Saturday, May 24, 2014

Jim Davis searching for former buddy again

The Class of 1964 gathered Friday at the Three Ways Inn for a single-class reunion and then moved on to Saturday’s Monongah High Alumni Reunion at the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont.


1964 joined 1954, 1974 and 1979 as honor classes.

But James Davis, Class of 1964, still is trying to locate one of the 1964 graduates. 

Jim wrote:
”I need a little help. I`m looking for a man by the name of Albert Carter who grew up on Center Street in Monongah and graduated from Monongah High School in 1964. He had two brothers who are deceased, Bobby and Nook and he had a sister. I lost track of Albert in the mid 60`s when a lot of us boys were drafted because of the Viet Nam War. The only thing I know about Albert is that he was an over-the-road truck driver, and he was wounded in Viet Nam. If anyone has info on Albert please let me know and I will follow up on it. Thanks for your help.
”Albert was a coal miner working at the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company, later becoming the Four States Mine #20.”
If you know where Albert Carter is, go to Jim’s Facebook page and tell him that John Olesky sent you.
Albert’s brother, Robert, lived and worked in Louisville, Kentucky before he passed away.
Jim, who has been a mechanic/electrician at Four States Mine #20, Purglove #15 and Robinson Run #95, can be relentless when it comes to reunions with former Viet Nam buddies. In 2013 he drove 2,136 miles to visit an ol’ service buddy in Colorado. 

To see even more photos of this gaggle of gals at the Monongah High Alumni reunion, click on

https://www.facebook.com/kitty.morrison.7

and when you get to Kitty's Facebook page, click on 

photos

You'll see more people having fun in photos.

Email photos and details about YOUR Monongah High Alumni Reunion experiences this weekend !!!!

After you enjoy having fun at the Monongah High Alumni reunion today, please email jpeg photos of you and your classmates, with identifications for everyone, and details of your class' single-class reunion on Friday, to John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com and I'll post them on the Monongah High Alumni blog web site.

Check out the MHS Alumni blog at 

jo4wvu.blogspot.com 

to see how the Class of 1974 enjoyed it's Friday single-class reunion, with SIXTY SEVEN photos of the event thanks to Mike Hess.

If other classes email me their single-class or MHS Reunion photos, I'll do the same for them.

Once you find the MHS Alumni blog web site, be sure to add it to your favorites so you can check it out regularly. Photos and articles are added daily unless Paula and I are traveling.

Incidentally, Paula and I will be in Las Vegas and Bryce and Zion national canyons May 25-30, so I won't be posting during that time. But anything emailed to me will be waiting when I return, and I'll post the photos and information then. 

Happy Monongah High Alumni Reunion, everyone! 
Happy MHS birthdays, Ed & Terri!

Happy birthday to Ed Graffius, Class of 1971, whose birthday is May 27, and to Terri Orsini Saye, Class of 1972, whose birthday is May 28.

Ed is from Monongah but lives in Fairmont and has been a receiving manager at Wal-Mart since 1991. He zoomed off to Indianpolis to watch the Indianapolis 500 auto race this weekend. At other times he’s zooming around wife Brenda Ridenour Graffius, Class of 1974, a Licensed Practical Nurse, in their Pleasant Valley home.

Jon Graffius is North Marion Class of 1982. David Graffius, Class of 1973, is deceased.

Terri Orsini Saye’s parents are Mary Louise Baker Orsini, who started at MHS with the Class of 1948, and Tony Orsini, Class of 1946; both live on Swisher Hill. Terri lives in Durham, North Carolina.

If your name isn’t on the MHS Alumni birthdays list, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com with your full name, including maiden name, graduation year, birthday date and current hometown and I’ll add you to the birthdays list.

May


4 – Freddie Jane Colosino Villers, Class of 1964
5 – Frank Franze, Class of 1950
6 – Jerry Loss, Class of 1956
12 – Arlene Kitchin, main squeeze of Joe Martin, Class of 1957
14 – Donna Post Swiger, Class of 1955
14 – Mike Jurasko, Class of 1957
14 – Virginia Belle Littleton Curtis, Class of 1957
17 – Colette Stanley Melton, Class of 1970
20 – Linda Tomlinson Stevenski, Class of 1955
21 – June Paxton Rogers, Class of 1948
27 – Ed Graffius, Class of 1971
28 – Terri Orsini Saye, Class of 1972

June


1 – Parma Kay Fetty, Class of 1971
8 – John Koloskie, Jr., Class of 1944
8 – Pat Slovekosky Morris, Class of 1970
13 – C.L. “Roy” Parker II, North Marion Class of 1982
17 – Delmas Gene Hartley, Class of 1979
17 – Dennis Jones, Class of 1954
23 – Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949
23 – Kathryn Manuel Marshall, Class of 1960  


July


3 – Susan Ahouse Schrader, Class of 1971
4 – Bob Fox, Class of 1948
4 – Barbara Fleming Marsh, Class of 1947
5 – David Gowers, Class of 1971
5 – Bill Meredith, Class of 1957
13 – Ronald Shea, Class of 1954
14 – Ted Nagel, Class of 1954
16 – Jean Nagel Viglianco, Class of 1949

August


9 – Paula Kerns Fazio, Class of 1979
16 – Debby Morrison Harden, Class of 1966
18 – Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960
19 – Greg Postlethwait, Class of 1964
29– Pat Meredith Wills, Class of 1950
30 – Beth Pritchard Brooks, Class of 1978

September


7 – Mary Louise Orsini, Class of 1948 (honorary)
8 – Fred Moorehead, Class of 1964  
8 – Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955
13 – Karen Manzo, Class of 1974
14 – Suzanne Barr Loss, Class of 1948
14 – Jim Shaver, Class of 1954
15 – Bettie Hensley Lowther, Class of 1948
17 – Patti DeMary Evans, Class of 1972
20 – Greg Patrick, Class of 1970
24 – Joe Fazio, Class of 1974
25 – Marylee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948
25 – Jim Davis, Class of 1964
27 -- Bonita Lavencheck Waybright, Class of 1968
29 – Dietta Harden Goush, Class of 1959

October


7 – Sherry McIntire, Class of 1975
8 – Valerie Vandetta Aldridge, Class of 1973
9 – Mary Frances Miller Myers, Class of 1951
11 – Jay Holman, Class of 1971
12 – Brenda Manzo, wife of Danny Manzo, Class of 1957
16 – Jaimie Feltz Riley, daughter of Betty Lynn Wilson Feltz, Class of 1952, and late Coach Jim Feltz
20 – Leona “Duckles” Davis Schooley, Class of 1953
21 – Dorman Keith Beckner, Class of 1942
21 – Ken Slovekosky, Gilmer County High Class of 1976.
26 – Lori Hawkins Ice, Fairmont East graduate.
29 – Robert Boydoh, Class of 1956
31 – Patty Steele McCombs, Fairmont East graduate.

 

November


1 – Tom Dean, Class of 1949
5 – John Olesky, Class of 1950
10 – Tony Orsini, Class of 1946
14 – Ann Marie Mascak Davis, Class of 1955
19 – Jim Weaver, Class of 1948
20—Hellen Snider Carpenter, Class of 1950                
20 – Kathryn Toothman Crim, Class of 1950
23 -- Antheai Justice Turner, North Marion 1982
25 – Gerald Nelson Hartley, Class of 1955

December


2 – Adam Michna, 1980 North Marion graduate
4 – Ronald Pearse, Classs of 1961
5 – Duane Harbert, Class of 1951
8 – Brenda Urban, Class of 1971
13 – Otis “Sarge” Shaver, Class of 1948
22 – Frances Wimer Miller, Class of 1951

January


6 – Jeanette Barr Baczuk, Class of 1940
13 – Beatrice Salisbury Mills, Class of 1951
17 – Susan Colaneri Monell, Class of 1949
18 – Arlene Marteney Decker Edgell, Class of 1951
?? – Marie Bee Zwiegel, Class of 1951
18 – Bertha Pazdric Sullivan, Class of 1954
18 – Greg Vandetta, Monongah mayor, husband of Debbie Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973
19 – Joe Martin, Class of 1957
19 – Joann Thompson, Class of 1962  
22 – Jo-Jo DeMary of Monongah, who lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is married to Yvonne King DeMary
24 – Marcia Michalski Westfall, Class of 1974
29 – Kitty Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968

February


1 – Debra Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973
2 – Sylvia Edwards, Monongah grad living in Idamay
3 – Debbie Weaver Hurley, Monongah grad living in Monongah with husband Milton Hurley
3 – Rebecca Urish Anderson, Class of 1971
8 – Tom Fleming, Monongah grad living in Bridgeport
9 – Bob Nichols, Class of 1964
10 – Bonnie Nicholson Moats, Class of 1960
11—Linda Renay Hess Postlethwait, Class of 1968
15 – Jerry Koloskie, Class of 1975
17 – Larry “Danny” Eates, Class of 1970
18 – Mark Tarley, North Marion grad
20 – Harold Dean Kniceley, Class of 1960
21 – Eva Huey Jarvis, Class of 1975
24 – Mary Kelly, Monongah & North Marion
29 – Betty Sikinow Cunningham, Class of 1954

 

March


5 – Phil Colanero, Jr., Class of 1963
5 -- Doris Carpenter Rogers, Class of 1971
6 – Karen Fitzwater Pausch, Class of 1961
9 – Richie Basagic, Class of 1975 
9 – Brian Evans, Monongah graduate married to Patty DeMary Evans
11 – Benny C. Morgan, Class of 1948
15 – Donna Colvert Davis, Class of 1961, married to 1958 MHS grad Bill Davis
21 – Denver Browning, MHS grad, brother of Dorothy Browning Woods, Class of 1955
22 – David Haines, Class of 1964
25 – Sandy Cook, Class of 1959
25 – Richard Fitzwater, Monongah graduate

 

April


4 – Charlotte Walker Cahill, Class of 1954
9 – Paula “P.J.” Hickman, North Marion 1983
11 – Leo Kubiet, Class of 1942
12 – Linda Sawyer Duckworth, Class of 1966
14 – Lyla Cosner Howell, Class of 1958
16 – Becky Shelosky Carvillano, Class of 1961  
30 – Shirley Knight Ritterhouse, Class of 1954


Lucky 'leven whooping it up at Friday's single-class reunion at the Michalski home
Class of 1974 had a blast with one of its own

Monongah High Class of 1974 had its Friday single-class reunion at the home and pool of Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1951, on the Bridge Street Extension, just outside Monongah town limits.

Marcia Michalski Westfall, Class of 1974, was the official host. She’s Ramona’s daughter. There are 11 Class of 1974 members in the group photo.

Another daughter, Carol Michalski Drake, is Class of 1975. Son Mike Michalski, Class of 1969, lives next door to Ramona.

Tom Dean, Class of 1949, who lives in Altavista, Virginia, was there chatting with his favorite Monongah High friend, "Monie," which is what he calls Ramona Fullen Michalski. Tom stops by Ramona's house every time he's in town.

“WOW, HAD A GREAT NIGHT WITH OUR CLASS 1974,,,40 YEARS,,,I SEE THESE YOUNG PEOPLE GRADUATING THIS YEAR 2014,,,SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY,,,WE TOOK ALOT OF TRIPS DOWN MEMORY LANE TONIGHT. THANKS TO ALL MY FRIENDS OF MONONGAH HIGH SCHOOL 1974 !!!! THANKS FOR THE LAUGHS AND THE GREAT MEMORIES !! Love ya
“Can't wait till 2016 when we have our 50th.....yeah the years go by really fast. Glad you had a fun time and now tomorrow you rest. Love you.”

Goldie Basagic Huffman wrote:
“Thanks for a great time. We did have a great time talking about old times and what great students we were.”

Kim Kendzior wrote:
“Twirl those drum sticks or symbols, you GO BRiNNIEv! Love ya!”

Terri Tennant of Fairview wrote:

 “Thank you so very much for including me in this evening's celebration at your mom's
house I had a great time.”

Class of 1974 is one of the honor classes at today's Monongah High Alumni Reunion. So is Class of 1964, which had its Friday single-class reunion at the Three Ways Inn for dinner and will have the class reunion photo taken at 5:30 p.m. today (Saturday, May 24) at the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont.

The other honor classes are 1954 and 1979. 

The all-classes Monongah High Alumni Reunion dinner-dance will be tonight at the Knights of Columbus. 

To see 1974 grad Mike Hess’ 67 marvelous photos of dozens of people having good ol’ Monongah fun with the hostess with the mostest, Ramona, click on https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202867699908431&set=a.10202867697828379.1073741842.1079977838&type=3&theater



Friday, May 23, 2014


Single-class reunions today, 
full Monongah High Alumni Reunion Saturday


Single-class Monongah High alumni reunions will take place today (Friday, May 23) at various Fairmont venues.

Class of 1964 will assemble at 7 p.m. at the Three Ways Inn for dinner and will have the class reunion photo taken at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 24 at the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont.

1964 is one of the honor classes. The others are 1954, 1974 and 1979. 

The all-classes Monongah High Alumni Reunion dinner-dance will be Saturday, May 24 at the Knights of Columbus. The venue changed because Westminster Village closed.

For additional information, call Linda Lopez Gandy at (304) 534-5248 or Donna Davis at (304) 534-5636.


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Happy 15th wedding anniversary

to Tonia Carr Posten, North Marion Class of 1989, and Bill Posten, a Monongah boy who also is a North Marion grad.

Tonia wrote:

“Today Bill Posten and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary! He has been my best friend for as long as I can remember! Together we raised two loving, caring and hard working kids! He is a wonderful husband and dad! God has truly blessed me!”

Their “kids” are Tyler Carr and Teala Starkey.



Melanie Ann Pagliaro, policy analyst for the Majority Leader in the West Virginia House of Delegates, is the daughter of Rosemary Raymond Pagliaro and Carmen Pagliaro, who live in Fairmont.

Melanie, originally from Monongah, got her master’s in education administration at Marshall University after graduating from North Marion High and Fairmont State. She lives in Charleston. She resided in Fairmont 2003-2007.

Rosemary, Class of 1958, is the daughter of Mary Dudiak Raymond and Angelo Raymond and the brother of the late Bob Raymond, Class of 1951, of Fairmont.

Melanie remembers Bob, who played football, basketball and baseball at Monongah High, quite well. Wrote Melanie: “I used to hear a few stories about my Uncle Bob. He was an adventurous young man. I think of him every time the power goes out in Monongah.”

Bob was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean conflict, a former employee of Fairmont Box Factory and retired from Creative Labeling.

Bob’s widow, Susan Russell Raymond, still lives in White Hall.  

Bob and Susan have daughters Paula, married to Sam Adkins and living in Idamay, whose children are Aaron and Derek Hale, Robin Long of Colfax and her children, Mallory, Nathan and Spencer Long, and Mary Harr of Pleasant Valley and her children Phillip, Colton and Jared Harr. 

They have a son, also named Bob Raymond, married to Susie and living in Fairmont, and their children are Sydney and Emma Raymond.

Bob once bit my upper lip nearly completely off, but only because his mouth was bigger than mine when I was trying to bite his lip. My mom, Lena Futten Olesky, was furious and confronted Bob’s mom, Mary Raymond, over the situation. The moms were still fuming a few days later when Bob and I went back to playing with each other.

We so close that, when I started first grade (no kindergarten back then) at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School on Church Street, Bobby wasn’t enrolled because he wasn’t old enough.

So Bobby ran away from home to join me in school. The nuns took him back home to Mary.

Bob’s uncle, John Dudiak, Mary Raymond’s brother, would give Bob and I boxing gloves, and paid a quarter to the one who made the other one cry. We whaled the daylights out of each other to get those quarters.

At that age, with me being several months older, we were a similar size. Bobby kept growing into football-playing hulkhood while I was a 99-pound freshman at Monongah High. No amount of quarters could have convinced me to take on Bob by that time.

The Olesky family rented on Thomas Street, last house before Church Street. When Consolidation Coal sold its houses to the miners, knowing that Consol would shut down the Monongah mine in three years, my parents bought the house that Mary and Angelo Raymond were renting on Church Street & U.S. 19 (Camden Avenue) because it had indoor plumbing and our rental only had a two-holer outhouse.

The Raymond family bought a house in Frogtown, south of Monongah where Swisher Hill begins, and ran a tavern on U.S. 19 just below their new home.

And I met another friend, from Frogtown, when I entered first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul: Bob Kasper, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Kasper, and brother of Evelyn Kasper, Class of 1953. Bob’s wife, Pat, passed away. They married in 1959 and have a son, Steven, and a daughter, Judith, and five grandchildren, all adopted. Bob, his children and grandchildren all live in Michigan.

When you lose one friend, life has a way of finding you another one.

Marie Phillips Kisner, Class of 1942, passes away


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Gaga’s grandma from West Virginia

At her Pittsburgh concert, Lady Gaga, while introducing her “Born This Way” song, gave a shout-out to her grandmother from Glendale, West Virginia, a Wheeling suburb.

  • Lady Gaga said: “My grandma’s here tonight. My grandmother was there with me for one of the hardest times in my life, and she’s been there for every other hard time since that one.

  • We have been through a lot together because my grandmother’s from West Virgin-i-a.”
In 2013 Lady Gaga recovered from hip surgery at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling by staying at grandma’s house.
Her grandparents, Paul and Veronica “Ronnie” Bissett, live on Zitko Terrace in Glen Dale. They are the parents to Lady Gaga’s mother, Cynthia Bissett Germanotta, a graduate of Wheeling’s John Marshall High School and West Virginia University.
“My granddaughter is considered nothing but ordinary when she comes for a visit,” Mrs. Bissett said. “She is famed for her outrageous costumes, but that’s about it. Other than that, she is a well-adjusted kid, and the best granddaughter a grandmother could ever ask for.”
Country music star Brad Paisley was born and reared in Glen Dale, where his mom is a schoolteacher and his dad works for the West Virginia Highway Department.
So was country singer Lionel Cartright and former West Virginia governor Arch Moore, Jr.
Other former Glen Dale residents include Moore’s daughter, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, baseball Hall of Famer George Brett and Jeff Kessler, a Democratic member of the West Virginia Senate, first in line to become governor if something happens to Governor Tomblin. And Swami Bhaktipada, founder of New Vrindaban, a Hare Krishna community on the outskirts of Glen Dale. And Charles Manson was reared by his aunt and uncle just outside Glen Dale.
Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born in the Bronx, New York City to a Catholic family on March 28, 1986. She is the elder daughter of internet entrepreneur Joseph Anthony "Joe" Germanotta, Jr. and Cynthia Louise "Cindy" Bissett (born c. 1955). Gaga has Italian and French ancestry. Her sister Natali (born in 1992) is a fashion student.

Gaga learned to play the piano by the age of 4. At the age of 11, she was accepted to the Juilliard School in Manhattan, but instead attended a private Catholic school in the city. She had her first performance in a New York nightclub at the age of 14.

No Monongah Town Council meeting till June 9th

The regular council meeting for Monday, May 26th will be not be held because of the holiday. The next council meeting will be Monday June 9th.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014


This is the first class that could not graduate from Monongah High School, but had to go to North Marion for its Class of 1980 graduation. Monongah's last graduation class was in 1979.

Tribute to John Moore, Class of 1956

This is a tribute to John Albert Moore, Class of 1956, who would have been 76 years old on Wednesday, May 21 if he were alive. 

He passed away April 1, 2013, in Towson, Maryland. He was born May 21, 1938 to William and Leona Snowden Moore of Worthington.

From Beth Pritchard Brooks, Class of 1978, who lives in Worthington when she’s not traveling with her husband, Richard Brooks, to his job sites around the country:

“John,

“My Uncle Jim McDaniel would like if you could post these 2 pictures of him and John Moore, who recently passed away, in your alumni blog.  The first was taken in 1944 when they were young kids and the next one was taken around 2008.  They were life-long friends.  

"Wednesday, May 21 would have been John's birthday and he would like to do this in honor of his friend. 

“Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960, and John Moore, Class of 1956.  I'm sure he would appreciate it. 

“Thank you so much for all you do for the Alumni of Monongah High!

“Beth Brooks”

John Moore and Jim McDaniel had been friends for 70 years. 

I know what that’s like because Bob Kasper of South Lyons and Presque Island, Michigan and I, both Class of 1950, have been friends since first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School, which covers 76 years. 

I visit Bob aka Satch at his Grand Lake, Michigan summer home and he visits me at my Tallmadge, Ohio home and we go to Mountaineer Field for a WVU game every year.

John & Jim and Bob & I are not that unique, either.

Doris Carpenter Rogers, Class of 1971, daughter of Iris Carpenter, Class of 1950, and Sue Ahouse Schrader, Class of 1971, have been friends since second grade even though Sue lives in Piscataway, New Jersey, home of Rutgers University, and Doris lives in Charleston, home of the governor and State Legislature.

Friendships that span seven decades are special. But not that rare for Monongah High, which holds a special place in all our hearts, even though the last class graduated in 1979.

And yet, 35 years after the final graduation class, Monongah High alumni will gather again for another MHS Reunion, Saturday, May 24 at the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont to stoke memories of their days as Lions. 

If you haven’t made your dinner-dance reservation, Wednesday, May 21 is your last day to do it. Call Linda Lopez Gandy at (304) 534-5248 or Donna Davis at (304) 534-5636.

It’s a beautiful thing, friendships that last a lifetime.


We won’t say farewell to John Moore, just enjoy your afterlife till we join you.