CATCHING UP WITH THE SHELOSKY FAMILY

 

The Shelosky clan began in Poland as Szydlowski. Like so many, at Ellis Island the name got changed to something people who speak only English could deal with.

 

St. Stanislaus Church in Monongah had a stained glass window with “Szydlowski” on it, the surname of the ancestors in Poland.

 

Stanley “Strob” Shelosky, Class of 1958, and George Walter Shelosky, Jr., son of George Shelosky, Class of 1932, were brothers. Strob passed away in 1993, his wife Julia Lazorick Shelosky in 2013, the same year that Bernie Shelosky, Class of 1964, passed away.

 

St. Barbara’s Memorial Nursing Home not far from Willowdale Drive sits on land donated by the Shelosky family. Willowdale once was occupied by Kasper and Kubiet families including Bob Kasper of South Lyon, Michigan, my best friend for 84 years (since we first met in first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School).

 

Strob and Julia had four children:

 

Tom, Class of 1958, and wife Phyllis Simmons have 5 children, Brenda, Greg, Monica, Brian and Jeff, who gave them 8 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

 

Becky Shelosky Carvillano, Class of 1961, and Anthony Carvillano have three children, Mark, John and Shelley, and 5 grandchildren.

 

Bernie Shelosky and Linda Mazza Shelosky have 2 children, Stephany and Andrea, and 2 grandchildren. Bernie passed away in 2013 in Pruntytown.

 

A huge Lions thank-you roar to Barbara Shelosky, Class of 1968, who provided much of the information and ID checkups at my request. Barbara and husband Eric Willis have 3 children.

 

Barbara added:

“George and Sophie did not have children and became everyone's aunt and uncle on both sides of the family. Uncle George surely remembered for his bear hugs and Aunt Sophie famous for cinnamon rolls! Both were godparents to many in the Shelosky family.

“All of my siblings/families live in Monongah/Fairmont area with Bernie's widow living in the Shelosky original homestead on St. Barbara's Road. Eric and I went California Dreaming in 1982 and have lived in San Diego since then. But home is where the heart is in those hills, those West Virginia hills!”

Indeed, Barbara.

My aunt, the late Helen Olesky Kerekes, sister of my father, John W. Olesky, Sr., who married Steve Kerekes of Carolina, was famous for her cookie-baking. She mailed them to me every Christmas. I salivated as I opened the package. No one in our family could make cookies taste so delicious as Aunt Helen.

Barbara was a speech language pathologist at San Diego Unified School District after getting her WVU master’s degree in speech and language pathology. Her first major at WVU was journalism, like mine, because “I wanted to be a sportcaster for ESPN!” Her husband Eric was a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente for 35 years where my Paul was a psychologist for about two decades before returning to Ohio and 17 years of putting up with me before she bought a home in The Villages, Florida where Paula lives today.

Sophie V. Shelosky, married to George Walter Shelosky, Jr., passed away in 2009 at the age of 90. George predeceased her in 2005. Sophie’s parents were Adam Dudiak and Sophie Shamala Dudiak. Sophie worked at St. Barbara’s Memorial Nursing Home in Monongah for 40 years. Her sister was Mary Dudiak Raymond, who married Angelo Raymond. Mary and Angelo’s children are Rosemary Raymond Paglario and the late Bobby Raymond, my playmate in my pre-school years. Sophie’s other siblings were John Dudiak, Frank Dudiak two and Anna Dudiak Koval.