Remember Barbara Basnett at MHS?

Barbara Basnett Cain, who would have been in the Class of 1956 if she hadn’t left Monongah High and Worthington during her sophomore year, moved from Ohio back to Monongah in 1970 and is hoping to re-connect with former classmates.

 

Barbara Basnett Cain

In particular, Barbara Jean Brooks, Class of 1955; Lillian Alice Baker, Class of 1956; and Sue Martino. She also remembers Johnny Moore, Class of 1956, Jim McDaniel’s best friend who went off to Baltimore after Monongah High, but Johnny passed away in April 2014.

Barb Basnett Cain posted on her Facebook page:

My name was Barbara Basnett. I was born and raised at Worthington.

It is good seeing some faces from the past online. 

I left Monongah High in 1954 and moved to Ohio. Am now living in Monongah; been here since 1970.

After I sought more details, Barb replied:

John, thanks for taking my invite. I lived in and around Cleveland, Olmsted Falls, from 1954 to 1968. I also lived in Brook Park where I worked several years at Continental Can as a packer.  I came back to WV for personal reasons. I married Matthew R. Cain and moved to Monongah in 1970. We have one son, Matthew. He is my only child. I was married to Ralph J. Ayers from 1954 to 1968.

I only went to my second year at Monongah High. Quit Feb 1954. Neither husband went to Monongah High.

Paul Basnett was my Dad. I was born and raised in Worthington. He was a school bus and mine bus driver.

That’s my life!

Barb's brother was Paul Basnett, Jr.

My cousin, Jerry Loss, Class of 1956, still lives in Olmsted Falls, Ohio with his wife, Elaine, who isn’t a Monongah High girl. But nice anyway.

Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960, who lives in Behobobeach, Delaware, remembers the Basnett family. 

His response to Barb:

Do you remember the McDaniel family that lived down the street from you? I am the youngest one left; everyone called me Jimmy. My sister, Joann, still lives at the bottom of Kings Alley. My best friend, Johnny Moore, passed on in April.

Gerald Nelson Hartley, Class of 1955, who lives in Orrville, Ohio and is one of three Hartley brothers who went to Monongah High from Worthington, chimed in:

·        Hi, Barbara.

·         

·        I remember you well, even from Grade School. I live here in Ohio and have been here for 55 years but I bet I could drive right up to the house you lived in, in Worthington. I am like you; I really enjoy meeting friends from the past.

Gerry’s brother, Delmas Hartley, who started at Monongah with the Class of 1961 but left MHS in the winter of 1959, and married Peggy Workman, Class of 1959, wrote this message to Barb:

Hello, Barbara.

I think you were a little ahead of me. I went to Worthington and went to Monongah in 1957. I left school at the end of 1959 and went to Ohio, worked out there for 10 years before moving back to WV. My wife went to Monongah also; her name was Peggy Workman and she lived in Carolina.

Gerry  Hartley --  who went by Nelson at Monongah High -- remarried after his first wife, Connie Robinson, passed away. Connie grew up in Worthington but graduated from Fairmont West after her family moved to Fairmont.

Gerry remarried Harry Parker’s widow, born Kathryn Smith on the Ohio side of the Ohio River near Wheeling. The two families had been friends for years.

Gerry’s daughter, Kathy Purcell, lives in Richmond, Kentucky. He has another daughter, Karen Moore, whose daughter, Chastity Shalon Moore, and husband, Brian Moore, also live in Orrville with their children (and Gerry’s great-grandchildren), Wyatt and Shelby.

Delmas Hartley, Class of 1959, lives in Carolina but likes to take his camper to Blackwater Falls or in the Summerville area in the summer. He married Peggy Lou Workman Hartley, Class of 1969. 

Delmas’ son, Delmas Gene Hartley, is Class of 1979. Delmas’ daughter, Trudy Hartley Plaugher, is a 1982 North Marion graduate. 

Carla Hartley Vanfossen is a 1986 North Marion graduate. Rocky Hartley is a 1988 North Marion graduate.

The third Hartley brother, David Hartley, Class of 1963, lives in Circleville, Ohio.

The Hartley brothers’ mother, Velma Hartley, worked in Worthington’s Hertzog Drug Store run by Virgil Hertzog, father of Marylee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948, who lives in Rockville, Maryland, and Dick Hertzog, Class of 1942, a WVU chemical engineering grad who lived in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area till his 2005 death.

By the way, Barbara was one of many Barr Babies, delivered by the famous Dr. Barr, who delivered dang near every child born in Worthington for decades. His daughters are Jeannette Barr Baczuk, Class of 1940, who lives in Ashland, Ohio, and Suzanne Barr Loss, Class of 1948, who lives in Mill Fall and is the widow of Arnold "J.B." Loss.

If you have memories of Barbara Basnett Cain, or anyone else mentioned in this article, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com with the details and I’ll add them to this Monongah High Alumni blog.

Happy former classmates hunting, Barb!