HENRY LaVIERS

H. LaVIERS DIES TODAY AT HOME
  
Funeral Services To Be Held Sunday At First Baptist
  
Death came this morning, (Thursday) at ten o’clock to Mr. Henry
LaViers, who was for many years general manager of the North West
Coal Company and a leader in the development of the coal fields in
Kentucky.
   
Mr. La Viers passed away at his home on Fourth Street, Paintsville,
where he had been an invalid the past ten years.
   
He is survived by his wife and son, Harry LaViers, city.
   
Funeral services will be conducted Sunday afternoon, June 3, at 2
o’clock, at the First Baptist Church in Paintsville.
  
A more detailed report of LaViers’ life will appear in next week’s
Herald.
   
PAINTSVILLE HERALD
THURSDAY
5-31-1945
  
Respected Citizen Dies At Age 83
   
Funeral rites were held Sunday afternoon at the First Baptist Church
for Henry LaViers 83, who passed away at his home in Paintsville on
the morning of May 31.
  
Rev. R. Lee James of Jenkins, who was a former pastor at the local
church and a personal friend of the deceased, spoke to a large group
of friends who gathered to pay their last respects to a men held in
high esteem by all of his fellow citizens.
  
Rev. James was assisted by Rev. R. E. Webb, pastor of the church,
and Rev. J. L. Layne, pastor of the Mayo Memorial Church. Favorite
hymns of Mr. LaViers were sung by a local quartette.
    
Following the services at the church burial was made in the Mayo
Cemetery.  Pallbearers were Dan Wheeler, Herbert Wheeler, Hansel
Wiley, E. B. Miller, J. G, Newman, Glenn Powell, C. F. Walters and
Virgil Picklesimer.
   
Mr. LaViers was born in Myrter Tydville, South Wales, on June 4,
1862.  His parents, James and Jane LaViers, came to this country
when their son was 16 months old and settled in Stark County, Ohio,
where they reared a family of seven children, three boys and four
girls.
  
The deceased attended elementary school in that community and
entered on life’s vocation at an early age, working in the coal
mines of Ohio and West Virginia until 1880 when he enrolled at Ohio
State University, specializing in mining engineering, graduating in
1893.  Following his graduation he was employed be the Superior Coal
Co. at Wellston, Ohio, as mining engineer, and in 1906 came to
Paintsville as manager for the North East Coal Co., an operating
company which had just been organized for the development of the
coal deposits in this vicinity.
   
Under his direction and operation this company became one of the
major producing companies on Eastern Kentucky, and in 1915 the same
interests organized another company known as the South East Coal
Company operating in Letcher County, Ky., and he became general
manager for the new company. Both of these positions he held until
the time of his retirement in 1933.
  
Mr. LaViers was married to Margaret Ann Thomas at Pomeroy, Ohio, and
to this couple were born three children.  The first child James died
in infancy.  The second child Irene Grace preceded the deceased in
death in November, 1944.  Their third child Harry survives and
creditably fills the place formerly occupied by his father in the
affairs of Eastern Kentucky.
  
Mr. LaViers deserves that distinct title of a “self made man,”
overcoming many obstacles that would have defeated a less determined
spirit, and was esteemed for those fine characteristics that made
possible his success in life.  He was a charter member of the
Missionary Baptist Church in Paintsville and actively participated
in Sunday School work for more than 25 years.
  
Survivors include his widow and son, one sister, Mrs. Ella Reece of
Los Angeles, California, and three grandchildren, Harry LaViers,
Jr., city, Mrs. James Benedict and Pvt. John Paul Sellers Jr., of
Columbus, O.
  
PAINTSVILLE HERALD
THURSDAY
6-7-1945
     
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