Aflex KY, Community of

01/06/2026

Uncle Bill Farley and me 1954...thinking of you today on your birthday. ❤

12/30/2025

R.I.P. Mitchie...prayers for his family

Lewis Mitchell "Mitch" Fish
February 15, 1962 - December 27, 2025

Lewis Mitchell "Mitch" Fish, 63, of Williamson, WV, passed away Saturday, December 27, 2025, at Pikeville Medical Center. Mitch was born February 15, 1962, at Aflex, KY, the son of the late Johnny H. Fish and Jessie Mildred Stevens Fish. Besides his parents, Mitch is also preceded in death by his siblings, Dennis "Von" Fish, Shirley (William) Silvey, Donna (Vernal) Williamson, Randy Fish, Norma Adkins and Teresa Fish.
Mitch is survived by his siblings, Sandra (Charles) McCoy, Gary (Helen) Fish, Marsha (David "Bo") Gibson, Tonya (Jack) McBrayer, Keith (Kim) Fish, and a host of loving nieces, nephews, friends, and family, along with his little fur baby Yorkies, Tia and Piper.
Mitch's visitation will be held from 11 AM - 1 PM Tuesday, December 30, 2025, at R. E. Rogers Funeral Home with funeral services to be conducted beginning at 1 PM with James Justice officiating. Burial will follow at Mountain View Memory Gardens, Huddy, KY, with family and friends serving as pallbearers. R. E. Rogers Funeral Home of Belfry, KY, is serving the Fish family. Online condolences at www.rerogersfh.com.

To send a flower arrangement in memory of Lewis Mitchell "Mitch" Fish, please click here to visit our sympathy store.

12/20/2025

Our friend and former Aflex resident Charles "Bob" Lambert died last week. Please remember his family in your prayers. He had been having some health issues over the last year or so but I was saddened to see he had gone on home to the Lord he sang and talked about.

I had never met Bob until we started having the Aflex reunions. He was always so eager to drive from his home in Michigan to attend and help anyway he could. He always seemed to enjoy himself and added so much to memories made at Aflex. I will miss my friend Bob. R.I.P.

View Charles "Bob" Lambert's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

12/11/2025

Daughter of former Aflex resident Alan "Spike" Birchfield died. Please remember her family in your prayers...

Obituary for Amy Birchfield
Amy Rena' Birchfield, age 51, of Beckley, West Virginia, passed away on Friday, December 5, 2025 surrounded by her family after a long illness.

Amy was born June 07, 1974 in Charleston, West Virginia, a daughter of Paula I. Long and Alan K. Birchfield. Amy was a kind and loving soul, who loved her family dearly. She especially loved spending time with them during the holidays. Amy will always be remembered by her beautiful eyes and smile. Amy was free spirited and loved all types of music. Amy will always be remembered for the kindness and her giving heart. Above all else Amy took great comfort leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus during her long illness.

Amy is preceded in death by her grandparents; Freeman and Irene Long, grandmother Betty Birchfield, uncle, Randy Long, and loving companion Lloyd Bennett.

Those left behind to forever hold and cherish Amy's memory are here mother Paula Long and companion Richard Cornett, father Alan(Melissa) Birchfield, son Daniel Bennett, daughter Holly Birchfield, sister Mary Beth Garcia(Mark), stepbrother, Matthew Birchfield(Olivia), grandfather Arville Birchfield, aunt Pamela (Jimmy) Elder, special cousins Stacy Carroll, Cheyne Elder, and many other extended family and friends who will all miss Amy dearly.

A going home celebration will take place for Amy on Wednesday December 10, 2025 at 3:00pm in the Melton Mortuary Chapel with Pastor Sam Peterson officiating. The family will accept visitors beginning at 1:00pm. The family would like to offer special thanks to the staff and doctors at Bowers Hospice House, and Jan Care Ambulance. Arrangements have been entrusted to Melton Mortuary and Cremation Center who are honored to serve the family during this difficult time. To offer words of comfort or a condolence please visit Amy's tribute page at www. meltonmortuary.com.

12/01/2025

Lifelong friend and former Aflex resident Sheb (Browning) Hatfield passes...please remember her family in prayer.

Shelvia Jean "Sheb" Hatfield, 84, of Belfry, KY, passed away Sunday evening, November 30, 2025, at her residence surrounded by her loving family. Sheb was born October 8, 1941, at Aflex, KY, the daughter of the late Charlie Browning and Jessie Elizabeth Blackburn Browning. She was also preceded in death by her siblings, Robert "Bob" Browning, Edward "Eddie" Browning, Terry Lynn Browning, Wanda Browning Hatfield and and infant brother, Jerry Browning.
Sheb was a homemaker and a loving wife, mother, grandmother and sister. She was a member of the Old Pond Primitive Baptist Church.
Survivors include her loving husband, Cecil Hatfield; two children, Randal (Melissa) Hatfield and Shelia (Kevin) Varney; brother, Richard "Rick" (Pam) Browning; grandchildren, Alyson (Austin) Rogers, Reid Varney and Ryan Varney; great grandchild, Kyler Rogers and a host of other loving family and friends.
Sheb's visitation will be held Tuesday, December 2, 2025 from 6 - 9 PM in the R. E. Rogers Funeral Home Chapel. Funeral services will follow on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, beginning at 2 PM with Mike Elswick officiating. Burial will follow in the Hatfield Family Cemetery, Belfry, KY, with her family and friends serving as pallbearers. R. E. Rogers Funeral Home of Belfry, KY, is serving the Hatfield family. Online condolences at www.rerogersfh.com.

11/17/2025

Brian, Denise & Sam 1965

11/16/2025

The Lantern Walkers of Mingo County, WV 1934...

The Lantern Walkers of Mingo, 1934
In the deep valleys of Mingo County, West Virginia, the winter of 1934 pressed against the mountains like a fist. The coal companies had closed for months, leaving families without heat. Nights grew so cold that even the river froze at the edges, and the hollows went dark except for a few weak fires.

That was when the children—barely taller than the coal buckets they carried—created something the grown-ups would never forget.

It began with little Nora Adkins, age nine, who tied a bit of coal oil cloth around a jar and made her own lantern from scraps. She lit it at dusk, saying she was “keeping the dark from eating the town.” Her brothers followed. Then the neighbor kids. By the end of the week, nearly forty children marched through the hollow each night carrying handmade lanterns: jars, tin cans, broken miner lamps wired together.

They called themselves The Lantern Walkers.

They went door to door, checking on the elderly, carrying small bits of chopped wood, and bringing leftover cornbread wrapped in newspaper. Their lights flickered along the mountainside like a wandering constellation, turning the hollow into a place of warmth again.

Men weakened by starvation stood on porches wiping their eyes. Mothers who hadn’t smiled in months began humming lullabies again as the lantern glow flooded their kitchens. And in homes where the fires had gone out completely, the children stayed until the grown-ups felt steady enough to face the cold night.

When spring finally broke, the Lantern Walkers held one last march. Every home placed a lantern on its porch in their honor—an entire mountain valley shimmering like a sky turned upside down.

The people of Mingo still say: “In the darkest winter, it was the children who carried the light.”

11/15/2025

Let me tell y’all a little something you may know and you may not know.
This right here is a coal bucket, the old-school MVP of every holler home. It kept the stove hot, the house warm, and your backside alive through winters colder than a Methodist preacher’s handshake (I joke, I joke, can’t use Pentecostal because I’ll get disowned).

Folks used to haul coal in it till the handle squeaked.

And nowadays?
Well, now they’re sticking petunias in ‘em.

I seen one painted pastel blue with “Live, Laugh, Love” on the side. A COAL BUCKET WITH LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE. The very thought of it. It was more like “Load. Labor. Lug it up the hill” back in the olden days.

So remember:
It ain’t “rustic décor.”
It ain’t a “farmhouse planter.”
It ain’t “shabby chic” or “a shabby sheik” for that matter.

It’s a coal bucket. Show the old warhorse some respect, please. I think he’s earned it.