Brenda Urban lucked out despite Matthew

Monongah High grad Brenda Urban, Class of 1971, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, escaped Hurricane Matthew without power outage or property damage.

Matthew took out 90% of 1,100-feet Springmaid Pier in Myrtle Beach. Huge trees and power lines came down.

Brenda reports that "I was very blessed!! The rest of Surfside Beach and Myrtle Beach will have a great amount of cleanup to do. It will take probably all of the Winter to get things back to normal. I just wanted to say thank you and to let you know that all is well here!!!!”

The Fairmont State graduate is Stanley Urban, Jr.’s daughter and the granddaughter of Stanley Urban, Sr., long-ago proprietor of Urban’s Grocery south of the UMW Hall.

Brenda's brothers are Greg Urban, Class of 1966, who lives in North Carolina, and the late Mark Urban, Class of 1969, who lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Brenda’s grandfather and Andrew Urban were brothers. Andrew is the father of Patty Urban Utz, Class of 1950, and the son of Peter Urban, who was one of five who survived the 1907 Monongah mines explosion.

Judy Stewart Razook, Class of 1959, who has lived in North Palm Beach, Florida, since 1964, also survived Matthew’s wrath. The hurricane was 80 miles off shore after turning north, sparing Judy’s city.

Prudy Tetrick Funk, Class of 1960, and husband Jim Funk in Longwood, Florida, 15 miles north of Orlando, had only limbs falling and a shutter blown off their living room window.

Prudy and Jim moved from Denver, Pennsylvania to Florida.