Based on the above information, I "Googled" Thurman and found that he is currently (2006) the President of the Wells Creek Watershed Association, and e-mailed him. He donated an article to this website on the activities and accomplishments of the Association, which is dedicating to restoring Wells Creek by addressing pollution from old mine sites. In one e-mail, Thurman said that his grandfather died in 1925 and he wasn't born until 1930, so he didn't have any memories of his grandfather. He also said that his grandmother died when he was six. Thurman said that his father was a coal miner all of his life, which ended when he was 56 from a series of strokes. Thurman indicated that his father was a very intelligent man, even though he had only a fifth grade education, which was common in those days for a boy who was raised on a farm in Southampton Township.