Coal Miner's Son and His $700,000 Gift to Waukee to be Celebrated Tuesday

From a City of Waukee News Release:

Before Waukee was a booming suburb with shiny new schools it was a coal mining community and immigrant families.

The son of two those immigrants -- who succeeded in business and left the city nearly three-quarters of a million dollars upon his death -- will be remembered Tuesday at a ground-breaking for an expansion of the Waukee library. 

The City of Waukee plans to break ground on the Hiram Ori Conference Center at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, with a ceremony to be held at the Waukee Public Library, 950 Warrior Lane.

Members of the Hiram Ori family have been asked to speak, along with Waukee Mayor Bill Peard and Library Board member Jason Craig, the city's release said. 

The groundbreaking ceremony will kick off the project that will construct a coal mine museum and conference room at the Waukee Public Library.

The late Hiram Ori, a former resident of the Shuler Mine Coal Camp, donated about $700,000 to the library in late 2011. A ceremony to accept his bequest was held on Jan. 26, 2012. 

Ori served in the Army in both World War II and the Korean War, then worked for Coors Brewing Co. in Colorado. He is survived by a brother, Richard, of Clive, and two sisters, Olga and Yolanda. Ori never married and had no children.

Peard said that he is “grateful to the Ori family for their contribution not only to the Waukee Public Library, but the Waukee community. Their generous gift will construct a space that makes life better for Waukee residents.” 

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the groundbreaking and be a part of this monumental project for the Waukee Public Library, the city said. 

Our Earlier Story:

Shuler Mine Worker Wills Half a Million Dollars to Waukee Public Library