Lippi, who was also the president of District 1 of the United Mine Workers; and three union officials. Six served jail time. After the disaster, the widows of the twelve victims did not receive death benefit payments from the Anthracite Health and Welfare Fund for more than four years. January 22, 2009, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Knox Mine Disaster, with an annual memorial mass at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and a ceremony held at the former St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Port Griffith, which is the site of a commemorative monument and a State Historic Marker erected in 1999 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The church was closed in May 2008 owing to a consolidation of area parishes and put up for sale in July 2008. The property was purchased on January 15, 2009, exactly one week prior to the fiftieth anniversary, by Susan Baloga and John Baloga, the grandson of John Baloga, one of the twelve miners who perished in the event. The property is now the site of Baloga Funeral Home. The fiftieth anniversary also included a special program at the Anthracite Heritage Museum in Scranton, which organized an annual program on the disaster in January. See also Avondale Mine disaster References Further reading External links "Knox Mine Disaster" page on UndergroundMiners.com County historical article Pittston holds remembrance of Knox Mine Disaster U.S. Mine Safety Report "Knox Mine Disaster" Pennsylvania Historical Marker Documentary film Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania Coal mining disasters in Pennsylvania Disasters in Pennsylvania Engineering failures History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania January 1959 events in the United States 1959 disasters in the United States 1959 in Pennsylvania 1959 mining disasters