Who Is Steve Lipscomb?

My VIP for this week is Steve Lipscomb – son, father, husband, Marine, man of faith, coal miner, and hero. Early in November, disaster struck when “Lipscomb and his crew encountered an unknown pocket of water when a ‘sudden and substantial’ flood sent millions of gallons into the Rolling Thunder Mine” [Kanawha County, West Virginia]. Lipscomb became a hero when he made sure that every member of his crew evacuated safely even though rising water in the shaft made it impossible for him – the last man -- to get out. 

After five days of round-the-clock, hazardous search efforts, a two-man crew found Lipscomb’s body in the mine at 7:37 a.m. Nov. 13.

Gov. Patric Morrisey (R-W.V.) announced his death outside the Rolling Thunder Mine. “This is really a very sad day in West Virginia,” Morrisey said. Lipscomb was the fifth coal miner to die this year in West Virginia….

Lipscomb’s tragic death marked the 29^th fatality in the mining industry this year, according to Coal Zoom, a mining trade organization with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which details mining fatalities, nearly half of which are due to equipment failures. By state, West Virginia has the most mining fatalities this year at five.

Morrisey issued all flags flown at half-staff, not just for Lipscomb but for all five of the West Virginia coal miners who lost their lives on the job in 2025: Steven Fields, Billy Stalker, Eric Bartram, Joey Mitchell and Lipscomb.

Mitchell died last week in the Mettiki Mine in Grant County, marking the second mining fatality in November….

The history of coal in West Virginia dates back to the 1800s. Government and family records indicate that settlers of what was then Virginia (West Virginia seceded during the Civil War and became its own state) resided in a region rich in abundant reserves of bituminous coal. In fact, of the state’s 55 counties, only two do not have coal seams. It wasn’t until the railroads arrived that coal, previously used only for heat and fuel, became the backbone of a booming commercial industry in the 1880s….