HANCOCK – The Quincy Mine Hoist Association began its dedicated shaft house lighting program in 2012, and in September, the longest continuous lighting of the structure since then will begin.

The lighting dedications are done in honor of a living person or in memory of someone who has died, and Glenda Bierman, QMHA manager, said in September the children of Gladys and Raymond Beiring will have the shaft lit for 90 days in memory of their parents.

“I’m going to turn the lights on Sept. 1, and they’re going to stay on at least until Dec. 5,” she said.

Bierman said the usual process is to light the shaft for dedications for six hours at night. If there are no dedications, the shaft is lit for two hours each night.

It will still be possible for other people to have the dedicated lightings during the period of the Beiring’s dedications.

“It doesn’t limit people from adding dedications,” she said.

The idea for the shaft lighting came in 2010 from local resident Mary Schwenk Chopp, who thought it should be lit in honor of the people who worked in the Quincy Mine.

In 2012, the QMHA board of directors decided to begin the shaft-lighting dedication program, which Bierman said has intermittent waves of interest.

“It comes and goes,” she said. “We’ve had at least one a month.”

In the first year of the dedications, Bierman said there were 40 dedications, with 19 as honorings and 21 as rememberings.

Bierman said Mark Dennis, owner of O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home in Hancock, suggested the lighting to the Beiring’s children.

Dennis said that during the funeral arrangements the children asked him for ideas for a memorial for their parents.

“Oftentimes, people don’t know what to do for memorials,” he said.

He suggested the lighting of the shaft house, Dennis said, and they had enough money to do it for 90 days. They chose to start the lighting on Sept. 1 because that’s their parents’ wedding anniversary.

The shaft house has a special meaning for the Beirings because Glady’s father worked there until he was hurt, Dennis said.

“He loved the mine,” he said.

Dennis said the Beirings at one time lived in a house on the corner of U.S. 41 and Campus Drive across from the shaft house.

Bierman said the cost to make a dedicated shaft lighting is a minimum $25 donation.

To make a dedication, call the QMHA office at 482-5569. Dedications will be announced on radio station WMPL, PastyNet and the QMHA website (quincymine.com).

In other QMHA news, Bierman said the board is working to secure funding for a new tram for the mine tours.

A design has been submitted and a fabricator has been arranged. Financing has been secured for a partial repair of the ore bin in the shaft house and the boiler house.