CATCHING UP WITH THE BRZUZY FAMILY OF MONONGAH

 

At my request Regina Brzuzy, daughter of Stephen and Eva Blanche Hostutler Brzuzy, provided updated information on the Brzuzy family of Monongah.

Regina is retired after being a kitchen helper at WVU Hospitals, a Big Lots cashier. She graduated from Fairmont East High and Fairmont State University and lives in Fairmont.

Stephen and Eva met at what then was the First National Bank. Eva worked there and Stephen was a customer who eventually would only go to Eva when he came to the bank, where Eva began her days there in 1964.

Stephen and Eva, who later worked at A&P and J.C. Murphey in Fairmont over the years, were married in 1967. Regina, born in 1968, was their only child. Eva, who passed away in 2010, is buried in Fairmont’s Mount Carmel Cemetery, sometimes called Holy Cross Cemetery.

Their father, Wladyslaw “Walter,” owned and operated PNA Tavern, as in Polish National Alliance, in the same businesses under one roof with Hanus Grocery and Joe Hanus Garage across the street from Thoburn School and down the block from P.P. Shenasky and Monzo grocery stores and a block away from Fazio Grocery at the bottom of Jackson Street hill.

There were 9 Brzuzy children born to Stephania Zuzak Brzuzy and Wladyslaw/Walter.

Regina’s parents passed away in 2015 (Stephen) and 2010 (Eva).

Stanley Brzuzy passed away in 2014.

 

Walter Brzuzy, Class of 1950, passed away in 1986 in Monaca, Pennsylvania.

 

Edith Brzuzy Bland, mother of Stephania Zuzak Brzuzy, passed away in 2008 after moving to Texas.

 

Winnifred Few, born in New York City, was Edith’s daughter. Winifred is an NYC Cathedral High and Harvard University graduate HHand lives in Dickinson, Texas.

 

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. 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. Johnny had 4 children and 3 stepchildren.

 

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.

 

Son Walter Brzuzy, in my Class of 1950, was houseman for the poker games at the PNA Tavern. When the West Virginia Highway Patrol made too many visits after getting complaints from wives unhappy with their husbands losing so much coal miner money in the poker games, the Brzuzy family an enclosed room behind the bar, out of sight of everyone, with a buzzer at the bar that got pushed when the police showed up so that the poker players removed the money from the table and the cops had no proof of illegal gambling.

I remember the day that Walter Brzuzy had my father beat with the cards showing in 5-card stud, plus 2 down cards, and bet about 2 weeks pay anyway when he raised Walter’s bet. Walter folded. My father never told me what poker hand he had, even on his deathbed in my Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio home where spent his final 7 months. That was the poker code. Never tell so they don’t know if it was a bluff or the real thing. My father, John W. Olesky, Sr., was so good at poker, memorizing cards, that the mad money he gave my mother when he got home at 2 a.m., which she put away, provided $2,200 to upgrade our Church Street kitchen and living room and floor furnace.

Walter was an excellent pitcher for the Monongah High baseball team. And basketball shooter from what today would be the 3-point line despite a low ceiling that most visiting players hit when they took their long shots. 

Another son, Johnny Brzuzy, father of Stephanie Few, was well-known and highly regarded for what he did for Boys Club programs in Indiana.

Regina retired 9 years ago because her MS became too difficult.