CATCHING UP WITH

Nathaleen Cameon Oliverio

I got a surprise and welcome telephone call from Nathaleen Cameon Oliverio, Class of 1948, who lives in East Chicago, Indiana, across the state line from the windy city of Chicago, Illinois.

I had been bugging her for weeks, as I do other Monongah High graduates, for information about her life since MHS. Since the number of hits on this blog double when I post a Catching Up With article, I know that other Lions are interested in what happened to their former classmates.

How did Nathaleen wind up in Indiana?

“I had three sons and I didn’t want them going into the coal mines,” Nat said. “I had heard the whistle blowing and seen miners carried out of the mines, injured, and I just didn’t want that for them.”

So Nat and husband Sam Oliverio, who passed away 11 years ago, went to Indiana 60 years ago and made a new life there.

The sons are Dominick, Lowell and Tom. Dominick became a psychologist who worked in federal prisons. Tom became an Illinois State Trooper captain. Lowell became a police officer for Lowell, Indiana.

Nat's siblings are Linda Cameon Mezzanotte, Class of 1966, of Carolina; Bill Cameon, Class of 1960, of Highland, Indiana; Virginia Cameon Mezzanotte, Class of 1953, of Fairmont; Pete Cameon, Class of 1958, of Clarksburg; and Albert Cameon, Class of 1947, Arthur, Joe and Rudy Cameon, all deceased.

They are the children of Clyde and Maggie Cameon.

Nat’s sister-in-law, Francis King Cameon, Class of 1942, lives in Carolina.

Nat has six grandchildren (3 boys, 3 girls) and three great-grandchildren (2 girls, 1 boy).

She stays in touch with Irene Yuhas Ice, Class of 1946, who still lives in the Carolina both grew up in; John Matkovich, Class of 1948, who lives in Palm Harbor, Florida with wife Dolores Sweede Matkovich, Class of 1953; and Leatrice Yokay Greaser, Class of 1950, Bob Greaser’s widow living in Fairmont.

Nat ran into the late Bob Fox at Sam’s Club in Fairmont before the fearsome football fullback of Monongah High lore passed away in 2014 in Parkersburg.

It was Leatrice who gave Nat my phone number – (330) 388-4466 if you want to call John Jr. Olesky and get me caught up on your life since Monongah High so that I can tell your story, too, on this blog.

After retiring from 15 years in the grocery business, as a deli manager in a super market, Nat stays active in clubs – the Knights of Columbus Ladies Auxiliary and Italian-American Ladies (much like Our Lady of Pompeii’s Ladies Auxiliary in Monongah).

Pat and Virginia Mezzanotte celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2013. They were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Carolina by the late Father Joseph Mascioli. Pat is in a Fairmont assisted living facility.

Nat has vacationed in and liked Safety Harbor, Florida, which isn’t far from Tampa or The Villages, Florida, where I hang out during the winter months in Paula Stone Tucker’s home when we’re not in our Tallmadge, Ohio residence.

But Nat said she didn’t move permanently to Florida because she’s more comfortable in her Indiana/Illinois-ish surroundings.

Nat will be attending another annual Cameon family reunion in late June in Mannington.

Also on the extensive Cameon family tree are Constance Koldres Cameon, Class of 1963; Angela Cameon Viney, Class of 1968; Francine Cameon Jurasko, Class of 1978; Cheri Slamen Cameon, North Marion 1980, and Stan Cameon, North Marion 1981.

If you want to re-connect with Nathaleen Cameon Oliverio, her phone number is (219) 397-2354.

Her email address is N.Oliverio@yahoo.com