Monongah’s favorite bird is a Jaybird

This 1966 Monongah High Black Diamond yearbook is the most fascinating I’ve come across among the 27 that I’ve turned into online albums or, in the 1966 case, working on converting from the print version to another online album.

The foreword is by Roy “Jaybird” Murphy, Class of 1966, and the 1966 Black Diamond editor. The prose is impressive.

Jaybird did more than put together the yearbook. He also played basketball and baseball, and his baseball was on a Monongah High team that made the state high school baseball tournament in Parkersburg.

Jaybird lives in West Milford with Patricia Beccaloni Murphy, Class of 1964. They attended the 2014 Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Fairmont. Patty’s parents were Margaret Browning Beccaloni and Mario Beccaloni. Patty’s brother is Robert Beccaloni. Steve Sinkovich was Margaret’s stepfather.

Jaybird also has another reunion he attends faithfully: A Worthington group that has a monthly meal together. Others include Ed Burley (1963); Joe McCullough (1962); David  Willis (1961); Clifford Morgan (1961); James Nottingham (1961); Harold Maze (1961); Wilbur Smith (1960); and Howard Shuttlesworth Jr. (1972), whose wife Opal passed away in May 2015.

Jaybird corresponds with me regularly, giving me valuable information about former Lions and, at times, chided me cheerfully if I get something wrong.

A while back, in straightening me out (which I always appreciate because I want to get everything right about Monongah High alumni), Jaybird wrote:

“I not trying to be rude but I was the editor of the 1966 Black Diamond and I made a terrible mistake with some names and I have been haunted by it ever since.  Thank you for looking into the matter.”

Maybe Jaybird should have followed me in my career, as a newspaper editor, sportswriter and reporter for 43 years. He seems to have the talent for it, starting with the superb 1966 yearbook, which is unlike any other I’ve converted into online albums.

I know the information he provided me was very specific, giving the former Lion’s childhood home location, even where they worked, and how they were related to each other. Jaybird’s help is invaluable to me.

To contact Jaybird, email him at jaybirdmurphy@suddenlink.net

Meanwhile, I have to get back to converting the 1966 yearbook, but the distractions are slowing me down, particularly since I’m famous in my family for going off on tangents.