This photo shows the Class of 1964 on
its 50th anniversary when TWENTY THREE showed up as the honor class
at the annual Monongah High Alumni Banquet in 2014. That beat out the Class of 1961,
when 19 appeared at the 2021 MHS Banquet.
Which provided me with a springboard
for this Catching Up With article, which is so popular with Monongah High
alumni from California to Maine to Florida that the number of hits doubles when
I publish one because Lions want to know what has happened to Lions after
Monongah High.
So here goes:
IRENE VOZNIAK STROUD
Also a Fairmont State nursing
graduate, Irene has lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for 40 years. So do both
of Irene and husband Brent Stroud’s children and two grandchildren. Brent got
his master’s degree at WVU.
They met when Brent attended WVU
graduate school and Irene was a Registered Nurse at WVU Medical Center after
getting her nursing degree from Fairmont State.
Brent is a Mountaineer twice over. He
got his undergraduate business degree from Appalachian State University in
Boone, North Carolina. Appalachian sports teams, like WVU’s, are Mountaineers.
Irene and Brent have
two children: Adam and his wife Laura who have a son, Jackson, and Sarah Stroud Mace, with a daughter
Nadia.
Brent’s Nortel Networks job took him to
Raleigh in 1981. They moved to Raleigh from Cleveland, Ohio.
Her best friends in high school were
Patty Beccaloni Murphy, Joan Barniak Bias and Freddie Colosino Villers. “We
always look forward to our visits back to West Virginia,” Irene told me.
PATRICA BECCALONI MURPHY
She married Roy “Jaybird” Murphy,
Class of 1966, who once hung out in Worthington with such former Monongah High
classmates as Edgar Burley, Class of 1962; Jim Nottingham, Class of 1961; Jim
McDaniel, Class of 1960, who today lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Joe
McCullough, Class of 1962; David Willis, Class of 1961; Clifford Morgan,
Class of 1961; Harold Maze, Class of 1961; Wilbur Smith, Class of 1960; and
Howard Shuttlesworth Jr., Class of 1972.
Patty’s
parents were Margaret Browning Beccaloni and Mario Beccaloni, sister of Robert
Beccaloni and stepdaughter of Steve Sinkovich. Edgar once ran for mayor of Worthington.
FREDRICK
RONALD “FRED” MOORHEAD
His parents were Norma
Lee Croaston Moorehead and Walter Colbert, killed during the Battle of the
Bulge in World War II. Fred’s siblings are Monongah Alumni Association
treasurer Donna Davis, married to Bill Davis, Class of 1958; Linda Pruitte, who
married Richard Pruitte.
Fred’s
late wife was Linda Savereno Moorhead, Class of 1968.
LINDA
NOTTINGHAM WILLIS
She
was a daughter of Virginia Minardi Nottingham and Russell J.
Nottingham. Linda, who worked for State Farm Insurance after being a majorette
and class officer at Monongah High, married Dave Willis in 1965. Linda’s
brother, John Tommy Nottingham, Class of 1968, married Victoria Blocker
Nottingham, Class of 1969.
MARGUERITE MARY “MUGGY”
MATTHEWS STOTTLEMIRE
Her siblings are Rose
Matthews Illich, Class of 1960, who married Nico “Nick” Ilich, one of the few
people in the world to make SIX holes-in-one in golf, at Green Hills Country
Club in Everson, and Simon Matthews Jr., Class of 1956, who married Shirley
Smith Matthews, Class of 1957. Simon and Shirley once were the owners of The
Den in Monongah.
Their parents were Simon Matthews and Marguerite Tropea
Mathews, Class of 1926. Marguerite was part of the Tony Tropea family that
had the grocery store on Camden Avenue (U.S. 19) next to the building that
housed Carlot’s Grill.
Simon Paul was on the 1955 Monongah High state champions
football team, a teacher/coach for 28 years at Monongah and Farmington high
schools and a former Monongah mayor.
JIM DAVIS
Mechanic/electrian at Four States
Mine #20, Purglove #15 and Robinson Run #95 for Consol Energy, named the
Consolidation Coal Company when I spent my childhood in Monongah. Jim studied
electrical high medium low voltage at WVU in 1977. He has been a Monongah
resident his entire life.
Jim was the
Homecoming escort in 1964 for Ohio native Mareia Wilmouth McDougal, Class of
1964, a Homecoming princess who spent her first three years at Shinnston High before
transferring to Monongah High. Mareia married Earl Edward
McDougal, Class of 1963, who was the driver for Jim and Mareia in the
Homecoming parade. Mareia’s sister, Helen Louise McDougal Mudry, Class of 1965, married Ronald
Alan Mudry, class of 1967.
LARRY MYERS
Larry’s twin
brother, Gary Sherman Myers, also Class of 1964, who was married to Dina Jan
Myers for 49 years, passed away in 2020. Larry operates Larry Myers Hyundai in Bridgeport, where he lives. Larry and
Gary’s sister, Sherry Myers Colanero, Class of 1965, married Bob Colanero.
Gary
was a football, basketball and golf coach at Clarksburg Notre Dame High School,
a coach in Little League Baseball and a coach on the Fraternal Order of Police
Pee Wee football team that won the championship in a Raleigh, North Carolina
bowl game. Gary also coached basketball at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School
in Monongah.
When
not coaching for teaching Gary was an insurance agent for Henry and Hardesty
and later Chamber and Flowers of Clarksburg and Accordia/Wells-Fargo in
Clarksburg.
Larry
and Gary attended the 2014 Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Fairmont.
ROCKY TETRICK
His stepfather was
Bill Bunner, who married Betty Tate Bunner, Class of 1944. Bill’s sister, the
late Saundra Tetrick Loretta, Class of 1966, married Dave Loretta, Class of
1961.
GEORGE LEROY
THOMPSON
George Leroy attended the 2014 Monongah High Alumni
reunion with Jerry Thompson, Joann Thompson and Sam Thompson. Leroy and Jerry
both worked at Four States Mine #20, whose survivors hold reunions. George
Leroy also headed up the reunion of former Hutchinson School students that drew
63 in 2015.
STANLEY VANCE
Stan lives in Bridgeport, is a 1966 Santa Ana Junior
College graduate and is married to Fran Vance. Stan’s sister is Thelma Vance
Jones. Stan is a Vietnam veteran. Elizabeth Vance Watson and Vanessa Vance are
his daughters. Like George Leroy Thompson, Stan played a major role in
organizing the former Hutchinson School reunion in 2015.
JIM GANDY
Jim is on the
Monongah High Alumni Association board of directors. His wife, Linda Lopez
Gandy, is the Alumni Association president. They have been married 53 years. They live in Alachua, Florida after spending most of their
lives in Monongah. Jim was born on the same day,
month and year as former President Donald Trump – June 14, 1946.
Linda was one of coach Gene
Kenzior’s softball players on the 1960 Marion County champs from Monongah. And,
for one year, under coach David Van Meter.
Linda father, the late
Sam Lopez, Sr. survived the 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis, including
four days in the Philipines Sea with sharks picking off crew members floating
in the Pacific Ocean. With 880 dead from the Japanese submarine torpedoes’
explosions with 1,196 aboard.
That is the worst at-sea death total in Navy history.
SANDRA SUE STAFFORD
ASHCRAFT
Sandy’s sisters, Mildred “Hazel” Stafford Frost, Class of 1960, who passed
away in 2020, and Marion Faye Stafford Pirkheim, Class of 1948, are
deceased. They moved from Hutchinson to Carolina by the time they began at
Monongah High. Their mother was Mildred
Gaye Stone Stafford.
Those not in the 2014 50th reunion photo
include:
BARBARA ANN COULTER MARSH
Barbara is the widow of Dennis Lee Toler, who
lost his life along with 77 other men in the Consol number 9 mine explosion in
1968, and had two stretches as Monongah News
columnist in the Fairmont Times. Barbara once ran into Monongah Town Recorder
Patty Steele McCombs in a Steak ‘N Shake Restaurant in Bristol, Tennessee.
Barbara
and Dennis had three sons and a daughter.
LARAINE
LUSHINSKI CLARK
She is
the widow of Denny Clark. They lived in Mt. Clare near Clarksburg. Laraine and siblings Rosemary and the late John,
Jr. grew up on Church Street, two doors down from the Olesky family. Their
parents were Sophie and John Lushinski, Sr.
Rosemary is the godmother of WVU Ruby Memorial pharmacist Renee
Straight, daughter of my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955. Rosemary
is married to Ron Tetrick. Both are Class of 1958 and live in Baden,
Pennsylvania.
Jackie taught Denny and Laraine’s daughter, April, when April
was working her way toward a North Marion High diploma. Jackie also taught at
Rivesville High before it consolidated with Fairmont West and Monongah
consolidated into North Marion.
STEPHEN
JOSEPH MIKULSKI
Fairmont State grad
Stephen Mikulski, a Montgomery County Public Schools teacher of
engineering design who married Holly White Mikulski and lives in
Germantown, Maryland.
His
mother was Violet Morris Higinbotham Mikulski, Class of 1944. His siblings
are Tom Mikulski, Class of 1966, who grew up in Carolina and lives in
Henderson, Nevada; David Higinbotham and wife Cheryl of Greensburg,
Pennsylvania; Catherine Rogers and husband Harry of Fairmont; and Susan Morgan
and husband Nick Perrotto of Cupertino, California.
Steve and Holly’s
daughter, Kristen Mikulski Mitchell, lives in Istanbul, Turkey with husband Nick Mitchell.
ROBERT MORRIS
His parents are Earl
and Josephine Hunt Morris. His siblings are Gene Morris who married Mary Jo;
Jeffrey Wayne Morris who married Ester; and, all deceased, Paul Maxie Morris, who
married Zelda Morris, Ruth Keener, Kathleen Rumer and Leatrice Morris.
IN MEMORIAM
GARY SHERMAN
MYERS
passed away on
August 20, 2020.
Son of the late Kenneth
Sherman and Goldie Jean Myers.
He graduated
from Monongah High School then Fairmont State College. He obtained his
Bachelor’s Degree and teaching certificate.
He taught high
school in Lorrain, Ohio then returned to West Virginia to teach at Notre Dame
High School in Clarksburg. While at Notre Dame, he was the head football coach
and assistant basketball coach, as well as coached golf.
He later became
an insurance agent at Henry and Hardesty and then Chamber and Flowers of
Clarksburg for 22 years before going to Accordia/Wells-Fargo in Clarksburg until
he retired.
He coached
Little League Baseball and F.O.P. football which he took to a bowl game at
Raleigh, North Carolina where they became Pee Wee champions. He also coached
basketball at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School in Monongah. Gary was a
member of the Monongah Baptist Church.
Gary was married
to Dina Jan Myers for 49 years. Their sons were Preston Tracy Myers and Trent
Sherman Myers.
Gary had a twin
brother, Larry, and a sister, Sherry, who married Bob Colanero.
GOLDIE MAE
MARTIN
Passed away in
2021 in Fairmont. Her parents were Herman
B. and Delphie M. Jones Martin. She was the last surviving member of her large
immediate family. Goldie’s siblings were Jimmy Martin, Harold Martin, Becky
Vincent, Betty Flint, Alice Martin, Leanda Martin and Naomi J. Miller.
She
was a cook and waitress at Hando’s Restaurant and also worked at The Igloo.
SHOCKEY MAYLE
Passed
away in 2018. He married Brenda Mayle. Steve Mayle, Class of 1968, is
Shockey’s brother.
Another
brother, Texan Dewayne "Sonny" Mayle, is buried, like Shockey,
in the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
Shockey was a starter on defense for the 1963 Monongah
High football team that came within 12 points of going undefeated and
was one of the captains for the 1963-64 Lions basketball team.
He worked at the Four States #20 mine.
JANICE FULLEN MAYFIELD SPINNER
Passed away in 1994 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Her children are Robert Mayfield, Jr. and Martha Mayfield
Brown.
REX THOMAS MINNEAR
His parents were William Columbus and Lauda
Lucille Harris Minnear.
Rex was employed by O.C. Cluss as a lumber yard worker. He was formerly the
district manager of the Times West Virginia and also a carrier.
He married Sally Ann Minnear in 1969. Their daughters are Dawn Miller of Farmington
and Kristine Ponton of Fairmont.
Rex sisters were the late Barbara Jo Dumire
and Betty Jean Childers.
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