At about 8 a.m., on the morning of December 23, 1996, I called Mel Grubb at his home. After years of working with Mel, I knew that within an hour, he would be hard at work in the darkroom of his photography studio on Bland Street in Bluefield. Mel,s Ford Taurus station wagon with the distinctive "Cub" license plate seems like its almost always parked in front of the well-kept Grubb Photo Service building.

      On that December morning just four years ago, I had called Mel to ask him if he could fly me to an unknown location on East River Mountain in Giles County, Virginia, near the town of Narrows. Shortly after 6 p.m. on the previous evening, a DC-8 jet airliner on a test flight had crashed into the mountain, killing all six crew and maintenance personnel aboard.

      I had been on the ground for several hours and discovered late in the evening that the crash site was about two miles from the nearest improved road. I was fighting a case of the flu and had a fever of 103. Mel, who celebrated his 75th birthday on January 4 of this year, was also battling the same bug. When the fog lifted from Mercer County Airport, we took off into the sub-freezing skies for the short 15-minute flight to the approximate location of the tragic accident.

      Mel has had his pilot,s license since August of 1954 and has been using the same modified Super Cub two-seater airplane for his dramatic aerial views of the region for the past 24 years. Mr. Grubb uses a 2 1/4 x 2 3/4 inch format camera and carries quick-change film loaders that enable him to change film rolls in moments without taking his hand off the "stick" or airplane-maneuvering device.

      Grubb,s Super Cub is especially modified so it can be opened to expose the entire right side of the passenger compartment. When we arrived over the crash site four years ago, Grubb started calling out compass settings to me, that I feverishly scribbled into my notebook. Then he opened the side of the aircraft, placed the craft into a circle course, cut the engine and started drifting toward the mountainside trees, wreckage and emergency personnel below - most of them just arriving at the scene.

      As I counted rescue vehicles and jotted notes about the overall scene below, Mel shot frame after frame of the crash site. During the past 15 years, Mel and I have traveled to several tragic crash sites. It,s something one never gets used to, but in all those years, I,ve never once given a second thought about personal safety issues. I have always known that Mel Grubb is a safe, cautious and meticulous pilot, and together, we would come away with a story, dramatic photographs, and our lives.

      On that late December morning, just two days before Christmas, Melvin drifted his Super Cub to about 150 feet from the treetops, then grabbed hold of the stick and the powerful engine lifted us back heavenward. About 15 minutes later, he was setting the craft down on the Mercer County Airport runway. By the time he had the airplane secured in the hanger, I was already back in the newsroom of the "Bluefield Daily Telegraph" writing a story that would describe the crash scene throughout the United States via the Associated Press.

      Grubb was born in Bluefield,s East End, a son of the late Everett K. and Janie Grubb. His dad was a car repairman for the Norfolk & Western (now Norfolk Southern) Railway and his mom was a homemaker. "Good parents. Good parents," he said, repeating himself.

      Grubb is a product of the local public schools, starting with East End Grade School, through (then) Ramsey Junior High and eventually Beaver (Bluefield High School) where he graduated in 1943.

      He recalls that his father introduced him to photography when he was about nine years old. "I was like my dad in that we both had a lot of curiosity in how things worked," Grubb said. "We developed a roll of film together. That,s what got me started. My dad was a great man."

      Grubb was serving as a high school photographer taking pictures for the school newspaper and yearbook when he discovered the potential power in his work. He took a photograph of a couple of young recent Beaver graduates with their suitcases preparing to enter the military. Within a matter of weeks, one of the young men was killed in action and the seemingly innocent photograph took on greater meaning to both the photographer and those it touched.

      Barely two weeks after graduation, Grubb was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served "two years, five months and 20 days" in the 40th Infantry Division field artillery, and saw action in the Pacific on islands including New Caladonia, Guadalcanal, Luzon, Manilla and was sent as part of the occupational force to Korea after the war ended.

      After returning to the states, Grubb used the G.I. Bill to attend the Southwest Photo Arts Institute in Dallas, Texas, then returned home to Bluefield as a staff photographer for the "Daily Telegraph" and "Sunset News Observer." Mel doesn,t talk much about his compensation in those early days except to say: "I worked hard all my life."

      While working at the newspaper, he met and married his wife of 53 years, June Grubb, who was a long-time and highly-respected society editor for the paper. They have two children -- Mark, who is an educator in California, and Lindsey, who works in the financial planning services field in Bluefield.

      After working a couple years for the newspaper, Grubb took a job as a photo supplies clerk with Nelson Photography, then started his own commercial photography business. Within a few years, he began offering aerial photography along with his standard services like weddings, graduations, bar mitzvahs and other services.

      But while working full time in a growing commercial photography business, he never lost his passion for getting to news events. Asking only modest "stringer" rates from the "Daily Telegraph," he has captured the images of internationally famous individuals including labor leader John L. Lewis, President John F. Kennedy, presidential candidate Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, test pilot Chuck Yeager and U-2 pilot Gary Powers from nearby Pound, Virginia, who was shot down over Russia in 1960 at the height of the Cold War.

      In addition to famous people, Grubb,s images have captured the essence of the entire region. His time-exposure photograph of a 1986 fireworks display over downtown Bluefield is one of the most incredible scenes ever taken to define his birthplace and the dramatic fog bank over East River Mountain photograph he took December 17, 1993, has been reproduced untold tens of thousands of times and is displayed in homes and offices nationwide.

      Along with his breath-takingly beautiful scenic shots and his gallery of famous people, Grubb is respected throughout the coal industry as the best underground coal photographer. He holds the patent on the only Mine Health and Safety Administration approved flash battery protective housing equipment, but, more importantly, is known throughout the industry for his photographic excellence.

      "Every job you do is different, challenging and unusual," Grubb said in summing up his incredible career. "I,ve got over 50 years of history right here in my darkroom. I come across things every day that I didn,t even realize I did."

      Grubb is active in the state Professional Photographers Association, and never fails to give a helping hand to others who have a desire to take up the camera for a living. With the help of an exceptional support staff at Grubb Photo Service, the love of his family and the admiration of countless individuals who respect his life,s work, Grubb,s work has captured and preserved an incredible time in the region,s fascinating history.

      A 1972 graduate of West Virginia University, Bill Archer now serves as the Virginia Desk Editor for the Bluefield Daily Telegraph