Reading John J. Dumphy's Jan. 2 commentary about Joe Hill's ashes being scattered here brought back memories of my graduate studies in 1947 at Teachers College, Columbia University, N.Y.
While browsing in the student bookstore, I heard and then bought the 45 rpm records of Joe Hill's songs. A popular one at that time was the ditty encouraging workers to form a union. It went something like this:
Then he listed the benefits of higher wages, vacation with pay, etc.
Little did I realize that a future date, I would participate as a school counselor with the teachers in a strike against the St. Louis Board of Education. We won.
Joe Hill's unjustified execution was a sad tribute to this worker.
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