Walt Pachciarz was born in east central Illinois in 1915. These interviews were taped by his daughter and his wife in February of 1986, not long before he died of lung cancer. Walt worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps; and was a coal miner, firefighter, and small-scale commercial fisherman. In these interviews he talks about the life he knew:
Walt1 (2:50) - Early life; school
Walt2 (2:10) - Early jobs; CCC
Walt3 (3:28) - Coal mines; "timberman" work
Walt4 (2:25) - Coal mines; black lung; cleaning
Walt5 (1:41) - Coal mines; accidents; close calls
Walt6 (3:57) - Coal mines; accidents; close calls; "shot firing"
Walt7 (1:58) - Coal mines; practical joke
Walt8 (2:20) - Coal mines; "practical" joke
Walt9 (2:10) - Smoking; quitting
Walt10 (2:27) - Fire dept job
Walt11 (3:06) - Fishing