CATCHING UP WITH ELAINE HEWITT MONELL

 

CATCHING UP WITH

Elaine Hewitt Monell

 

Elaine Hewitt Monell, Class of 1949, of Riverside, a Dayton, Ohio suburb, the widow of Raymond “Soak” Monell, Class of 1945, provided this welcome and heartwarming greeting:

 

“Merry Christmas John,

“Good hearing from you and hope you’re doing well. You asked about our Christmas. Christmas Eve is always a big time for our family. We still celebrate the Italian custom of having the seven fish and of course pasta, so it is a busy time. It was a little different this year due to the Covid pandemic, each of my children, with their children, will remain at home. We Zoomed at 8 0’clock to celebrate together. My one daughter and her family where with me at my house.

“I have four children, thirteen grandchildren and six great grandchildren. It’s been eight years since Soak passed and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss him. We were together sixty-one years.

“Take care John, keep in touch and a Blessed Christmas and healthy and Happy New Year to you and your family.

“Elaine”

 

Elaine also has indelible memories of the Champion Store, Consol’s company store in Monongah:

 

“I have a lot of memories of the Company Store. Practically every day I would go there for my Mother. I would take a short cut by going through the lot in back of the Post Office.

 

“When you entered the store the Dry Goods Dept. was to your right, on the left was the grocery section and in the back was the meat department. Everyone stood in front of the meat counter waiting for their turn. As I recall one of the butchers was Bob Kirk's grandfather and the other everyone called him Butch.

 

“Mr. Rogers was the manager, Mary Ellen Knight worked in the Dry Goods Dept. and later years Elda Tartell (Hammer's sister) worked there, and I also remember your Mom (Lena Futten Olesky, who immigrated from Italy as a child in 1920).

 

“Pearl Morris (Marvin Morris) sister worked in the grocery section and James Shultz (Hammer's sister Liz's husband) drove the delivery truck.

 

“I'm not sure if I'm correct with this name but I believe a Mr. Leeper worked outside the store. I don't remember what this section was called.

 

“The best part of the trip to the store was buying an ice cream sandwich or a creamsickle. They were the best and only cost 5 cents. During the war everything was rationed and you had to use a certain amount of tokens to purchase the merchandise. I believe it was blue for meat and red for groceries, or vice versa.

 

“On the side of the Dry Goods Dept. was another department where you could buy clothing, etc. I remember I was in the band and we had to have black shoes to wear with our uniform and that's where I bought my shoes.

 

“Another memory was all the miners standing outside of the store waiting to be paid.

 

“This has really been a trip down Memory Lane."

 

For me, too, Elaine, thanks to you. I remember miners buying cigarettes, then selling them immediately to my mom and passersby for instant money.

 

When I worked in the Dayton Daily News sports department and lived in Dayton, my late wife Monnie and I would visit Jim Shultz and wife Liz Tartell Shultz from time to time. Hammer – Eugene Tartell – also moved to Dayton, and lived there in retirement till he passed away. Liz and Jim also have passed away.

 

The Elaine and Soak love story began at the PNA Tavern where Elaine, Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah, and Madonna Haggerty frequented to get a look at John "Duke" Manzo, Frank Ross and Soak. A first date at the Strand Theater led on May 12, 1951, to the altar at Our Lady of Pompeii Church with Father John Reardon handling the wedding ceremony and Joe Faber’s band providing the music at the Union Hall reception.

 

Soak passed away in 2012.

 

Madonna Haggerty, Class of 1949, became Mrs. Albert Snider. Ramona, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah, became Mrs. Frank Michalski. Frank, who left Monongah High after his final 1948 football season there, is deceased.

Soak’s sister, Julie Monell Koloskie, passed away in 2013. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Junior Koloskie, Class of 1944; son Jerry Koloskie, Class of 1975, once deputy athletic director at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and at Albany in New York; and sister Lydia Monell of Monongah.