Profiles and Interviews: Troy Wakefield

(Troy Wakefield, far right – third from top in dotted shirt, was hired by the county roads department two months before the strike. 

The Garrett County Roads Department hired Troy Wakefield to drive a truck carrying stone out of the Sang Run quarry two months before the 1970 strike. Wakefield had previously worked running heavy equipment and power saws in Silver Lake, W. Va.

“I heard there might be a strike. I joined the union on my first day at work,” said Wakefield. “The union was good to me. The union made one payment on my house [during the strike] and a couple smaller ones. I couldn’t believe they covered my payments because I was hired only a couple months before,” he added.

During the strike, Wakefield and his co-worker Ray Artice picked up work on construction putting in a sewage line at Deep Creek State Park. “I ran a front-end loader to put the pipeline in, then I hauled three loads of timber from around the lake. I worked until 8:00 p.m. and also walked the picket lines,” said Wakefield.

“My wife wanted me to join the strikers,” said Wakefield. “She worked at Friendsville Elementary School as a teacher’s aide and was in the union there.”

Wakefield retired from the roads department in 2000.