By CYNTHIA VINARSKY

By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
LAKE MILTON -- When Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. closed its Mahoning Valley steel mills in 1977 and left 5,000 Steelworkers jobless, Ray Carroll was one of the last to go.
A researcher and executive for the company, Carroll was charged with welding shut the lockers at Sheet & amp; Tube's Campbell Works and dumping them in a truck for scrap.
That was a dark day, but like many steel mill veterans, the Lake Milton man has mostly positive memories about his life in the mills.
Now, with the help of a local artist, he's created a permanent reminder of steel's heyday right in his own back yard.
Carroll hired artist Dave Hammond to paint a mural of Sheet & amp; Tube's Campbell Works and its Brier Hill works in Youngstown and offered a garage door on his Lake Milton property as the canvas.
Completed this month, the 8-by-16-foot painting is based on historical photos provided by the Struthers Historical Society, along with some whimsical personal details from Carroll's memory.
Imagination
Hammond, a Milton Township amateur artist who studied art at Kent State University, works as a service technician for Sprint by day.
He spent almost three months on the project, painting until dusk every evening and bringing in lights to extend his work time when the days got shorter.
As it progressed, the project captured the imaginations of both men.
For Carroll, watching the artist re-create the colors and shadings of the steel mills as he knew them brought back vivid memories of his years there. He spent hours watching, reminiscing and making sure every detail was historically accurate.
"I know I probably drove the painter crazy sometimes," he said, joking.
He had Hammond add a figure in a suit and tie standing at the mill gate where he used to stand every morning, greeting the workers as they arrived.
"There were 1,200 working at the Campbell Works then, and at one time I knew most of their names and the names of their wives, their children and their mistresses," he said with a mischievous grin.
Problems along the way
Hammond said he reveled in the work because it allowed him to combine his love of art and his fascination with history. There was a personal appeal for him, too, because his father was a Steelworker at Valley Mould and Iron in Hubbard.
"It turned into a lot bigger project than either of us anticipated," Hammond said. "And we had a few problems along the way."
The artist struggled to find paint that would adhere properly to the metal garage door, and when heavy rains hit the area in July, nearly two weeks of work was washed away.
"We used a power washer and started over," he said. "I was just glad it wasn't a finished product when it got ruined."
Finally Hammond discovered that Rustoleum, a paint usually used to prevent rust on metal lawn furniture, was the one product that would stick even if it was still damp when it rained.
"So that's what I used, Rustoleum," he said.
At first Hammond disagreed with Carroll's idea to include two mill exteriors and an open hearth in one mural. In reality the Campbell Works and the Brier Hill blast furnace in Youngstown were several miles apart, he argued, and the open hearth wouldn't have been visible from outside the mill.
"I was wrong, and he was right," Hammond said. "I didn't think it made sense, but it does. It's like three different paintings in one."
The artist, who shows his work at the Canfield Fair and other local competitions, said the mural was the largest painting he's ever done and one of the most rewarding.
Fulfilling a dream
For Carroll, the project is one more step in creating what he calls his "dream house in the country."
There was a simple trailer home on his North Palmyra Road property when he bought it in 1952, but over the years he, his wife, Catherine, and their two children, now both grown, made some extravagant improvements.
He built most of the couple's ranch home himself and added five lakes, along with landscaping that includes 17 fountains and 12 waterfalls.
"My theme has always been: Are your dreams too small?" he said.
Carroll is also an avid rose gardener -- he says he has 1,000 rosebushes around the property -- and serves as a volunteer at Fellows Riverside Gardens at Mill Creek Park, president of the Warren Rose Society and vice president of the Mahoning Valley Rose Society.
His garage door mural isn't visible from the street, but he expects to show it off to friends and fellow rose growers who visit. When he does, Carroll said, he'll give Hammond all the credit.
"He did it all," he said. "I'm just the guy with the garage door."
vinarsky@vindy.com