MEN OF STEEL — Retired members of the United Steelworkers Local 1190 stand on the front steps of their union hall on South Third Street for a conversation about their days in the steel industry and a new steelworker nutcracker at the Historic Fort Steuben Park. On hand were, front, from left, Carmen DeStefano and Blaine Westfall; second row, Larry Rennie and Joe Mannarino; and third row, Paul Swicker, John Dugan and Carl Wiseman. -- Dave Gossett

STEUBENVILLE –These are the men who worked in the coke plant, the basic oxygen furnace, the blast furnaces, the railroad and the finishing mills of the sprawling Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. to make steel for customers throughout the world.

They worked different shifts in the heat of the workplace or the cold winter weather, always ready to accept an extra turn to help pay for a child’s tuition or that special Christmas present.

The men are retired now, some by choice, others when their steel mill finally shut down for good in 2012. But they are still members of the steelworker brotherhood and they are asking for help to keep the steelworker legacy alive in Steubenville.

“I saw how popular the Nutcracker Village at the Historic Fort Steuben was last year and how many different professions were represented by the nutcrackers. So I contacted the Nelson family and applied to have a steelworker nutcracker created to honor our forefathers who came to the United States with very little and got a job in the steel mill. I want to carry on the tradition that ended here in 2012,” explained Carmen DeStefano of Steubenville.

“The nutcracker also represents all of the people who fought for our union in the industry. Our fathers had to stand at the gate every day and hope they would get picked to work that day. If it wasn’t for the steel mills and the union, our parents wouldn’t have been able to send their kids to college. That is why I bought the steelworker nutcracker. This nutcracker is for all of the steelworkers in the Ohio Valley. I don’t want people to forget the steelworkers who helped build this valley,” continued DeStefano.

DeStefano has issued a plea to all active and retired steelworkers to donate to the perpetual maintenance of the steelworker nutcracker.

“My family paid to have this one created. But we need $1,700 for the ongoing maintenance and storage of the steelworker nutcracker. If everyone who ever worked in a steel mill would donate a few dollars we will quickly meet our goal. We have an account set up at the Valley One Credit Union in Steubenville. People can drop off their donations or send them to the credit union and designate the money for the steelworker nutcracker,” said DeStefano.

He and several other retired steelworkers gathered on a recent morning in front of the former United Steelworkers Local 1190 union hall on South Third Street to reminisce about their careers in the steel mill.

“I came up here from the Grafton, West Virginia, to visit my sister. Her husband took me down to the mill one morning to get a job application. I had a physical that afternoon and started the next day on afternoon turn,” recalled Carl Wiseman, a longtime Steubenville resident.

“That was when the mill was hiring 200 people a day. Times were good in the late 1960s. The money was good and I spent 43 years working in the mill,” noted Wiseman.

Paul Swicker started in the Cold Strip Department in Follansbee in 1972.

“I lived in Richmond and my neighbor got me an application for the mill. I like the steelworker nutcracker. It looks a lot like Carmen when he was younger,” laughed Swicker.

“It may look like me a long time ago but I never carried any tools like this nutcracker does. I gave Therese Nelson an old photo of a guy who worked in the mill and she created our nutcracker based on the photo,” replied DeStefano.

“I think a lot of people have forgot about the steel mills and the people who worked there. It is a shame because we built the communities. But as long as we get together like this, steelworkers will never die. That mill kept a lot of families going through the years. We get together now to solve the problems of the world,” observed Paul DiGiacinto of Follansbee.

“We were lucky in those days. We were graduating from high school and there were jobs available in the mill,” commented Larry Rennie of Mingo Junction. He worked as a mobile equipment operator in the basic oxygen furnace.

“I was a bricklayer in the mill. At least I got paid to be a bricklayer,” remarked John Dugan of Steubenville. “Now we are finding out the stuff we were breathing back in those days wasn’t good for us.

“I got hired in 1972 and sent to the Follansbee strip to work as a car loader. It wasn’t a bad job but I got a chance to bid on the bricklayer job and I took it. It was better money,” Dugan added.

“We started talking about a steelworker nutcracker a year ago. Look around the communities at the doctors and lawyers and other professionals who had a father working in the mill,” commented DeStefano.

All of the retired steelworkers gathered in front of the now empty union hall have visited the nutcracker steelworker.

“I think the steelworker nutcracker is a good thing. The nutcracker reminds people of what we once had. I like it a lot,” said Joe Mannarino who spent his mill career in the blast furnace department.

“I started at the bottom job and worked my way up through the jobs over the years,” he said.

“It brings back memories of what we had in this valley at one time. Kids today don’t know what that nutcracker is all about. But we know and will pass it on to our children. We made steel for a living. How many people can say that, asked Blaine Westfall.

“I am hoping we get the donations to establish the maintenance and storage fund for the steelworker nutcracker. It is part of our local history and should always have a place in the Nutcracker Village,” DeStefano said.

(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@heraldstaronline.com.)