A fish tale you can believe

North Marion High (1985) and Fairmont State graduate Mark Tarley, who lives in Hickory, North Carolina, and posts on the WVU sports forums, has a fish tale that is believable. And photographic evidence to back it up.

It involves the Green Lakes Sportsman Club at 300 Alta Vista Avenue in Fairmont, a privately owned campground.

Mark Tarley, 3,
with prized fish

Let Mark explain it:

“I spent half my childhood summers at Green Lakes. I hooked this largemouth and it was hung up in the moss. My dad jumped in and untangled the line. So I had an assist . . . but I was 3. My dad was a great father because he is a big kid. Crazy, but great. Never dull.

“My kids still like going to Green Lakes.”

Mark’s father was Anthony Tarley, who quit school at age 13 to help the family with 10 children when Tony’s coal-miner dad died and the family was evicted.

Marko Tarley, Class of 1957, Mark’s uncle and namesake, married Sally Woods, Class of 1958, and once was Monongah mayor. “He was a good baseball & football player,” Mark writes.

Other Monongah High Tarleys:

Annie Tarley Delovich, Class of 1952.

Carlo Tarley, Class of 1965, and his wife,  Cathy Vincent Tarley, Class of 1966.

Phillis Tarley, North Marion 1982, sister of the late Worthington firefighter Dewey Tarley.

If you have memories of the Tarley family, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com and I’ll relay the information in another Monongah High Alumni blog posting.