NEW SALEM, Pa. -- United Mine Workers President-elect Richard Trumka wed a coal miner's daughter Saturday in a private ceremony held hours ahead of schedule because of an alleged threat on the groom's life.
Trumka, 33, married his longtime sweetheart, Barbara Vidovich at a secret site instead of the scheduled afternoon public ceremony at St. Procopius Church. The couple had dated for nine years.
The change was a big surprise to many guests who arrived at the church at 1:30 p.m. EST only to be turned away at the door.
Several members of the bride's family said they were not aware of the earlier ceremony until after it had occurred.
'They just called us this morning and said it was all fouled up,' said the bride's brother, David Vidovich.
Although the family refused further comment on the situation, several of those waiting at the church for the ceremony were told the Rev. Edward McCullough, who was to officiate at the ceremony, had received a telephone call threatening Trumka's life.
The couple showed up for the reception in a fire hall in Carmichaels, Pa.,about 35 miles south of Pittsburgh, around 5 p.m. EST, guests said. One guest said wedding invitations were being checked at the door.
Trumka was elected president of the UMW earlier this month and will assume the post Dec. 22.
Mrs. Trumka said she and her husband planned on 'getting away for a few days,' but she would not specify where they would honeymoon.
Trumka's election to the UMW presidency, she said before the wedding, 'hasn't changed Rich at all.'
Mrs. Trumka's father, now retired, worked 48 years in Pennsylvania mines after coming to the United States from Yugoslavia at age 12.
Trumka, a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and Villanova University Law School, pledged in his campaign against UMW incumbent Sam Church to use his education to help miners.
