Columnist Barbara Marsh falls; surgery ahead

Barbara Marsh, Class of 1964, who has been doing a superb job of writing the Monongah News column for the Fairmont Times West Virginian, had a fall on Friday, December 14 that will require surgery.

Barbara Marsh

Let Barbara explain it:

“Just wanted our column readers to know that I had a terrible fall on Friday, and have been in excruciating pain. I am now awaiting pre-op tests to be performed so that I can have surgery.

“I will be taking a short hiatus from our column until I can get back on my feet. However, I would still appreciate your feedback concerning upcoming columns. All those who participated in our Miles of Smiles column will be given a prize.

“I would truly appreciate your prayers that I might have a quick recovery and get back to work and resume writing this column for our readers.

“I thank all of you for your input and your kind words. May you have a very blessed Christmas and an even happier New Year.”

When I asked Barbara for more information she replied:

“I knew I would need a knee replacement but have been struggling to keep going with my hospice patients. I was hoping I could stay with them until no longer needed. The fall Friday did me in. I can't walk at all now. I wanted to dance: now I must pay the piper. LOL”

Well, we know Barbara’s sense of humor wasn’t dinged.

I had my right knee replaced several years ago. I no longer have the pain that I endured before my surgery. And it improved my golf score!

Barbara will be at the United Hospital Center  in Bridgeport for “an extended period,” she reports.

Barbara wrote her first Monongah News column on July 9. Actually, she RESUMED writing a Monongah News column then. She did the same column in the 1980s.

Don’t confuse Barbara Marsh, as I did once, with Barbara Fleming Marsh, who was a Thousand Oaks, California resident before she passed away in December 2016. Barbara Fleming Marsh was part of the Fleming family on Fleming Hill in Monongah that overlooked the railroad bridge that crossed over Booths Creek into the West Fork River. Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960, is Barbara’s cousin on the Fleming side of the family through Jim’s mother, Adrian Currey Fleming.

Barbara Marsh without the Fleming was widowed when husband Dennis Lee Toler who lost his life along with 77 other men in the Consol number 9 mine explosion in 1968. They had three boys and a girl.

Good luck with your surgery and your recovery, Barbara.