Friends of Bob Cottrill, Class of 1951, and his late wife, Barbara Jean Henderson Cottrill, a 1955 Fairmont Nursing School graduate who passed away in 2007, gathered on Marwyck Lane in Northfield Center, Ohio on Tuesday, Aug. 26 for a combination homecoming and thank-you.

It was a homecoming for Bob, who during his Northfield career was school principal and with the State of Ohio Board of Education involved in school financing. The thank-you was Bob’s way of showing his appreciation for those who conducted a memorial in nearby Macedonia for Barb, who was nursing manager for Suburban Cleveland Hospital, which later was absorbed into the Cleveland Clinic system.

Bob's grandson, Chris Barnes, did the cooking on the grill although he had plenty of help from others for the beans, ribs, hot dogs, potato salad and drinks. Chris is more familiar with money than food since he works for Fidelity Mortgage and Title out of Akron, which is about 10 miles from Northfield Center. 

Chris, son of Bob’s daughter, Rhonda, took his future wife, Shannon, on a Mediterranean cruise and proposed to her in Venice, Italy -- three times, and got three yesses. They married in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, in June.

The home for the Northfield Center cookout belongs to former Bedford High School principal Dave Pumpa and his wife, Nan, who knew Bob when both were at Fairmont State.

And there was talk of Marion County from an 80-something who lived in Mannington and went rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon after her 80^th birthday. Spunky lady!

Bob will leave Northfield Center for Cottrill’s Mountain, 20 acres he owns near Burnsville, West Virginia, for a few days of fun with his grandchildren and ATVs.

Next comes a reunion with Bob’s brother and sister at Muriale’s Restaurant in Fairmont, where Arlene Marteney Edgell, Class of 1951, and husband Okey Edgell, Class of 1944, will join them. Bob will be in Fairmont Thursday, Aug. 28 and Friday, Aug. 29.

Then Bob will be off to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to reunite with his second wife, Thelma. They were married in 2011. They’ll visit Barbara’s brother in Greenville, South Carolina, before returning home to Melbourne.

If you want to catch up with Bob, which might not be easy, you might try calling him at (321) 432-6683.