Catching up with . . . Hellen Snider Carpenter & Class of 1950 members

Hellen Snider Carpenter, Class of 1950, who lives in Cottageville, West Virginia between Ravenswood and Ripley, called me to say that she wouldn’t make the 2015 Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Fairmont.

That’s too bad because Hellen is so ebullient and happy and was a treat to have a 30-minute phone conversation with.

Hellen was widowed when Paige Carpenter, a Fairmont East High grad, passed away 14 years ago.

Hellen and Paige met when they both worked at Fairmont’s Owens-Illinois Glass Factory. Later, Paige worked at Ravenswood’s Kaiser Aluminum plant and they settled about two miles outside Cottageville and 40 miles south of Parkersburg.

Good things come in threes for Hellen: 3 daughters, three granddaughters, 3 great-grandchildren.

There are a lot of Carpenters in Monongah High history.

Deceased are siblings Bill Carpenter, Lonnie Carpenter, James Carpenter and Nancy Carpenter Tharp, Clinton “Buck” Tharp’s wife.

Bill was married to the late Iris Delores Martin Carpenter, Class of 1950, also deceased.

Bill and Iris’s children are Will Carpenter, Class of 1975 and a Marion County teacher since 1975 who lives in Fairmont; Doris Carpenter Rogers, who lives in Charleston; and Amy Carpenter.

The 22 Class of 1950 members that I know are deceased are Barbara Bazuk Franklin, Bill Birdsell, Mary Bienkoski Domico, Kathleen Blagg Goldstein, Walter Brzuzy, Deloris Butcher, Martha Carpenter, Anthony DeMary, Jr., Theresa Demus, Richard Garrett, Lawrence Godby, Jr., Ann Manuel Richardson, Virginia Manuel Eddy, Joe Manzo, Iris Martin Carpenter, Tom Orsini, Bill Pringle, Paul Rankin, Nancy Saunders Robinson, James Starcher, James Wimer and Lyman Wadsworth.

That leaves 23 from our 45 Class of 1950 members who theoretically may be able to attend the Last Hurrah on March 22, 2015 at the combined dinner for Class of 1950/Class of 1955 in the Three Ways Inn in Fairmont and the Monongah High Alumni Reunion in the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont on March 23, 2015.

Some obviously are not well enough to attend, or can’t make the long journey. But this literally will be our last chance to see the 23 of us in one room at the same time.

I can’t wait.