When I sent out the Christmas card to
my Class of 1950 members I included addresses, phone numbers of the surviving
members of our class urging them to contact each other via email or phone.
Today I took my own advice.
I called everyone whose phone number
was on the list.
Here’s what I found out, in case
you’re interested:
ROSE COMMODORE CAIN
“I live out in the country” so her
contacts are minimal. One daughter passed away. Rose has another daughter and a
son. Her husband passed away four years ago. They have six grandchildren. Rose
moved to a home she had built near White Hall after her husband passed away.
She lives at 6 Quiet Dell Lane.
ANTHONY EATES
Tony will be going to the doctor
January 5 to scrape the tumors on his bladder. Wife Lucy “still has back
problems.” They have four children. A daughter in Boise, Idaho is with the FBI.
Another child is in Silver Springs, Maryland. Another in Pittsburgh. Their son
is in the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office in Charleston. Ann DeMary
Eates, widow of Tony’s brother, Joe DeMary, fell and was hospitalized. Ann is
home and has caregivers to help her out. Ann and Joe are the godparents of my
son, John Larry Olesky.
FRANK FRANZE
Frank has been out of touch with
other Lions because he’s been having problems with his email and Facebook. He
lives in Slidell, Louisiana and has been widowed twice. Frank has 2 daughters,
4 granddaughters and 5 great-granddaughters. Frank says he does a lot of
“sitting around” (don’t we all during this pandemic?) and “my youngstest
daughter does the shopping for me.” Frank also is dealing with arthiritis.
DONALD HALPENNY
“Jake” no longer drives, “but I still
use my riding mower to cut my lawn.” He was in the United Workers Bank and a
Vingle Band but hasn’t performed musical instruments in public since 1982. Don
has 5 children, 3 living with or near him and another in Pennsylvania. They are
all “under the weather,” Jake says. He is a widow. They had 9 grandchildren,
although one passed away. They have 2 great-grandchildren.
BOB KASPER
“Satch” is spending Christmas with
his daughter, Judith and her family in the South Lyon, Michigan area where Bob
lives. His son, Steven, is with his wife’s family at a small farm upstate in
Hillman, Michigan, hundreds of miles north of Bob’s condo. Bob is a widower.
MARY ANN PUFFENBARGER MOORE
Mary Ann is dealing with sciatica
nerve problems. After her husband passed away five years ago Mary Ann had a
smaller home built that she moved into in Pleasant Valley, near White Hall. She
has sons living in Winchester, Virginia and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and a
daughter living in Pittsburgh. She has four grandchildren. Mary Ann was close
to the late Barbara Bazuk Franklin, Class of 1950, and has been in contact with
Leatrice Yokay Greaser, Class of 1950. Mary Ann missed Monongah High Alumni
Reunions for years because they were held at the same time as the auto races in
Charlotte, North Carolina. Mary Ann were big auto racing fans.
KATHRYN TOOTHMAN CRIM
Kathryn, widow of Reid Crim, Class of
1949, moved from her 40-acre home in Farwell, Michigan into the Green Acres
seniors complex in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Kathryn and Reid have five
children, 3 daughters and 2 sons, 8 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Kathryn’s ATV (all-terrain vehicle) riding days on the Farwell farm are in her
distant past.
PATRICIA URBAN UTZ
Patty is doing “pretty good,”
healthwise. She has a granddaughter who is a professional ballerina who has
performed in New York City and who lives in Boston. Her husband, John, a West
Point graduate with combat military service, is “doing fine.” They have 5
children and 4 grandchildren. Patty and John live in Springfield, Virginia.
Patty talks by phone with Amelia Shenasky Zentz, Monongah’s grande dame who has
seen 100 birthdays and lives on Shenasky Lane in Monongah. Amelia’s parents were Pete and Nell Shenasky, who
owned P.P. Shenasky Grocery adjacent to Thoburn School for decades.
LEATRICE YOKAY GREASER
Leatrice, the best singer our class
(she had her own show on Fairmont WMMS radio station with Mary Jo Forte
accompanying her on the piano), spent time in the Emergency Room when her blood
pressure went above 200 and her nose was bleeding. “I don’t walk that good,”
Leatrice says. She’s fallen 6 or 7 times in recent years. “I feel OK, but I don’t
have the energy to do anything.” She combats boredom during this pandemic year “by
taking out my yearbooks” and the two Class of 1950 books that I compiled and
gave to my classmates. “I am too allergic to everything,” Leatrice says, which
complicates her medical treatments. “I can’t even take penicillin.” She has a
son. Leatrice’s family includes world champion wrestler who competed
successfully in Japan, in Texas and in New Jersey. Her brother, John, is
dealing with memory problems.
I called to wish them Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year. Their gift to me was the joy of talking to them again. I
could almost hear the bell signaling the end of a class at Monongah. It was
Christmas bells in my mind.
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