Looking For John L. Lewis

I recently visited Lewis grave accompanied by UMWA retiree, Larry Wilson, a long-time resident of Springfield who was unaware that Lewis was buried there. While the Mother Jones Monument in the tiny town of Mt. Olive is internationally renown, the location of John L. Lewis' grave site is relatively obscure. The lack of a grandiose monument seems to parallel the low profile Lewis adopted after retiring as head of the United Mine Workers in 1960.

John L. Lewis grave site. The sign in the foreground was added in recent years.

Lewis is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, IL, the same cemetery which provides the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln. Lewis' death in 1969 generated little interest or anguish.

In it's June 13, 1969 obituary, the New York Times commented:

"The death of the most dynamic, the most constructive, and surely the most colorful of American trade union chiefs has aroused no such emotions - for the simple reason that Lewis' era has since long passed; for fifteen years, at least, he and his works have belonged to history. To say this is in no way to belittle the founded of the C.I.O., but to comment, further, on the swiftness with which history moves in these times, rendering big men and bigger movements 'irrelevant' to the young and nostalgic even to the middle-aged."



For those interested in visiting, click here for a map with directions to the grave.