Sunday, September 30, 2018



Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, gained a granddaughter-in-law on Saturday, September 29 while WVU was stopping our hearts while trying to not collapse in a football game against Texas Tech.

I don’t understand why anyone in West Virginia would have a wedding when the Mountaineers are playing football, but that’s just me.

Jackie’s grandson, Aaron Morris, married Courtney Sloan. Aaron and Courtney were Fairmont West high school sweethearts. Aaron’s mother is Belinda Straight Morris, one of Jackie’s three daughters. Belinda is married to David Morris. Jackie is the widow of another David, David Straight.

Adam Morris, Aaron’s brother, was best man. 

Jackie’s other daughters are Lea Ann and Renee.

The wedding and reception took place in Bridgeport even though the bride and groom are from Fairmont because they needed a reception hall that would hold 300 people and a dance floor large enough to handle that many feet.

Jackie -- who received a Catholic Charities Salt and Light Award years ago for her charity work involving gettig gifts to children whose families do not have that much money, which she still does several times every year -- said grace at the reception. Mamaw, as her grandchildren call Jackie, focused on the deceased grandparents on both sides.

The Olesky side would be John W. Olesky, Sr., a coal miner who survived TWO cave-ins that covered at least 4 feet of any part of his body, and Lena Futten Olesky, who was born in Austria but left for America from Italy even though she never changed towns (World War I switched the boundaries so that the land went from being in Austria to being in Italy).

Thursday, September 27, 2018

WVU bans 5 fraternities from campus for 10 years

Kappa Alpha, Sigma Chi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Theta Chi and Alpha Sigma Phi are unhappy with the crackdown on fraternity life by West Virginia University.

Five fraternities that formed their own Independent Fraternity Council have been banned from campus for at least 10 years.

The national headquarters of these fraternities are unhappy that WVU banned recruiting new members till spring to give new students a chance to get used to college life before deciding where to party.

And requires a fraternity to average a 2.75 grade point average, which is about a C+, not exactly a high bar, to remain on campus.

WVU tightened its rule in 2015 after Nolan Burch died during an alcohol binge at a Kappa Sigma initiation ritual.

Later, six Sigma Chi members were arrested by police for hazing activities involving alcohol.

In 2013 Phi Kappa Psi got booted from campus after hazing ended up in a pledge getting a concussion and retiring stitches.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

North Marion Homecoming parade in Monongah this year

Monongah Town Recorder Patty Steele McCombs’ calendar for October includes this interesting tidbit:

The North Marion High School Homecoming parade will be in Monongah this year. It will begin October 17 at Monongah Elementary School and end at the Monongah Town Hall.

There will be a bonfire at River Point after the parade.

For those thinking about food, Heavenly Hoagie will start cranking out its goodies at 3 p.m. and Sip Station will do the same at 5:30 p.m. in the Town Parking lot.

Patty, a Fairmont East grad, is married to Bill McCombs, Class of 1969, Monongah’s water expert.

The October calendar that Patty posted:
 
 
 
OCTOBER 09th ~ The Regular Council Meeting @ 6:30p will be moved from Monday to Tuesday due to the holiday.
OCTOBER 17th ~ Monongah will be hosting the North Marion High School Homecoming Parade @ 6p. Parade will begin at Monongah Elementary School and end at the Town Hall. Bonfire at the River Point following parade. Heavenly Hoagie will start around 3p & The Sip Station will be open at 5:30p in the town parking lot.
OCTOBER 20th ~ Monongah Town Dump Day from 7a to noon in the town parking lot. This is for residents who live in the city limits only. NO CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, NOTHING WITH FREON, NO PAINT CANS OR TIRES, NO ELECTRONICS. You must show a water bill for proof of address. $5.00 small load ~ $10.00 large load.
OCTOBER 22nd ~ Council Meeting @ 6:30p in Monongah Town Hall.
OCTOBER 31st ~ TRICK or TREAT ~ Times to be announced.

Monday, September 24, 2018



Ah, the wonders of the social media.

Ellen Ruth Martin, Class of 1956, and Virginia Littleton Curtis, Class of 1957, who grew up on Harter Hill in Worthington, connected with each for the first time in more than a half-century via Facebook.

Ellen, the name she goes by now, inquired about the house behind Monongah High School where Mary Weis conducted her home economics classes. She wondered what happened to the building.

Helen Moore, Class of 1975, replied that Holy Spirit Church razed the house for an addition to the church in about 1979.

Then Virginia responded with “Ellen, is your middle name Ruth? I think I used to know you when we were kids on Harter Hill. I’m Virginia Littleton.”

Ellen’s reply:

“Yes, Virginia. I was Ellen Ruth Parrish and lived in the last house up the right fork. The only people that call me Ellen Ruth are from Harter Hill.”

A happy Virginia came back with “It’s good to find old friends, for they are the best and it’s never too late. I am so glad that you never forgot me. I have lived in Four States for 50 years.”

Ellen lives in Fairmont. Virginia still lives in Four States. Helen, the middlewoman in this connection of long-ago friends, lives in Fairmont with James Moore, her husband since 1976.
In the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance tradition, which Cubs baseball fans will remember, it was a double play from Ellen to Hellen to Virginia.


Fairmont native Mary Lou Retton, who had 10s by sticking the floor vault and a dazzling floor exercise routine to win the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, will be going for another “10” on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” tonight (at 8).

Her partner will be professional dancer Sasha Farber.

Mary Lou became the first American woman to win the women's all-around gymnastics competition under Romanian coach Bela Karolyi, five weeks after a knee operation! She was born with hip dysplastia, which vaulted her into a left hip replacement surgery in her mid-30s.

Mary Lou is in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame and the National Italian American Hall of Fame and was named Sports Illustrated Sportswoman of the Year for her Olympic feats.

She has lived in Fairmont since 2009 with her husband, former Texas quarterback Shannon Kelley, who is in the Fairmont State athletic department. They have four daughters who are 16 to 23 years old.

Her family’s original name was Rotunda “round building” but was changed to Retton in America. Her father was Ronnie Retton, in a long string of Fairview and Marion County athletes with that surname.

My niece, Renee, a WVU Ruby Memorial Hospital pharmacist, lives on the re-named Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont, Mary Lou’s old neighborhood.
“Dancing” begins its 27th season tonight.

Sunday, September 23, 2018




Jim Dean, Class of 1945, passed away Sunday, September 2.

His parents were the late Thomas E. Dean and Virginia Harden Dean, who once lived in Monongah.

Jim’s siblings are Tom Dean, Jr., Class of 1949, of Goldsboro, North Carolina; the late Robert “Chub” Dean, Class of 1954, who lived in Laurelville, Ohio with wife the late Shirley Salisbury Dean, Class of 1957; and the late Charles Dean, who once lived in Monongah.

Chub Dean was born September 2, and Jim died on September 2.

Tom Dean, who sat at my table for the 2018 Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Fairmont, provides more details:

Hi, John!


“My brother Jim passed away on September 2nd of this year. Sorry I don't have more info, but no obituary was posted.


“Jim was born on May 25, 1928. He graduated from MHS in 1945. He served briefly in the Coast Guard, and then in the Army until 1950.

“He was married to his wife, Ella, until her demise in 2016. Jimmy was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was under medication for this disease. He was being treated at a VA hospital, but stopped his treatment after Ella's death. The cancer returned, spread to his lymph nodes and bones. His cause of death was listed as a Massive Heart Attack!

 “My daughter (Pam) and I did visit him in June.  She was kind enough to drive all the way to Hammond, LA and back to Goldsboro, NC. I did mention to her that I could share in the driving, but she said she was fine (don’t think she trusted me behind the wheel of her BMW).

“Jim was in good spirits; always cracked a joke with a smile. He spoke often of his Army days in Panama. Pam says that is one man who should have spent a career in the military.

“Jim leaves behind two children: Virginia and Bobbie -- and Lord knows how many grandchildren. You know how it goes -- they go out, multiply, then return home.

“Looks like I am now the only Dean left from my generation.

“Roy Foster graduated from MHS the same year as Jimmy. Roy is our 1st cousin and is very kind and generous when I visit Monongah.

“Jimmy called me two days before his death. Premonition? I could only guess. We always ended our calls by professing our love for one another!

“Sending my Best,

“Tom”

Roy Foster, son of Roy Foster and Ann Dean Foster, is the brother of Ida Foster Shaver, another Monongah High grad. Roy married Farmington High grad Doris Headley, who passed away in 2002.

Tom is the widow of Rosemarie Dean, a 1950 Uniontown (Pennsylvania) High grad.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Louise D’Amico Minardi passes away

Louise D’Amico Minardi, Class of 1947, passed away Saturday, September 15.

She was the widow of James Minardi. Louise lived on Thomas Street, where the Olesky family rented a Consol house before moving one door away to the Church Street home they bought from Consol that Angelo and Mary Raymond were renting.

Louise D'Amico Minardi
Her parents were Nicholas D’Amico and Isabel Buza.

Louise’s sister, Carole Hinton, lives in Ohio.

Louise was predeceased by her daughter, Diane Staron, Class of 1967, in 2014 and brothers Pete D’Amico, Louie D’Amico, Gene D’Amico and Rudy D’Amico.

Diane married Thomas Staron, Class of 1965. Their children are Jaime Staron of Oak Island, North Carolina, and Derek Staron of Fairmont. They have two grandchildren.

Monongah High Alumni Association president Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, wife of Jim Gandy, was Louise’s neighbor and good friend for decades.

Virginia Minardi Nottingham, Louise’s sister-in-law, passed away last month. Virginia’s children are Linda Nottingham Willis, Class of 1964, married to Davis Willis; and John T. “Tommy” Nottingham, Class of 1968, married to Victoria Blocker Nottingham, Class of 1969. Victoria is a daughter of Richard Blocker and Lucille Loss Blocker, daughter of J.B. Loss and Josephine Dieling Loss.


Virginia was predeceased by her husband, Russell J. Nottingham; her brother, Jim Minardi; and her sister, Elizabeth Kuhens.

Louise’s obituary:

Louise Minardi, 89, of Monongah, passed away on September 15, 2018 at Morgantown Health and Rehabilitation. She was born on December 23, 1928 in Fairmont, the daughter of the late Nicholas D’Amico and Isabel Buza.

Louise was a devout member of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Monongah.

Louise is survived by sister, Carole Hinton, of Ohio; grandchildren, Derek Staron and wife Pam, of Fairmont, and Jaime Staron, of North Carolina; and her son-in-law Thomas Staron of St. Mary’s.
She is also survived by great-grandchildren, Teresa Staron and Camdyn Staron, both of Fairmont.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by beloved husband, James Minardi; her daughter, Diane Staron; and brothers, Pete D’Amico, Louie D’Amico, Gene D’Amico, and Rudy D’Amico.

Family and friends are welcome to call at Carpenter and Ford Funeral Home, 209 Merchant Street, Fairmont, on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a Rosary Service at 7:30 p.m. The funeral service will be held on Wednesday, September 19th at 10:00 a.m. at the funeral home with Father Joseph Konikatill officiating. Interment will follow at Rest Haven Memorial Gardens.

Condolences and memories may be shared online at www.carpenterandford.com   .


Goldie Huffman and John Huffman, John Huffman and wife Goldie Basagic Huffman, both Class of 1974, celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary.

Goldie wrote:

Happy Anniversary to my hubby of 43 years. We have accomplished so much in these years. Erik and Brooke, who married two special people, Katie and Adam. And 8 wonderful grandchildren. Avery, Winnie, Jackson, Maggie, Riley, John, Brynlynn and our James. I can't imagine life without u. Love you.”

I have a special place in my heart for John Huffman because, like another John, my late father, John W. Olesky, Sr., he is a retired coal miner.

These men are as much heroes to me as those who served in the military because they put their lives on the line every day they went into that underground tomb to put bed on the table, a roof over the head and clothes on the backs of their families.
My dad survived TWO coal mine cave-ins when both times rescuers had to pull off at least four feet of coal to get to any part of his body. Black lung got him in the end, but not till after years of torturous efforts to keep breathing.

John Huffman retired in 2014 after 38 years of putting his life on the line to support his family.

Before marrying John, Goldie grew up in the coal-mining Basagic family so she has waited at home prayerfully and fearfully for nearly all of her life.

Goldie once worked for the federal government.

Brooke Pethel, Goldie and John Huffman’s daughter, is married to Adam Pethtel. Their son, Erik Huffman, is married to Katie.

Goldie once was a Monongah High cheerleader alongside Barbra Eller Aldridge Hanning, Class of 1974; Patty DeMary Evans, Class of 1972; Debbie Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973, Monongahfest president married to Monongah Mayor Greg Vandetta, Class of 1975; and Debbie Basagic Bragg, Class of 1972.

When they weren’t cheering for the Lions, they would drive to the Saban service station on Helens Run near Worthington and check out Nick Saban’s bare chest as he washed cars at his father’s business.

That’s the same Brother who is the Alabama football coach making a zillion dollars a year as the #1 college coach in America who quarterbacked Monongah High to the 1968 state football title.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Jennifer & Mark Cochran in Shinnston home
Mark Cochran home from hospital

Mark Andrew Cochran, Class of 1971, is home from the hospital 7 days after his surgery.

Mark wrote:

Feeling so blessed to find a reclining chair for me to relax in. To a family who stood by my side this past week with prayers and support for me I love you all.”

Mark lives in Shinnston with Jennifer Cochran and grew up in Worthington.

Stacy Cochran also a family member.

Other Cochran Monongah High alumni:

Clifford Cochran, Class of 1973.

Tammy Davis Cochran, Class of 1978.

Monday, September 17, 2018



John Woods, Class of 1957, lives in Raleigh, where WVU’s football game with North Carolina State was cancelled because of the impending landfall of Hurricane Florence.
When Florence made landfall in Wilmington, she punted south and away from John.

John tells it better:

“We were originally projected to have very high winds and 10-12 inches of rain.  But when the storm turned south at Wilmington instead of moving straight up to Raleigh, we were just on the outer fringes. We had some wind gusts up to 50 mph, rained almost steady from Thursday afternoon until Sunday evening but still only about 5". So our area is good.

“However, about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh (like New Bern and Fayetteville) the swells have caused major flooding and other problems.  And of course Wilmington (Wrightsville beach) is where the eye of storm made landfall.  My son lives about 2 miles directly in from the beach and they were hit hard -- still has not been able to get in to see the damage.

“Hope other Monongah-related people who live down here fared as well as I did.

“John Woods

“Class of 1957”

John’s wife, Ardyss, who was from Maine, passed away in 2014.

He’s an IBM retiree and math graduate of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

As John explains, “We have been gone from West Virginia for a long time.  My wife and I moved to Raleigh in 1966 (52 years ago) and our sons were both born here in Raleigh.  So they are not related to Monongah nor North Marion at all.  We moved to Raleigh when I hired on with IBM in Raleigh.

“My sister, Harriet (Jane Woods) was at Monongah High when you were -- she graduated in 1949.”

John is the youngest child of Helen Boydoh Woods, whose other children are Harriet Jane Woods, Class of 1949; Bill Woods, Class of 1952, whose widow is Dorothy Browning Woods, Class of 1955, a Registered Nurse living in Indiana; and Shirley Woods DeMarco Merchant, a schoolteacher in Akron, Ohio, which borders on Tallmadge, where Paula and I live.

John and Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, who has homes in Sarasota, Florida and Buckeye Lake, Ohio, have been friends since first grade at East Monongah Grade School through Monongah High School, just like Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, and myself, also Class of 1950, although Bob and I attended Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School in Monongah.

John’s father, Bill Woods, was Bill Meredith’s Sunday School teacher and a father figure to Bill Meredith because Bill’s dad passed away when Bill was six years old, which would have made Bill’s sister, Pat Meredith, Class of 1950, about 13 at the time.

John and Bill Meredith both were on the Monongah High football team.
 
Warren Sloan, a 1983 North Marion graduate who has lived in South Carolina since 1984, and wife Kathy had only minor damage to their trees in Conway, reports Warren's sister, Joeline Sloan-Swann, 1981 North Marion graduate.

Joeline works in the WVU Extension Service and is a Fairmont State graduate who lives with husband Randy in Rivesville, where my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, resides on Paw Paw Creek Road.


Their late father, also Warren Sloan, was Monongah and Rivesville police chief and a former Monongah councilman. His other children are Randy Carpenter of Monongah and Lark Dunbar, who lives in Rivesville with husband Tom.

 
Greg Urban, Class of 1966, son of Stanley Urban, Jr. and grandson of Stanley Urban, Sr., was smacked with high winds and rain but he came out of it OK. He’s a stock trader in Denver, North Carolina.

His sister, Brenda Urban, reports “We were spared in Surfside Beach, South Carolina (about 30 miles from Myrtle Beach). A great deal of wind and rain but there was damage to some of the units around me. Drainspouts broke off and one lady had her glass porch door shattered. Her whole porch was glass-enclosed but the door shattered everywhere.

“No Trees down in our area. We were very fortunate.”

Brenda Urban is a Fairmont State business administration graduate.

Greg was valedictorian of his class.
Greg and Brenda’s brother is the late Mark Urban, Class of 1969. Mark passed away in 2016 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Josephine Smolanovich Jurasko Urban is Class of 1932, the same year that Julia Urban graduated from Monongah High.

Sally Wood Tarley, Class of 1959, who lives on iHiHilton Head Island in South Carolina, escaped any harm from Hurricane Florence.
When I inquired, she replied:

John,

“Hilton Head Island was spared from Hurricane Florence.  We didn’t even get any rain. There was a mandatory evacuation  (that was lifted the next day) and all the tourists left and many islanders.  But it was all for naught! 

“We are now back to what I call ‘normal.’ “

If other Monongah High alumni had experiences with Hurricane Florence, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com with as many details as possible, MHS graduation years, spouses, children, etc. and I’ll post them on this Monongah High Alumni blog. Lions like to keep track of fellow Lions.

 
 
 

 



 









 

Saturday, September 15, 2018




CATCHING UP WITH

John Paul Gotses

John Paul Gotses, the first guidance counselor in Monongah High history, in 1972, is a retired coal company executive, home health agency director and adjunct faculty member at Fairmont State and Pioneer Career & Technoly Center in Shelby, Ohio.

The St. Peter High graduate’s father, Dr. John Paul Gotses, was a dialysis expert at WVU Medical Center in Morgantown.

Barbara Fleming Marsh, widow of Farmington #9 mine explosion victim Dennis Toler, wrote:

“How I loved that man (Dr. Gotses)! He took care of me for more years than I care to remember. We lost one terrific physician when he took down his shingle.”

Dr. Gotses did his residency in general surgery at Fort Howard Veterans Hospital in Baltimore before returning to Fairmont to practice surgery.

Helen Gotses Rutherford, who once owned the upscale Palace Restaurant in Fairmont with husband Charles Mitchell Rutherford, became a receptionist in her brother Dr. Gotses’ office after Helen’s husband passed away.

Barbara is the Monongah News columnist for the Fairmont Times.

Son John Paul got his master’s in counseling and guidance at WVU to qualify for the Monongah post under principal Earl Keener, who coached Monongah High to the 1968 and 1969 state football championships after being an assistant to Jim Feltz when Monongah High won the 1952 and 1955 state grid crowns. Both Keener and Feltz are deceased Fairmont State alumni. Keener was a hard-running back for the Falcons. I remember him laying out a defender because Earl ran at him so hard.

At my request, son John Paul provided me with more family details:

“My mother was born on Chieftain hill in the coal camp. Her maiden name was Julia Ann Skormisely. Resock is the name they called the family in the camp. I think my mother graduated from Monongah High around 40 or 41.”

Julia passed away in 2014 at Fazio’s Eldercare in Stoney Lonesome, run by Cora Fazio, who married David Fazio, son of my dad’s sister, Frances Olesky Fazio, and her husband Renzy Fazio. Frances and Renzy ran Fazio Grocery at the bottom of Jackson Street hill.

Julia was a daughter of the late Frank and Helena Sirockman Skormsley. Her deceased siblings are Charles Clark, Steve Skormsley, John Skormisley, Pat Floyd, Helen Parker, Ann Yeager and Mary McDonald.

John Paul’s sister and Julia’s daughter is Mary Leann Beveridge of Fairmont, widow of Gary Beveridge. Julia’s sister is Irene Cavrich of Fairmont.

Julia gleefully made peanut butter Easter eggs at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Monongah.

Son John Paul continued:

“My uncles Steve and John Skormisley graduated from Monongah high.

“I was born in 1944 while my dad was in the University of Virginia Medical School. I was born in Richmond and was the first child born in my dad’s graduating class.

“In 1972 I was the first guidance counselor at Monongah High. Earl Keener was the principal then after ending his coaching career. I remember Bruce Zentz (whose widow is Amelia Shenasky Zentz, still alive on Shenasky Lane in Monongah) often stopping by the high school.

“I don’t know what years my uncles graduated from high school, but I think that my mother and the two brothers were the only ones out of all the siblings. The other siblings, Theresa (Pat Floyd), Mary McDonald, Helen Parker, Ann Yeager and Charles Clark, all left home in their teens to go to work and marry.

“When my grandfather Frank Skormisley died in 1962 he was the oldest living male in Monongah. When my grandmother Helenka died at 95 she was the oldest living woman in the town of Monongah. I can’t remember her year of death.

“My cousin Ronald Skormisley has all the dates of the siblings deaths and their spouses. He would be the son of John and Virginia Skormisley. Most of that family except for their children are all deceased and some of them also are gone.

“On the Gotses side very few are left. Myself and my younger sister are the only children left from the union of Paul and Julia. Our brother Richard died when he was 68.”

Richard had a child, Robert, by former wife Carol Gorey Gotses, who is in his 40’s and lives at home with his mother Carol and his aunt Irene Gordy. Carol, who lives in Fairmont, is a sibling of Irene Gorey of Fairmont, Robert Gorey and the late Loraine Gorey Phillips Knobel, who passed away in January 2017.

John Paul Gotses has a son, also John Paul Gotses, who lives in Fairmont and works at WVU’s Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. The Ruby John Paul has a son, Shawn, who obviously is John Paul Gotses’s grandson.

John Paul the guidance counselor’s Aunt Jeri was Lelia Morrison’s daughter and is half-sister to Sally Woods Tarley and the late Danny Woods, former mayor of Monongah who loved his Harley Davidson motorcyles. Jeri’s husband is Steve.

Frank and Helenka Skormisley’s youngest child, Irene, married Louis “Slock” Cavrich.

Steve and Jeri Skormisley’s daughter David Henry. Their children are Andy and Stephanie. They lived in New York City. David Henry owned the Henry Oil Company in Morgantown, the Pennzoil franchise along the Monongalia river at Star City.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Fairmont facility activated for Hurricane Florence

Monongah High alumni in possible path, too


T.J. Saverno

The Fairmont facility included three 16.4-meter satellite arrays at the I-79 Technology Park.

The activation ensures that the NOAA weather satellite data will be available to the National Hurricane Center, even if the primary operations sites are impacted by the storm.

Much of the Florence imagery and animation the Fairmont facility is collecting is coming from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, part of a fleet that monitors the entire Western Hemisphere.  

Fairmont was chosen due to its proximity to the Washington, D.C. area 8 hours away.

T.J. Savereno, Class of 1979, reports “the track is looking worse and worse for us.” T.J. is a senior associate agent for Clemson Cooperative Extension in South Carolina. He lives in Florence, South Carolina with wife Lynette Savereno.

“We are getting ready and staying put,” Anthony James wrote. “We are a good ways from the coast, so storm surge is not a threat. Wind is biggest worry.”
Phil Colanero
 
T.J.’s parents are Harriet Hattie Savereno and Tony Savereno, Class of 1941, Monongah's mail carrier for many years. His siblings are Linda Savereno Moorehead, Class of 1968, and Mark Savereno, Class of 1970.

Philip J Colaneri, Class of 1963, who lives in Morgantown with Betty Hanlin, wrote:

“I am leaving Knoxville after delivering first aid supplies to the football team, then going to Nashville and then on to Memphis to visit my brother, Tom. We may go to the Mississippi/Alabama game and relax a few days.”

#1 Alabama, coached by Nick “Brother” Saban, Class of 1969, will travel to Oxford, Mississippi to play the University of Mississippi, commonly referred to as “Ole Miss,” at 7 p.m. Saturday. ESPN will carry the battle of Southeast Conference unbeatens.

Phil’s siblings are Paulette Colanero O’Connor, Class of 1966, and Tom Colanero, Class of 1968, who married Julie Khuri Colanero.

North Marion and Fairmont State grad Joeline Swann, who lives in Rivesville and worked at the WVU Extension Service, reports that “my brother is riding it out in Conway, South Carolina.”

It’s not safe from Mother Nature, even in Marion County, Eva Jarvis, Class of 1975, has more than three feet of floodwater in her Grant Town basement and “lost all my stuff.” Eva grew up in Everson.

Eva and Dewayne Jarvis, her husband for 28 years, had to deal with the mess. They’ve had trouble with that house from top to bottom. In 2015 they had re-roofing done.

Eva is a former Wal-Mart sales assistant.

Her mother is Marie B. Huey. Eva' a Georgia peach whose children include Eva Huey Jarvis, Class of 1975.

 
Jay Holman

Marie lives in Worthington. She is a graduate of Ringgold, Georgia High School in Catoosa County.

 

Her children are Eva; Ethel, in Shinnston; John, in Worthington, engaged to Lisa Haynes; Ruth, in Fairview; and Paul and Sandy, both in Ohio.

Jay Holman, Class of 1971, who resides in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina with wife Margaret, a Fairmont West graduate, reports that, "After 30 years with utilities, I know how to stay out of the rain."
 
Jay lived in Carolina during his Monongah High days.

 

 

If you have information about Monongah High alumni in Florence’s path, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com or post it on my Facebook page and I’ll add it to this article. Thank you..