JOE MARTIN IN NURSING HOME AFTER STROKE

 

Joe Martin, Class of 1957, is in a Florida nursing home after he had another stroke. He rehabbed in 2019 at the Palms of Pasadena Hospital in St. Petersburg after an earlier stroke. In 2014 he was treated for a stroke and lung surgery.

His Canadian friend and long-time companion, Arlene Kitchen, Class of 1959, posted the news. They dated at Monongah High.

Arlene lives in Pinellas Park near St. Petersburg, where I once worked in the St. Petersburg Times sports department. Arlene and Joe lived on Treasure Island, also in the St. Petersburg area, before switching to Pinellas Park.

She’s from Walton, Nova Scotia.

Both Arlene and Joe are artists and have done some amazing artwork. Joe also is a long-time professional photographer.

They were regulars at reunions of Monongah High alumni in Florida, often at the Saratoga home of Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, and wife Roleta, a Clarksburg Washington Irving High grad who helps WI alumni keep track of each other, as I do with Monongah High alumni.

Paula and I had several reunions at Bill and wife Roleta’s home and elsewhere with Joe and Arlene. And several visits to my favorite Greek Festival, at St. Barbara's Church in Sarasota.

Others at the Lions gatherings included Bob Arnett, Class of 1957, & Barb Enoch Arnett, Class of 1960; Lloyd Schell, Class of 1957; Sandy Weils Shaffer Cook, Class of 1959, and husband Bob; Lyla Cosner Howell, Class of 1958, and husband Len, who also had reunions with me and my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, when all 4 of us had seats in the same section at Mountaineer Field.