Lawrence Cruthers – Vocalist
A profile of Lawrence Cruthers, a neighbor in Cedaredge whose morning ritual of trading bellows across the yard with John turned out to have a story behind it — a conveyor-belt accident in the coal mines that came within a breath of killing him, and the will it took to come back from it.
The physical problems that dictated our move from our beloved Cebolla Ranch near Powderhorn to Cedar Mesa East of Cedaredge forced another move to a ground level home in Cedaredge. It was a good move and put us next to Lawrence and Rosalie Cruthers who proved to be wonderful neighbors. Each morning, at a very early hour, Lawrence would step out of his house to the back yard and let out a series of bellows that would fairly shake the windows of our house. I would follow suit with all the decibels I could muster, then we would wish each other a good morning. This practice was very disconcerting to other neighbors and one asked me why we insisted on disturbing them at such an ungodly early time. It was apparent that he knew nothing of the Cruthers background so I told him as much of the story as I could remember as told to me by Rosalie.
Lawrence worked for a firm that installed conveyor belts for coal mining companies. They had just completed a long system from a flat lying coal seam west of Grand Junction to a large tonnage tipple where the coal would be loaded into railroad gondolas for shipment to steam plants. A final checkout had the belt in motion with Lawrence adjusting guides that prevented side waver. He was never exactly sure how it happened but the belt snagged him and drew him through an opening that was far less in diameter than the width of his body, even of his head. He had no time to signal for the conveyor to be stopped and he was unable to free himself before his head started through the aperture. The bone of one eye socket was fractured, his cheekbones and jaw were fractured, his chest was crushed and he was very nearly pulled in two at the knees.
Luckily for all, he was found and extricated hurriedly and rushed to a hospital where doctors hoped to keep him alive long enough for his family to be with him when he expired. They believed there was no way he could survive with such massive injuries, both internally and externally.
Lawrence didn't know the extent of his injuries. He didn't expect to live through the initial accident. Was he scared? You bet your life he was scared but he is a fighter and upon awakening in the hospital after going through that small hole he made up his mind he was going to live and enjoy life again. He had to be rebuilt from top to bottom with seemingly unending surgeries to complete the repairs.
That is why Lawrence gets out each morning and bellows his thanks to the heavens for being alive and I was proud to join him when I learned of his close brush with death.