Cathy Martin Basagic retires

 

Cathy Martin Basagic, a Monongah High grad who lives in Monongah with husband Pete Basagic, Class of 1972, has retired as Catering Programs Coordinator at Fairmont State after, she wrote, “29 years, 3 months and 12 days.”

 

Cathy grew up in Rachel.

 

Her sister is Cora Fazio, who is married to David Fazio and runs Fazio Eldercare on Stoney Lonesome in Monongah. David is my cousin because his mother, Frances Olesky Fazio, is a sister of my father, John W. Olesky, Sr.

 

Pete and Cathy were in St. Stanislaus Church, where Pete once was an altar boy, as I was when Father Albert and Father McNulty were the priests.

Pete started at Farmington High but graduated from Monongah High. So did Cathy, who was from Rachel, after Farmington High closed.

The Basagic family ran the beer tavern just across from Consolidation Coal Company’s Champion grocery store, which once was the Frank Lowe Meat Market, and named it the 52/20 Club.

For the youngsters among us, that referred to the GI Bill for World War II veterans that provided $20 a week for 52 weeks for unemployed veterans. It doesn’t sound like much today, but it was more than walking-around money in the late 1940s.

Pete’s father was the late Richard Basagic, Class of 1948, who was a guard on the offensive line for Monongah High football under Coach George Ross.