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who were Hazel, age 8, Benjamin, age 6, and Orville, age 5; and her first two children from her
<br />second marriage, who were Stanley, age 3 (believed to be referred to erroneously as "Steve" in
<br />the census records) and Dorothy, under 12 months.
<br />By the time of the 1930 census, oldest child Hazel Phillips had moved out, but the rest of the
<br />family was still living at 417 County Rd.: Ella Fotis, age 34; Steve Fotis, age 36; Benjamin Phillips,
<br />age 16; Orville Phillips, age 15; Stanley Fotis, 13; Dorothy Fotis, 11; Sylvia Fotis, 7, and Helen
<br />Fotis, 6. The rent that they paid, presumably to Ella's father, was $8.00 per month, a typical
<br />rental price for Louisville homes in 1930.
<br />Sylvia Fotis Kilker recalls her family's house at 417 County as having been painted green and as
<br />having two stories. As discussed below, evidence shows that the partial second story was later
<br />removed. She stated that on the first floor were a kitchen, dining room, and a bedroom. The
<br />three boys (Benny, Orville, and Stanley) slept in the downstairs bedroom. There were two
<br />bedrooms upstairs, with one for Steve and Ella and the other for the girls, who shared one bed.
<br />Even in what was a strongly pro -union community, Steve Fotis stands out for his commitment
<br />to miners' rights. According to the book Once a Coal Miner by Phyllis Smith, Steve Fotis was
<br />working as a "scab" with other Greek miners at the Slope Mine in Frederick in 1912, during the
<br />Northern Coal Field's long strike of 1910-1914. Although they were strikebreakers, they desired
<br />union membership, and Fotis called upon his friend and fellow Greek, Louis Tikas, to come to
<br />Frederick to help. Tikas, who a few years later was a leader killed at the Ludlow Massacre, led
<br />sixty-three miners, including Fotis, in a walkout of "scabs" at the Slope Mine. The book goes on
<br />to cite Steve Fotis as saying that during the 1927 strike of the Columbine Mine, his wife and
<br />children went to picket the Columbine. Fotis lived to the age of 101 and died in 1992.
<br />The person who lived at 417 County Rd. about whom there is the most information is Benjamin
<br />"Benny" Phillips. He was a well-known and inspirational figure in the Louisville area. According
<br />to the article "Benny Phillips — Louisville Legend" in the August 1998 issue of The Louisville
<br />Historian, he was a gifted athlete and even played two years of professional baseball with the
<br />St. Louis Cardinals. In 1940, at the age of 27, he was pinned and crushed by the cars of an
<br />underground coal train while he was working at the New Centennial Mine just east of Louisville.
<br />He lost an arm and broke his back, and was paralyzed from the waist down. The story told of
<br />Benny Phillips is that this happened as he was working his last shift on his last day as a coal
<br />miner before beginning military service in the Navy. To the surprise of doctors, he lived for
<br />many more years. According to newspaper reports, the United Mine Workers Welfare Service
<br />paid for braces and a special crutch, and in 1952 he walked unaided in public for the first time
<br />when he entered the stage at the national convention of the UMW. Benny Phillips even married
<br />and was later able to work.
<br />After receiving his injuries, he was cared for at the Boulder Sanitarium for eleven years. The
<br />Fotis family moved from Louisville to Boulder in order to be near him, and daughters Sylvia and
<br />Helen transferred from Louisville High School to Boulder High School. Sylvia Fotis Kilker recalls
<br />that their mother, Ella, never missed a day of visiting Benny while he was at the Boulder
<br />Sanitarium. (Sadly, Benny's half-brother, Stanley, was killed in a coal mine accident at the New
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