Former King Mill plant Manager Frank Rachels is having "to move way down the Hill."

Former Department Manager James C. Boynton is living in "an altogether different world."

Former Supervisor Clyde Williams Sr. is "just trying not to lose anything."

Each worked 30 years at King Mill in Augusta before retiring on long-term disability. Each thought the premiums he had paid all those years ensured he would continue receiving 60 percent of his salary until he was 65.

"All management thought this was a separate policy and we could take it with us when we left," Mr. Boynton said. "We were misled on that."

After the mill's parent company, Spartan International Inc., went bankrupt in May and 1,200 Spartan employees - including 306 at King Mill - lost their jobs overnight, the checks did continue. In November, though, the insurance company that disbursed the checks notified the former supervisors they had received their last checks because the insurance company had not been reimbursed for the ones it had sent since May.

"So I ain't got no income," Mr. Boynton said. "I had some saved, but I've spent it."

His only hope lies in a $1.6 million long-term disability account, which the trustee for the Spartan International bankruptcy case found sitting in a South Carolina bank. The trustee determined the account was not the property of the bankrupt estate. The employees' attorneys filed suit in federal court in Augusta last month, and a judge appointed attorney Byrd Warlick as trustee to disburse the money.

Once the insurance company is reimbursed $187,000, Mr. Warlick will begin disbursing the checks - possibly by the end of the week, he said.

"The money will last, I'm told, somewhere in the neighborhood of two years," Mr. Warlick said.

That will be long enough for the King Mill managers to be eligible for Social Security. But like many other unemployed former Spartan employees, Mr. Boynton, 60, is still without health insurance and has serious health problems - a heart attack seven years ago and a diagnosis of throat cancer two years ago.

"My circulation is so bad I can't hardly walk," he said.

Mr. Boynton is too young to draw Social Security benefits and can't find help anywhere, except from his doctor, Glen Owen Jr., who hasn't sent him a bill since the mill closed May 4, Mr. Boynton said.

It's been quite a change from being a department manager and making a good salary to having no income, he said.

"I've been to different organizations for help," Mr. Boynton said. "They want to help you, but they've got limitations if you own anything, and they can't."

The Richmond County Department of Family and Children Services did help his disabled wife get medical benefits, he said.

"So that helped out," he said. "I've always had a good job and been kind of high up. This is an altogether different world."

Meanwhile, Mr. Rachels is selling his home on Highland Avenue and moving to south Augusta.

"I'm having to move way down the Hill," Mr. Rachels said. "I don't want to, but I have to."

Former King Mill employees Clyde and Sarah Williams are trying to hold on to the house and 50 acres they bought in Burke County 12 years ago. They had big plans to improve it for their retirement from King Mill.

"I was building something for us to enjoy, a pond for the grandkids to fish in, and when we're gone it will be theirs," Mr. Williams said.

A year later, while mowing around the pond on a tractor, Mr. Williams almost died in an accident that cut his left leg off at the knee. A neighbor heard his cries for help and saved him, but his working days were over.

Mr. Williams retired and went on long-term disability. He had worked at King Mill for 30 years, beginning as a floor sweeper and handyman and moving up to supervisor.

"It was the only job I ever had," he said.

Mrs. Williams lost her job at the mill when it closed but was hired by Standard Textile Inc., the company that bought the mill equipment and restarted the plant. She works 12-hour shifts three days a week, despite severe arthritis.

"My wife, she don't need to be working," Mr. Williams said. "Look at her hands."

She can't quit because her job is all that's keeping them going.

"Now, I'm just trying not to lose anything," Mr. Williams said.

For the Williamses, the disability checks will be a godsend.

"Thank God," Mrs. Williams said. "It's been rough."

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylviaco@augustachronicle.com.