The tigers are not caged. There were seven in a 50 x 150 foot area inside a chain-link fence. Tigers are nocturnal. These were well-fed and languished limply in the hot Thailand sun in Chiang Mai’s Tiger Kingdom. They are petted and surrounded by humans from birth before they are placed in the compound. Plus, once they are about 2½ years old, they are removed to zoos because their placidity no longer can be guaranteed. It WAS a unique experience in my life.

Usually I write about other Monongah High Alumni. That’s the purpose of this blog, to help former Lions keep track of each other’s lives . . . and deaths.

But 82 years ago today – Nov. 5, 1932 at, I think, 10:30 a.m.; I couldn’t see the clock clearly at the time – I was born in the home of my grandparents, Martin Olesky of Mogilno, Poland and Mary Peremba Olesky of a Pennsylvania Polish ghetto, on Walnut Street in Monongah, at the Pike Avenue intersection.

It was the Great Depression, so my parents, John W. Olesky, Sr. and Lena Futten Olesky, who was born in Pellizzano, Italy within sight of the Alps, couldn’t afford to live elsewhere.

Within the year, they rented a Consolidation Coal Company house on Thomas Street. A few years before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died they bought the Church Street house that Consol was selling.

Sister Agnes at Sts. Peter and Paul School infused grammar into my brain. Mary Turkovich at Monongah High injected math into the same cranium. The two of them, and my West Virginia University School of Journalism education, catapulted me into a 43-year newspaper career.

I found a wife in Cinderella, West Virginia, a Williamson suburb, on my own. Together we reared three children who gave us seven grandchildren and two great-grandsons. Not a clinker in the bunch.

After Monnie died, a former Akron Beacon Journal colleague, Paula, came into my life and became my personal tour guide to 52 countries.

My life is not my success story. It is typical of what the Monongah upbringing did for so many of us. It is a Monongah success story.

The coal mining families knew long before politicians popularized it that it takes a village to raise a child. So they did.

Deputy sheriff Frank Koloskie did his best to keep us out of trouble, and that was no easy task when we were teenagers hooting and hollering our way through life. 

Frank Retton went down into the holler by our Thomas Street home and brought my unconscious body to my home, handed me to my shocked mother and said, “Here’s your son.”

As we ran the hills in our childhood, blessed with miners from Poland, Italy and Ireland whose only goal in life was to use their shoulders for their children to stand on to reach the next plateau, we were being groomed by everyone in town to be a success in life.

In doing this blog, and crossing paths with Monongah High alumni around the country, I get the same story. Our Monongah childhoods made us better people, imbused a work ethic into us. How could we shirk work when our fathers risked their lives every damned day in that damp, dark hellhole of a mountain of coal buried a mile below the earth’s crust to put food in our mouths and clothes on our bodies.

My father gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten: “If you go into the mines, I’ll kill you.” I got the message.

Bob Kasper, my friend since we were both 5 years old, trained Ford Motor apprentices all over the country. Bill Meredith and his brothers own a Columbus company that helps construction companies succeed all over this nation. Dennis Jones is a retired Army general. Sonny Godby flew mission after mission in Vietnam as a Marine pilot, and his son and grandson followed in his footsteps.

See, it’s not me. It’s the Monongah influence that has made successful lives for so many of us, well beyond what statisticians and actuaries say there should be for our sparse population.

OK, that’s enough about me. I promise to get back to writing about you, and your classmates and helping us bond. Until my next birthday, good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

If your name is not on this list, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com  with your full name, including maiden name, your birthday date, your graduation year and your current hometown.

November

1 – Tom Dean, Class of 1949

5 – John Olesky, Class of 1950

8 – Diana Pishner Walker

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

24 – Mark “Hooch” Aldridge, Class of 1973

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

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

5 – Bernie Fullen, Class of 1963

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

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 1973

3 – Jim Birdsell, North Marion grad from Monongah; married to Angela

7 – Kenneth Kincaid, Class of 1968

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

13 – Rick Morrison, son of Kitty Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968  

14 – Pamela Bombardiere, Monongah grad

14 – Regina McCoy Murphy, Class of 1973

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

23 – Ron Manzo, Monongah grad

23 – Frankie Vandetta, North Marion grad

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

7 – Alex Fazio Huff, North Marion 2005 grad

14 – Ted Nagel, Class of 1954

14 – Bentley Evans, Class of 1978

18 – Larry Zickefoose, Class of 1968

21 – Robin Huffman Satterfield, Class of 1973  

16 – Jean Nagel Viglianco, Class of 1949

19 – Jane Pritchard Moore, Class of 1975

29 – Pete Basagic, Class of 1972

August

1 – Kim DeMary Clowers, Class of 1979

3 – (Agnes) Jean Larry DiLaura, Class of 1950

7 – Dorie Mike Whetsell, Monongah graduate

9 – Paula Kerns Fazio, Class of 1979

12 – Angelo Catania, Class of 1943

16 – Debby Morrison Harden, Class of 1966

18 – Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960

18 – John Fazio, Class of 1970

19 – Greg Postlethwait, Class of 1964

19 – Barbra Eller-Hanning, Monongah grad

20 – Irene Fazio Preolitti, Class of 1966

20 – Connie Warash, Monongah grad

29– Pat Meredith Wills, Class of 1950

30 – Beth Pritchard Brooks, Class of 1978

30 – David Harbert of Idamay, Farmington grad

September

6 – Dave Domico of Monongah, Fairmont West grad married to Andrea Justice Domico

7 – Mary Louise Orsini, Class of 1948 (honorary)

7 – Phillis Tarley, North Marion grad from Idamay living in Fairmont

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

23 – Sally Wood Tarley, Class of 1959

24 – Joe Fazio, Class of 1974

25 – Marylee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948

25 – Jim Davis, Class of 1964

26 – Nathaleen Cameon Oliverio, Class of 1948

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 – Felix Colisino, Class of 1947

11 – Jay Holman, Class of 1971

12 – Brenda Manzo, wife of Danny Manzo, Class of 1957

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 living in Carolina

29 – Robert Boydoh, Class of 1956

31 – Patty Steele McCombs, Fairmont East graduate who lives in Monongah