ray Duelly, Darrell Glover, Loren Keith Glover, Alvin Goff, Gary Gossett, James Harrison, Claude Hendrickson, Dan Hensler, Ken Hill, Gary Hinkle, Roger K. Hunt, Tom G. Kaptis, Randy Lowther, Ronald Mather, Howard McBrayer Jr., Willard McCown, Clayton Monroe, Robert Moore, Chet Payne, Edgar Phillips, Raymond Poling, Fred Pride Jr., Robert (Cliff) Riley, Ray Rollyson, Floyd Rupe, Alan Sampson, Glen Satterfield, Jeffrey F. Snyder, Emmett Steele, Ernest Steele, Larry Gale Steele, Miles Steele, Ronald Steele, Richard Stoke, Richard Swick, Brian Taylor, Dale Wagoner, Charles M. Warren, Jack Westfall, Louis Wildman, and Ronald Yocum. Twenty-two years later, twelve-year-old Anthony Lauer, grandson of L. Gale Steele, completed a social studies project to honor the men who lost their lives for community resources.

West Virginia · United States