Although Robert Bennett, 80, was born in West Virginia, he bonded with Bobtown, the Greene County coal-mining town where he and his family took up residence while he was a toddler.

"We moved to Bobtown in 1928, and I lived there until I graduated from Point Marion High School and joined the Navy during World War II," he said in a phone interview from his home in Sun City, Ariz.

"Even after all these years, I never really left Bobtown emotionally, and still think of it as home. In retrospect, I enjoyed living there very much, even during the rough Depression years."

Bennett's father, Stanley, was one of the first workers to sign up for work in the town's Shannopin Mine and was employed there until 1955, when he and his family moved to Ohio. Bennett's uncle, Eldon "Slim," also toiled at Shannopin, where he worked until retirement. Robert Bennett spent three months working at Shannopin, an experience he incorporated into his first and only book, titled "The Story of Bobtown; The Road to the Top of the Hill."

Bennett started gathering information about the town around 1983, when he decided he'd write something for his family. His brother, Edward, had finished a family genealogy, and Bennett intended to expand on it by writing about Bobtown.

"I never intended to write a book, just something that documented important events for my family," he said. "However, word got out that I was writing a book and people began sending me so much information that, in 1985, with a lot of prodding from my wife, Ruth Ann, I decided to publish the material in book form."

Bennett married Ruth Ann Hensley while he was still in the Navy and, after his discharge in 1945, the couple moved to Morgantown, W.Va., where Bennett studied business administration at West Virginia University. During that time, the couple visited Bennett's family as often as they could in Bobtown, about 20 miles away.

After graduating, Bennett worked for 25 years for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co., after which he "rotated between that company and AT&T" for another 12 years until his retirement in 1985. His work took him all over the nation, to residencies in Denver; Rockville, Md.; and to Iran. After officially retiring, he moved to Arizona and ran his own business for another 10 years, training employees in telephone accounting procedures.

"Over the years, I came back home to several high school reunions, which were good book research opportunities," Bennett said. "I also returned twice on research missions when I visited the Carnegie Library and the University of Pittsburgh library for information on Jones & Laughlin, the company that opened and operated Shannopin until LTV took over in 1962. For information on early Greene County lore, the Waynesburg library was a really good resource."

In his book, Bennett focuses on the town and its people, especially the residents from the 1920s and early '30s. The first chapter deals with the 1700s, when the first Greene County settlers battled the landscape and hostile Indians to eke out a life on what was then the Pennsylvania frontier. The book moves on through the era of Robert Mapel, after whom Bobtown is named, a time when Bobtown flourished and was once the largest community in Greene County.

Another chapter discusses the development of coal mining in Greene County, the opening of the Shannopin Mine, and the construction of workers' houses in 1926 at the top of nearby Sand Hill, a half mile from the mine shaft.

Other chapters in the 435-page book deal with the Great Depression years, World War II, and the post-war years through 1950. The book explores the history of the United Mine Workers of America and its struggles to unionize coal miners and the conflicts Bobtown families suffered through difficult times. An epilogue gives an account of events that have taken place in recent times. The book also includes nearly 30 photos.

"For a person who set a world record for projects that were never finished, I got a lot of satisfaction from completing the book," Bennett said. "My greatest pleasure, however, comes from people who've read the book and have told me how much they enjoyed reading it."

Robert S. Bennett's "The Story of Bobtown" sells for $16.95 (plus $3.05 shipping and handling for a total of $20). To order a copy or for more information, call 623-584-7833 or e-mail Bennett at rbenn51238@aol.com.