CATCHING UP WITH THE BRZUZY FAMILY OF MONONGAH. THE PNA TAVERN OWNERS.

 

This is a Catching Up With the Brzuzy family article. Since Wladyslaw “Walter” and Stephania Zuzak Brzuzy had 9 children this took weeks to put together with a LOT of help from Winnie Bland Few, Edith Brzuzy Bland’s daughter.

2015 Steve Brzuzy of Pricketts Creek Run, Fairmont passed away. Stephen’s wife, Eva Blanche “Banny” Hostutler Brzuzy, passed away in 2010. They had one child.

 

Stanley Brzuzy, born in Monongah in 1939, passed away April 26, 2014.

 

 Walter Brzuzy, Class of 1950, passed away in 1986 in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Walter managed the PNA Tavern operated by his father, Wladyslaw “Walter,” including as the house man who took 10% of every pot in poker games held regularly in the Monongah PNA Tavern across the street from Thoburn School. When police periodically raided the PNA poker game Walter would pay everyone’s fines and they would go back to playing poker. Finally, they set up the poker behind the bar, in what was a storage room with 4 walls but no window but made a great hiding place to play poker in case cops showed up and a button was pushed by someone at the bar to tell everyone to hide cards and the money.

 

From Winnie Bland Few, daughter of Edith Brzuzy Bland:

“My mom passed in 2008. She spent the last part of her life in Texas.

“I served in the military as most if not all of my uncles did. There are a few Brzuzys left in Fairmont. There are distant relatives in Poland. In my travels I met up with Pope John Paul in Guam. He being Polish I felt like I was home again.

 

“My grandparents called Stan “Spud.” He was my uncle because my mother, Edith Brzuzy Bland, was his sister.

 

“I am Winnifred Few, born in New York City and currently living in Texas. Edith Brzuzy passed away in 2008. I don’t remember when her mother Stella Brzuzy passed away.” Winnifred lives in Dickinson.

 

 

The late John Brzuzy lived in Richmond, Indiana and was a star athlete at Fairmont West when the Brzuzy family moved to Country Club Road in Fairmont. The Brzuzys ran the PNA (Polish National Alliance) Tavern in Monongah that was between the Joe Hanus Garage and the Hanus Grocery in the same building on U.S. 19 across from Thoburn School, at the Jackson  Street intersection.

Johnny retired from the Scott Boy's Club in 1992 as the executive director. He was a Fairmont State College graduate with a passion for golf, fishing and hunting. John was a former member of the Elks, a member of St. Mary Catholic Church and a United States Army Veteran.

Survivors include his children Louis (Ann) Brzuzy of Anchorage, Alaska, John Brzuzy of Houston, Texas, Stephanie Brzuzy of Chicago, Illinois, and Cynthia (Kent) Cammack of Clinton, Indiana; special companion Karen Rankin; stepchildren Roberta (Steve) Berhalter, Rebecca (Tommy Mayberry) Rankin and Kimberly (Tim) Golbuff.

 

Also deceased are sisters Freda Brzuzy Rogers, Class of 1945, Edith Brzuzy Bland and Laura Brzuzy Yereb; brothers Chester Brzuzy and Edwin Brzuzy; and sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law Eva Blanche Banny Hostutler  Brzuzy, Robert Rogers, Ruth Ann Brzuzy, Ralph Yereb and Cecelia Brzuzy.