STATUS REPORT

Class of 1950

With the 2018 Monongah High Alumni Reunion coming up May 26 this seems like a good time for a status report on my Class of 1950.

Rose Commodore Cain is the widow of 1950 Fairmont East grad Bill Cain, who passed away in 2006. 

They had 3 children, 5 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. Rose lives in Fairmont.

Her brother, the late Jim Commodore, also was in the Class of 1950. 

Another brother, Joe Commodore, passed away in 2018.

Anna Currence Sutton is the widow of Grant Sutton. 

They met when Anna’s father lost his coal mining job and found employment in Delaware.

Her brother, Bob, passed away in 2001.

Tony Eates lives in Fairmont with wife Lucy Cann Eates. 

He is a Fairmont State graduate and was president of the 1950 senior class.

They had 4 children and 9 grandchildren. 

Tony also was one of the quieter members of The Gang That Terrorized Marion County. His siblings are Dominick, Joe, Mike and Mary.

Frank Franze lives in Slidell, Louisiana. Both wives passed away, Alice Earlene Brownell Franze in 1981 and Linda Corkern Franze in 2013. Frank has 2 daughters and 6 grandchildren.

Barbara Glover Rombola was in the Glee Club and on the Monongah High newspaper staff and is a widow living in Fairmont.

Bernice Grandstaff Maranville married Charles Manville, who passed away in 1984. Joe Manzo’s brother was the real estate agent when they bought their Cleveland home. She has 5 children and lives in Tennessee. She went to Fairmont Junior High and Fairmont West High before coming to Monongah High, where she was class salutatorian.

Donald “Jake” Halpenny married Anita Cremeans Hallpenny, who is deceased, and lives in Fairmont.  They had 5 children, 9 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. Jake is a Fairmont State graduate and has played in Marion County bands.

Lucille Herron Anderson married Sam Anderson and lives in Annapolis, Maryland. She is retired teacher who had 3 children, 9 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. They travel extensively.

Bob Kasper married Pat, who passed away. They have 2 children and 5 grandchildren. Bob lives in South Lyon and Presque Island (Grand Lake), Michigan. His sister is Evelyn Kasper Boggess, who still lives in their childhood home on Willow Lane near St. Barbara’s Nursing Home in Monongah. Satch and I have been exchanging the same 2 Christmas cards since 1955. We became best friends in first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School and visit each other every year.

Pat Kiehl Williams lives in Edgewood, New Mexico. She married Gervais James Williams, who understandably prefers to be called GJ. Pat is a retired schoolteacher. She met GJ because her sister married GJ’s brother.

Reva McDougal Ash lives in Marietta, Ohio. She has 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. Her sister, Edna McDougal Saunders, passed away in 2011. Other siblings are Helen McDougal Mudry and, living in North Carolina, Earl McDougal and Jimmy McDougal.

Arnold Morgan married Janet Arnold Morgan, then Peggy Main Morgan. He had 3 children and moved to Palatka, Florida.

Mary Ann Puffenbarger Moore grew up in Carolina, was on the Monongah High student council and a cheerleader before moving to Fairmont.

Hellen Snider Carpenter is the widow of Paige Carpenter, who passed away in 2002. She lives in Cottageville, West Virginia. They had 3 children, 3 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Hellen was 1 of 5 children.

Pat Meredith Wills married Fairmont West graduate and football player Don Wills. She was class secretary and is a Fairmont State grad who has homes in Fairmont and Crescent Beach in St. Augustine, Florida.  They have 3 children. Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, is her brother and lives in Sarasota, Florida.

John Olesky married Monnie Turkette Olesky of the Cinderella coal camp adjacent to Williamson. She is deceased. They had 3 children, 7 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. John has been with Paula Stone Tucker for 14 years. They have homes in Talladge, Ohio, an Akron suburb, and The Villages, Florida. John was a newspaperman for 43 years, retiring in 1996, and has been to 56 countries, 44 states and on 14 cruises.

Harold Spragg is a retired Fairmont Times pressman. He married Karen Eddy of Fairmont. They have 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren. He moved to Winchester, Virginia.

Kathryn Toothman Crim is the widow of Monongah High grad Reid Crim, who played football for the Lions before beginning his Air Force career. Reid and Kathryn have 5 children and 6 grandchildren. 

She lives in Farwell, Michigan where she has a decades-old relationship with her neighbor, whose 40-acre property adjoins her 40-acre property. 

Kathryn’s sister Melba lives in Linden, Missouri and Blanche passed away in Tennessee.

Pat Urban Utz married John Utz, a Naval Academy graduate who was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. They live in Springfield, Virginia and have 5 children and 5 grandchildren. 

Pat was class valedictorian. Pat’s father was Andrew Urban, whose father was Peter Urban. Peter survived the 1907 Monongah mines explosions that killed 362 but late was killed in a mine cave-in. 

Pat’s brother, Michael Urban, passed away in 2008.

Leatrice Yokay Greaser is the widow of Bob Greaser. She kept in touch with fellow MHS grads Pat Urban Utz and Mathaleen Cameon Oliverio and, until they passed away, Kathryn Slamen, Mary Frances Miller Myers and Agnes Jean Larry DiLaura. 

Leatrice grew up in Carolina and lives in Fairmont. She had a grandson and 2 grandchildren. 

She joined Mary Jo Forte, who played piano, to sing on her WMMS radio show.

I will attend the 2018 Monongah High Alumni Reunion, but none of my Class of 1950 members have indicated that they will join me there. 

I’ll be sharing a table with Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, and Tom Dean, Class of 1949.

I think Tom will be there with his daughter, retired Colonel Pam Dean Mitchell, who lives in Arlington, Virginia. 

Tom moved from nearby Lynch Station, Virginia, where he lived for 11 years with his wife, Rosemarie Dean, a 1950 Uniontown (Pennsylvania) High grad, before Rosemarie passed away.  

Tom’s brother, Charlest Robert “Chub” Dean, Class of 1954, and Chub’s wife, Shirley Salisbury Dean, Class of 1957, have passed away.

Ramona still lives in Monongah – legally, just outside the town limits off Bridge Street extension – and will be attending with her son, Mike Michalski,  who lives in Monongah with wife Janet Sauro Michalski.  

Ramona is the widow of Frank Michalski, who began at Monongah High with the Class of 1950.

I will be at the Three Ways Inn at 7 p.m. Friday, May 25 with a table of 8 that will include Tom and Ramona and my daughter, LaQuita Olesky Timberlake, a teacher in Aurora, Ohio schools.

The 2018 Monongah High Alumni Reunion will begin at will begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 26 with the banquet in the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1529 Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont.

Honor classes will gather at 5:30 p.m. for their class photos.

The dance to the music of the Stepping Stones will begin at 8:30 p.m.

If you attend you can find out about other fellow Lions.