Monongah is planning a major blowout for Amelia Shenasky Zentz’s 100th birthday Saturday, January 11 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Monongah Town Hall.

Amelia is the cute blonde behind the counter at her parents’ P.P. Shenasky Grocery during my childhood who let me grab a handful of candy corn when I visited with my mother.  

Today Amelia lives on Shenasky Lane not far from the building where Pete and Nell spend their days. These days it is owned by John Boggess, son of the late Evelyn Kasper Boggess, Class of 1953, and the late Okey Boggess, who once was a coal miner.

Mary “Kitty” Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968, who lives on Lyndon Avenue in Monongah, cares for Amelia.

The whole town owes the Shenaskys a debt of gratitude. They didn’t just run a grocery store. They made sure that the miners’ children, during long strikes by the UMW, didn’t starve by letting their parents run up a tab for groceries which were repaid by most, but not all, after the strikes ended.

That is the Monongah I remember from my childhood.

If you live in Monongah, or close enough to get there, be sure to show up at 430 Bridge Street at the Town Hall to show your respect and gratitude to a Monongah legend, Amelia.

Elite Barnyard Couture manager and Fairmont State graduate Jolynn Baranski Taylor, Amelia’s goddaughter, speadheaded a cadre of caring citizens hosting the event.

It is SO Monongah.