FAIRMONT, W.Va. –– Ben Gandy still loves to hunt and fish, but age and health issues have significantly trimmed the amount of time he spends afield these days. However, if you want him to light up, ask him about his grandchildren.
The proud grandpa sent us a picture of Kayla Gandy 12, and her brother Jarrett Gandy, 15, to enter in the Ram Trucks Trophy Photo Contest.
“Those were the first two turkeys either one of them had killed,” he said. “Their dad took them hunting and just gave us the picture. I submitted the picture.”
Turned out it was a good idea. Ben was selected as the grand prize winner in our 2016-17 Ram Trucks Trophy Photo Contest here at wvmetronews.com.
“I’ve never won anything,” he laughed. “I’ve been trying to win the lottery for years, but haven’t done it.”
He may not have a multi-million dollar prize from the lottery, but he is the winner of a National Wild Turkey Federation edition .270 rifle.
Gandy retired from Consol Energy in 2003 at the age of 59.
“Worst mistake I ever made,” he said. “I always loved going to work and if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.”
Gandy worked his entire career with Consol. He was working at Farmington #9 in 1968 when the mine became infamous for the explosion which claimed the lives of 78 coal miners. The deadly explosion led to many of the mine safety laws in place today.
“I worked the afternoon shift the day before it happened,” said Gandy who knew a lot of the men who died that day.
Gandy is a lifelong hunter and angler and still has a hunting camp at Mt. Storm. However, he said he doesn’t get there much any more. Today he walks with a pair of canes after a bout with encephalitis which has severely hampered his mobility. He still climbs on his four-wheeler and hunts around his home in Marion County in the fall.
“I still deer hunt some,” he said. “But it’s just not the same when you have to go out there and find a place to just sit. I just cant walk the ridges like I used to.”
But he enjoys time with his grandchildren.
“I’ll tell you, that Kayla, is the luckiest person I’ve ever seen,” Gandy said of his granddaughter. “When she was four years old she had a Barbie fishing pole up in Pennsylvania fishing at a place a friend of mine owned. She threw it out and was carrying on and trying to reel in a fish and the reel wouldn’t turn. She threw the pole down and dragged in the line and there was a five pound rainbow trout on that line. It was almost as long as she was.”
Gandy’s picture was selected at random by computer drawing from more than 250 pictures submitted on-line to our contest sponsored by Ram Trucks.