I received a very generous missive from Bill Lawson, Class of 1949, who lives in San Antonio:

Hi John!

Thank you very much for all that you do to bring us the news from West Virginia, Monongah and all the Alumni functions, events and activities.

I especially enjoyed the sports reports. I knew more about the happenings in the Big 12 than most of my friends down here. Actually, they were amazed!

I am sorry the altered policy of the Fairmont Times (?) necessitated the policy change of your reports. Or, am I just missing them somewhere?

The pictures you have included in the blog are wonderful. Goodness, you know how to make a guy homesick. The reports from fellow alumni are the icing on the cake; and I now consider Ramona “The Official Town of Monongah Historian.”  (That would be Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah and has been invaluable to me in this venture.)

This is rivaled only by your marvelous descriptions and pictures taken during your Journeys and Travels. It’s great ‘seeing’ alumni having a wonderful time.

I would be remiss not to speak of the sadness I feel reading the Obituaries of some of my friends and fellow alumni. There are no words to express sufficiently to you the intense grief learning of the loss of one of their children. It must be a very depressing thing to report.

Be that as it may, Thank You.

I wish you, Paula, and all a very Merry Christmas and an inordinately Healthful New Year.

A reaction like this is exactly why I spend hours every day putting together this Monongah High Alumni blog. 

It’s my way, with benefit of the expertise that 43 years as a newspaper editor, reporter and sportswriter gave me, of offering a gift to my fellow Lions and trying to help us bond. The number of hits on this blog when I report a personal event about one of our classmates is proof that MHS alumni are interested in reading and seeing these articles.

As for Dr. William Lawson, he retired as one of the top pediatricians in the southwest, living in San Antonio with his wife, Conchita. Their daughter, Lulu, married in 2012.

Bill has gone from being surrounded by West Virginians and WVU fans to a family of graduates from Texas, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan State. 

At Monongah High, Bill was senior class president and junior class president and a whale of a drummer boy, judging by the squeals of the Monongah High girls at the time. I was impressed, too, to be fair. That boy could really beat those skins!

Bill graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School because WVU didn’t have one WAY back then.

If you want to renew acquaintances with Dr. Bill, his email is wlawson931@sbcglobal.net and his mailing address is

Dr. William Lawson

121931 Bammel Street

San Antonio, TX  78213

And his phone number is (210) 349-9605.