The Class of 1972 will be one of the
honor classes at 99th Monongah High Alumni Banquet at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May
28.
Since North Marion, Fairmont West and
Fairmont East will have their graduation ceremonies on Friday, May 27,
grandparents can take in their grandchildren’s high school ceremony on Friday
and stay for their MHS Alumni Reunion the next day.
Two for the price of one trip.
As for Catching Up With the Class of
1972 members:
Kim Thompson is a Thompsons owner
(former Worthington Farm Supply) and Marion County Rescue Squad emergency
medical technician and Fairmont State graduate who lives in Bridgeport. His
parents were Violet “Irene” Thompson, Class of 1943, and Junior Thompson, both
deceased. Kim’s brother is R.D. “Donny” Thompson III, who married wife Brenda.
Irene’s brother, Steven “Bucky” Satterfield, was in the teen gang that I ran
around with in Marion County during my Monongah High days.
Terry Shilley was a civil engineer
for 30 years with the Army Corps of Engineers and West Virginia Department of
Transportation bridge engineer who worked at Pittsburgh’s Green International.
He is a WVU civil engineering graduate from Worthington who lives today in
Huntington with his wife for 45 years, Fran. Their
children are Chrissy Shilley and Ryan Shilley.
Steve Garrett worked for
Consol Energy, which we knew as Consolidation Coal Company in the 1940s and
1950s, and was a Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy. When Steve and wife Robin
Harley Garrett’s grandson, Spencer Garrett of Idamay, was in third grade he won
a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond from the Union Springs,
Alabama-based Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program for growing a 14-pound cabbage.
He competed against more than a million other third graders. Spencer’s parents are Thomas and Kristi Garrett of Idamay.
Sharon Garrett Sokolosky, Class of 1967, is Spencer’s great-aunt.
Josephine
Allen Popovich Stanley Jones, who goes by Joey Jones these days, once was a
Tygart Center personal clothing laundry aide and worked at the Wishing Well.
She still lives in Hutchinson, as she did during her Monongah High days. She
married Sherwood Jones in 1955. They live in Hutchinson. Their children
are Ron Jones, who also graduated from Monongah High, and Vanessa Jones
Rodriguez, who graduated from North Marion. Joey and Sherwood have 4
grandchildren: Erik Jones, Kylie Jones and Cory Jones, all North Marion
graduates, and Aubrey Rodriguez, a 5-year-old who is Vanessa’s daughter.
Terri
Orsini Saye is a former University of North Carolina Law Library
cataloger/documents librarian and 1978 Pitt graduate who lives in Durham, North
Carolina. Terri Orsini Saye, Class of 1972, who
lives in Durham, North Carolina, will be officially retired as of June 1 as
Cataloging Librarian at the University of North Carolina School of Law in
Chapel Hill. Her parents are Tony Orsini, Class of 1946, and Mary Louise Baker
Orsini, who began at Monongah High with the Class of 1948. Tony was one of
the six athletic Monongah High Orsini brothers: Tom “Bum,” Larry, Jimmy, Junior
(Cocoa) and Bill. The Orsini family had a grocery store in Worthington run by
mom Sylvia Orsini. Tom, Class of 1950, married Peggy Rauer Orsini, Class
of 1959.
David Westfall lives in Monongah with
his wife for 47 years Marcia Michalski Westfall. Dave worked for Fresa Construction in Bridgeport for 18 years, EIMCO
for 1½ and West Virginia’s Division of Highways for 27 years. Dave’s
mother, Lillie Marie Higginbotham Westfall,
passed away in 2017. Dave’s father, Gilbert Junior Westfall, also is deceased.
So is Dave’s brother, George Junior Westfall. Dave and Marcia, Class of 1974,
often hop on their Harley ElectroGlide motorcycle for trip to California
(Golden Gate Bridge), Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho)
and Florida and anywhere else they take a notion to during the summer months
when Marcia was teaching in Monongah and Marion County in any grade from kindergarten
through 8th grade for more than 30 years. Marcia’s parents are
Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, and the late Frank Michalski, Class of
1950. Dave and Marcia were named Marion County Family of the Year in 2015. Their children and spouses are Brandie and
Kiley Haney, Chad and Amy Westfall Raines and David and Nichelle Westfall. The grandchildren are, via Brandie, Caleb, Kiley and
Aiden Haney; via Amy, Ally and Ethan Raines and Brevon Westfall; and by Dave, Lucy and Forrest Westfall.
Patti DeMary Evans retired as a UHC
registered nurse. She was at UHC from 1987 to 2006. Patti is a 1974 Fairmont
State graduate who lives in Fairmont. She was married in 1974 to coal miner
Brian Evans, whose 37 years included Consol’s Loveridge Mine. Her oldest granddaughter,
Joshlynn Boone, will be graduating from Fairmont West on Memorial Day Weekend,
too. Patti’s father, Frankie DeMary, Class of 1947, did father-daughter
speeches at Monongah High’s 1972 graduation day for Patti. Patti’s parents were Tina Virginia “Peaches” Aldridge DeMary,
Class of 1945, and Frank DeMary, Jr., Class of 1947, who owned and ran a
grocery story at the end of Bridge Street in Monongah before they moved to
Rivesville. Earlier, Peaches and Frank owned a grocery story in Pennsylvania.
Terry Freeman was fireboss or mine
examiner during his coal mining days. He once lived in Farmington but today
lives in Shinnston.
James “Jack” Fullen retired from
Gassafy Wholesale and lives in Columbia City, Indiana.
Bruce Coleman worked at Harrison Power
Station and married in 1977.
Pete Basagic worked at Davis Electric
and still lives in Monongah and has been married for 47 years to MHS grad Kathy
Martin Basagic. 1973 Farmington High graduate Cora Martin
Fazio, married to my cousin David Fazio, is Kathy’s sister. Richard Basagic, Class of
1948, is Pete’s father. Pete and Cathy were wed in St. Stanislaus Church, where
Pete once was an altar boy, as I once was. They live in Monongah.
The Basagic family ran the beer
tavern just across from Consolidation Coal Company’s Champion grocery store,
which once was the Frank Lowe Meat Market, and named it the 52/20 Club. For the
youngsters among us, that referred to the GI Bill for World War II veterans that
provided $20 a week for 52 weeks for unemployed veterans. It doesn’t sound like
much today, but it was more than walking-around money in the late 1940s.
Hassan Basagic, Class of 1963,
attended the 2013 Monongah High Alumni Reunion with Marlene Sandy. Hassan
Basagic, Jr., Class of 1941, died in 1980. Julius Basagic is listed both as Class of 1943 and Class of 1945
in my Monongah High graduation lists but as Class of 1945 in the North Marion
High alumni directory. Fairmont West grad Mark Basagic, son of Julie Basagic, Class of
1945, and Ann Vukovich Basagic, passed away in 2017.
Debra Williams Hockenberry attended
Clay-Battelle High School before she graduated from Monongah High. She lives in
Monongah with husband David Hockenberry, who worked for Consol’s Blacksville #2
Mine. Debra and Dave were married in 1988.
Brenda Starkey Pratt, now Brenda
Martin Flanigan, studied math at Fairmont State and WVU and lives in Fairmont.
She lived in Carolina during her Monongah High days. Brenda has been at 8
Grands Sew Shop since 2017.
Ruth Ann Mike O’Dell lived in
Farmington before she passed away but lived in Four States during her Monongah High days. She married
in 1973.
Beatrice Murphy Henderson still lives
in Carolina, as she did when she attended Monongah High.
William Sailor, who preferred Billy Sailor, was a military retiree living in Colorado Springs, Colorado when he passed away in 2019. He lived in Hutchinson while attending Monongah High. Billy’s brother, Roy Sailor, Class of 1967, also is deceased. Another brother, Charles “Chuck” Sailor, Class of 1975, lives in Lumberport with wife Dinah Sailor. And brother John Sailor, Class of 1965, lives in the Bronx section of New York City with wife Jane Sailor. BHrother Jimmy Sailor lives in Fairmont with wife Debbie Sailor.
Pearl Greynolds Eddy is a Fairmont
State graduate living in Grant Town.
Diane Pethel is a Fairmont State
graduate who retired in 2020. She lived in Worthington while attending Monongah
High.
I have been informed by others that Debra Rowand Swiger, Cheryl Esultante, Thea Beth Madden Pierce and Jo Ellen Stanley, who passed away in 2019, also are deceased. Jo Ellen's sister is Colette Stanley Melton.
If you know otherwise or know of other Class of 1972 members who have passed away, email me at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com or post it on the Facebook page for John Olesky.
The Class of 1972
guys and gals, to quote musical playwright genius Damon Runyon, are June Ann
Blair Megna, Rosemarie Chucci Buffkin, Debbie Conley Boliner, Diana Conner,
Brenda Cunningham Moore, Patti DeMary Evans, Diane Dickens Pethel, Judy
Duckworth Campbell, the late Cheryl Esultante, Pearl Greynolds Eddy, Marlene
Hamilton Conner, Sharon Hines Link, Debra Holbrook Shumate, Marriet Hunter,
Bertha Jones Wilson, the late Brenda Knight Stover, Thea Beth Madden Pierce,
Beatrice Murphy Henderson, Ruth Mike O'Dell, Susan Mikulski Morgan, Linda Mills Levelle,
Marsha Minnear Christopher, Jane Moore Alasky, Donna Morgan Snyder, Terri
Orsini Saye, the late Debra Rowand Swiger, Nan Sabo Hansen, Greg Aldridge, Pete
Basagic, Robert Batiste, Danny Bissett, Donald Chapman, James Colanero, Bruce
Coleman, John Domico, John Efaw, James “Jack” Fullen, Terry Freeman, Steven
Garrett (any relation to the late Richard Garrett in my Class of 1950?), Aaron
Justice, Mark Kuhns, Steven Lantz, Kevin McCombs, Curtis Mayo, Thimothy Miller,
Franklin Raddish, Roger Raines, Paul Riggs, Sidney Riggs, Billy Sailor, Rick
Shaver (any connection to 40-year Monongah High secretary Ida Shaver?), Terry
Shilley, John Starr, Kim Thompson, David Westfall and Paul Wood.
If you ARE in the
Class of 1972 and I didn’t get information about you at the top of this
article, email me at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com or post a response on the Facebook page of John Olesky and
I’ll add it to this article.
If you want to join
the Class of 1972 and Class of 1962 honor classes and your former classmates at
the 99th Monongah High Alumni Banquet, which first began in 1922,
100 years ago, making it the longest-running high school reunion in West
Virginia history, click on the Reservations form on this blog, enlarge it, fill
it out and mail it in with your check for $30 per person.
Join the fun or stay
at home and be bored.
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