Kniceley has memories of Carolina ballfield, too

Harold Dean Kniceley, Class of 1960, who lives in Centreville, Maryland, and needed my assistance to find the full article about Nick Saban, Tom Hulderman and Monongah High, emailed a nice note to me.

 
Harold Dean Kniceley

Harold is a fine arts teacher in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. His wife is the former Sandra Kay Miller.

Marsha Jean Kniceley, Class of 1963, who lives in Pinehurst, North Carolina, attended the Monongah High Alumni Reunion in 2010 and is Harold's second cousin.

The email from Harold:

“John, thanks for the help. 

“Read the tribute to Nick and Tommy.  I didn't

mention to you that Tommy is also a cousin of mine. His mom, Olive Jane, was my first cousin.  You did her obituary in your blog.”

That would be Olive Jane Kniceley Hulderman of Idamay.

“I always love to read about the places and people  around home, especially Carolina, Worthington and Monongah.   

“I too learned my baseball on that old ballfield at Carolina under the kind instruction of one of Marion County’s premier coaches, Cassie Ryan.

“That newspaper piece was right ... you never leave the mountains and coalfields ... you may be in a different place, but you are always part

of the mountains.”

You’re right, Harold. You can take the boy (or girl) out of West Virginia, but you can’t take West Virginia out of their heart and memories. There has never been a day pass by without me thinking about my childhood, running free in the hills with the entire town as my au pair keeping me from doing permanent damage to myself (which was not an easy task, me being even klutzier than most kids).

I get chills every time I sing “Country Roads” in Mountaineer Field after a WVU victory. Hell, I get flashbacks when I get a cellphone call and hear “Country Roads” as my ringtone. Nearly every item of clothing I wear has “WV” on it.

So does my heart.