Frank Hefferly was born in Austria on May 24, 1878. He joined the United Mine Workers of America in 1898. He received organizer's credentials from District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in 1902 and succeeded in organizing southern Colorado and northern New Mexico coal miners with whom he had worked. In 1903, Hefferly made his way to Illinois where he worked as a miner and held various positions in the UMWA local in Collinsville. In 1911, he was elected to the State Executive Board for the northern part of the Belleville Sub-District of District 12, UMWA. In 1914, Frank Hefferly was elected Vice-President of District 12, UMWA, and reelected again in 1915. In May of 1918, he resigned his position in the International Organization of the UMWA and returned to the mines in Collinsville, where he was elected President of Local #848 of the UMWA. A mining injury forced him back into the employment of the International Organization as organizer in 1919. During this period, he developed a mutual trust and admiration for John L. Lewis, then Vice-President of the International Organization of the UMWA. Hefferly was sent to Colorado to organize the coal mines along the Front Range into the UMWA. By the middle 1930's, Hefferly was the President of the Colorado State Federation of Labor, A. F. of L., a position he would give up when the UMWA broke with the American Federation of Labor. Following this split, Frank Hefferly became the president of the Colorado State Industrial Council and the Director of the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee, affiliates of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Frank Hefferly had three sons. His second son, Fred K. Hefferly, also joined the UMWA and was active in CIO and UMWA affairs from the 1930's until the 1970's. Frank Hefferly died on May 22, 1960, a grand patriarch of the UMWA and the personal friend and colleague of virtually every major office holder in the International Organization.
Fred K. Hefferly was born August 25, 1907 in Collinsville, Illinois. In 1938, he became an organizer for the CIO. The pullout of Lewis from the CIO, which had affected Frank Hefferly, had a similar influence on Fred. He withdrew from the CIO in 1942 soon after his father departed. He sought and was given a job with the UMWA as an organizer for District 50 and later with District 15. He rose to the offices of Secretary-Treasurer and President of District 15 of the UMWA, which he held by the time of his retirement in 1967. Like his father, Fred K. Hefferly was a staunch supporter of John L. Lewis and his successors. Fred K. Hefferly died in 1988.
From the description of Frank and Fred K. Hefferly collection, 1902-1972. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 301819251
