Despite dangers, South Huntingdon man who died at Clairton Coke Works loved his job
Tim Quinn joined generations of Southwestern Pennsylvanians 17 years ago seeking a good-paying job with benefits at a local steel mill.
A few years after the South Huntingdon man graduated from Yough Senior High School, Quinn followed his father, Tom, into U.S. Steel Corp.’s Clairton Works, the nation’s largest coke-producing plant that sprawls for miles along the Monongahela River.
Quinn, 39, was one of two people killed Monday during a series of explosions at the plant, where 10 others were injured. The second person killed has not been identified.
“He loved the job. It was his brotherhood and sisterhood,” said his sister, Trisha Quinn, 39, of Madison.
He worked at a tough job — next to the airtight coke ovens where pulverized coal is baked at 2,000 degrees for 18 hours, then pushed out and quenched before being used in the steelmaking process. On his Facebook page, Quinn stated he was a “heater” at the mill, working at the same coke ovens where his father once did.
Trisha Quinn said Monday started just like any other weekday for her brother. He rose before sunrise and left home in the dark to begin his swing shift at 5:30 a.m. The first explosion occurred about 10:45 a.m.
If he had concerns about working next to the coke-producing ovens, where fires and explosions have occurred in the past, “he never brought it specifically to my attention,” Trisha Quinn said.
She began searching for information on her younger sibling soon after she heard about the blast.
“I drove around to hospitals in Pittsburgh, looking for my brother,” she said.
She learned the grim news from a member of her brother’s team and other steelworkers from the plant.
About 5 hours passed before she received official confirmation that he had died. Representatives from U.S. Steel came to the house to pay their condolences early Monday night, staying for about 15 minutes, she said.
Tim’s death was not the first fatal industrial accident for the Quinn family, Trisha Quinn said.
Their brother, Jeremy, died in 2004 at age 30 when a scissors lift collapsed and dropped 30 feet while he was standing on it at the warehouse construction site at the Dick’s Sporting Goods in South Huntingdon in 2004.
Another brother, Tommy, who cleaned industrial piping at a Mon Valley plant, died of cancer at 24 in 2004, Trisha Quinn said.
Family man
Quinn lived in the home in which he grew up along Skyline Drive in the isolated village of Fitz Henry in South Huntingdon, up a hillside from the Youghiogheny River.
The house where Quinn lived with his mother, Debbie, and his three children is in the shadow of the westbound lanes of the expansive Youghiogheny River Bridge that carries Interstate 70 across the river and the CSX railroad line that runs along the Yough from McKeesport to Confluence.
He was a devoted single father of one son and two daughters, Trisha Quinn said.
“He just spent time with his kids,” his sister said.
He loved to fish and ride the Harley-Davidson motorcycle he recently purchased, Quinn said.
He saw a future for his 17-year-old son, Jeremiah, a rising senior at Yough, at the Clairton Coke Works, she said. But after what happened Monday, she is hoping Jeremiah studies to become a nurse.
Quinn had recently taken his youngest daughter, Teagan, 5, to kindergarten orientation, Trisha Quinn noted. His other daughter, Lilliana, is 11.
He also was devoted to taking care of his widowed mother, who is dependent on supplemental oxygen to breathe and is visually impaired.
“He was a mamma’s boy,” said Crystal Titel of Latrobe, who grew up in Fitz Henry and was a longtime friend of Trisha.
She described Quinn as having a larger-than-life personality.
“The world is definitely going to feel this one,” she said of Quinn’s passing.
Friends of Quinn expressed the shock and sadness of losing what they said was a good person who loved his children.
“He was like a brother to me. He truly was my best friend. He was so kind of good-hearted,” said Chuck Bennett of Monessen, who worked with Quinn at Clairton.
Bennett recalled Quinn as a guy who loved to go to concerts and spend time with friends.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer, he cried for me. He constantly checked on my health and well-being.
“I don’t think I would be here today if it wasn’t for his love and support through what I went through,” Bennett said.
Diane Markle of Smithton, a clerk at the Smithton Truck Stop Inc., where Quinn once worked at the store off the Smithton exit of I-70, recalled Quinn as a nice young man.
“He had a beautiful smile and would give you the shirt off his back,” Markle said.
“I know a lot of the community is very hurt over it,” Markle said of Quinn’s death. “A good many of my customers are devastated.”
At Jack’s Market in Smithton, about a mile from the Quinn home, owner Mona Shaffer said a lot of customers were coming into the grocery store talking about Tim Quinn and his family.
“It’s just the saddest, saddest thing,” Shaffer said.
Trisha Quinn said her mother had not yet come to terms with what happened Monday.
“She’s waiting for him to come home,” Trisha Quinn said.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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