ROY FOSTER PASSES AWAY

 

Roy Foster, Jr., Class of 1945, passed away Thursday, January 27.

The son of Roy Foster, Sr. and Anna Dean Foster graduated from East Monongah Elementary.

His sister, Ida Foster Shaver, Class of 1943, predeceased him. 

Jim Roy Foster, Class of 1971, is Roy’s son. Jim married to Linda Phillips Foster, Class of 1977, in 2014  at Valley Falls State Park. Linda and her sisters, Brenda Phillips Waugh, Class of 1978, and Jeanie Phillips Nibert, Class of 1975, are all former Monongah High prom queens.

Roy was on the 1944 Monongah High football team Coach by George Ross that was nicknamed the “Scoreless Wonders” because it never scored a point or won a game in the season shorted to 5 games because of World War II.

 

After graduation from Monongah High, Roy went to Baltimore in 1945 and got job at Glen L. Martin Aircraft which lasted until World War II ended. 

 Roy returned to Fairmont and got job as a clerk for the B&O Railroad, still only 16 years old. Later, Roy worked for Swanson Industries. 

 

Roy married Farmington High grad Doris Headley. She passed away in 2002.

Roy’s obituary:

 

 

 

 

Roy Foster, Jr. November 27, 1928 - January 27, 2021

Preceded in death by wife of 45 years, Deloris Headley Foster and is survived by his loving companion Doris Yost, Heritage Point, Morgantown, WV; Son James R. Foster (Linda), Rock Lake, Fairmont. and two Grandchildren; Celeste N. Weber (Michael), Connecticut and Benjamin J. Foster, Monongah, WV, two Great-Granddaugthers Isabella and Emily Weber, Connecticut, brother-in-law Gene (Marie) Headley of Florida and many nieces and nephews.

Preceeded in death by one sister, Ida Foster Shaver, Monongah.

Graduated from Monongah High School where he was a member of "The Scoreless Wonders" football team of 1945. Roy laughed as he reminisced the high school team story.

Served in the US Army from 1951-1953 spending much of that time in Germany.
Retired from B & O Railroad in 1988. Methodist by faith, loved fishing, hunting, exercise, computers and dancing. Member of the Fairmont Eagles, Moose and VFW.

He donated his remains to the Human Gift Registry.
A celebration of Life Ceremony is being planned.

PATTY McCOMBS TO RETIRE AS RECORDER TO RUN FOR TOWN COUNCIL

 

Patty Steele McCombs, Monongah’s excellent Town Recorder since 2003, is leaving that job to run for Town Council.

Patty’s post:

“After a long hard conversation with myself...I have decided not to run for Recorder! 20 years of dedication of giving it my heart and soul.

“Just wanted to let everyone know the recorder position is open! I am going to run for Council, so I can keep active with the town and the news page. I hope all my Monongah friends will support me!”

Fairmont East grad Patty and her husband, Bill McCombs, Class of 1969, have spent a combined 60 years serving Monongah including, for Patty, deep involvement in the annual Monongahfest.

Assistant fire chief Bill, also Monongah’s premier water expert, has served in the Monongah Fire Department for more than 40 years and was town councilman for two decades.

Bill McCombs won the Monongah mayoral race several years ago when his name was drawn from a hat to break a tie with incumbent Don Harris. But after the state ruled that he couldn’t be both mayor and town water director, Bill resigned as mayor. 

 

 

 

Bill’s wife, Patty, broke the tie that put Greg Vandetta into the mayor’s chair. Vandetta Construction owner Greg is married to Monongahfest president Debbie Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973.

Debbie and Patty have been involved with Monongahfest since 1988, the year it started when Danny Woods was Monongah’s mayor.

Patty and Bill have been married more than 40 years.

They once owned for five years the Dairy Kone built and operated by Amelia Shenasky Zentz and husband Bruce Zentz.

Monongah fire chief Harless McCombs, Class of 1976, is Bill McCombs’ brother. Harless is married to Monongah Middle School language arts teacher and children’s book author Lisa Myers McCombs, Class of 1977.

ASHLEY TENNANT NEW DAIRY KONE OWNER

 

Stepping into giant footsteps

Ashley Tenant is the new owner of the Dairy Kone in Monongah. It’s on Camden Avenue (U.S. 19) across the street from the baseball field that I once roamed with my friends still Alex and Angelo Catania paved over it and turned it into a parking lot for their Sinclair service station.

Amelia Shenasky Zentz and Bruce Zentz had it constructed on a former Joe Hanus auto repair shop.

Subsequent owners were Chris Martin, Monongah’s #1 photographer, Patt McCombs, Billie Hess, Milton Hurley, Larry and Donna Anderson and Lloyd and Sandra Parish.

We played baseball on the empty land behind the Thomas Street homes garages for their automobiles.

To keep from getting killed we made it an automatic out if anyone hit the “baseball” (a rock covered in miners’ electricial tape) onto U.S. 19 in left field.

Many a joyous hour was spent there.

Baby showers were held at the Dairy Kone for its employees.

Ashley is Financial Aid & Scholarships director at Pierpoint Community & Technical College. She’s a Fairmont State graduate married to Michael Tennant.

Dairy Kone address is 654 Pike Street but I consider it on Camden Avenue (U.S. 19).

HOT DOG LEGEND RUSSELL YANN PASSES AWAY

 

Russell Yann, owner and proprietor of Fairmont’s famous Yann’s Hotdog Stand for decades, passed away.

His wife, Rose, predeceased him.

Yann’s unique hot dogs were best washed down with chocolate milk. No ketchup. Just mustard, chili and onions.

Yann’s was at 300 Washington Street in Fairmont. 

SAINT BARBARA NURSING DIRECTOR PASSES AWAY

 St. Barbara nursing director Cynthia King passes away

 

Cynthia Lynn King, who was director of St. Barbara’s Nursing Home in Monongah, passed away Tuesday, January 12.

She was 56.

John DeMary is principal officer at the 56-bed facility on St. Barbara Road off Willow Road near Swisher Hill.

St. Barbara’s was founded in 1959 by Father Everett Briggs as another way to help Monongah’s mining families. St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners and anyone who works with explosives, including the military. She lived in Third Century Germany and was of Lebanese and Greek descent.

Father Briggs survived imprisonment in Japan by the Japanese during World War II and became an ardent activist for coal miners and creating monuments to the victims of the 1907 coal mining disaster that killed 362 in Monongah.

The bridge that crosses the West Fork River which runs through Monongah was renamed for Father Briggs.

Cynthia King’s obituary:

Cynthia Lynn King, 56, of Smithfield, died Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at United Hospital Center in Bridgeport. She was born May 19, 1964 in New Martinsville, a daughter of John E. (Debra) Hall of Pine Grove and the late Brenda Shuman Martin.

Cynthia was a graduate of the Nursing Program at WV Northern Community College. She was a nurse at Fairmont General for many years, and later worked for Hospice Care. She later worked as the Director of Nursing at St. Barbara’s Nursing Home.

In addition to her father, Cynthia is survived by her husband, James “Mark” King;  a daughter: Cara Lynn Carpenter; a stepdaughter: Amanda Gunoe of Rivesville; 4 grandchildren: Domenick, Isabella, Lilly, and Anastasia; 3 sisters: Deirdra Britton of Morgantown, Shawna Staley of Tyler County, and Lisa Myers of Virginia; a brother: Keith Baker of Wetzel County; stepfather: Brett Allen Martin of Smithfield; and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

A memorial service will be held for Cynthia on Saturday, January 23 at 12:30 p.m. at the Pricetown Church of Christ.  A dinner will be served at the Jacksonburg Fire Hall following the memorial service. Cremation arrangements are entrusted to the Hutson Funeral Home in  Manniington. www.hutsonfuneralhomes.com

 

LORRAINE DAY PATTON'S SON PASSES AWAY

Richard Shields, son of Lorraine Day Patton, Class of 1961, passed away.

1981 Fairmont State graduate Lorraine’s brother, Jim Day, Class of 1966, passed away in 2016.

Lorraine was a regular at Monongah High Alumni Reunions, including in 2016, 2012, 2008, 2006 and 2005.

She studied nursing at Fairmont State.

LINDA TOMLINSON STEVENSKI PASSES AWAY

 

Linda Tomlinson Stevenski, Class of 1955, passed away. She was the widow of Andy “Jiggs” Stevenski, a 1950 Grafton High graduate.

 

It was the 4th Monongah death in a week.

 

They were married 61 years. The former Monongah High majorette met Jiggs at the 12^th Street Skating Rink. They have six children and several grandchildren. 

Linda and Jiggs’ children are Andrea Stevenski, residing at home; Linda Moore and husband Tom of Little Mill Fall; Tim Stevenski and wife Cindy of Grant Town; Andy C. Stevenski and wife Sharletta of Grafton; Thomas Stevenski and fiancée Kim of Booths Creek; and Daniel Stevenski, residing at home.

Linda's siblings are Martha Sutcliffe of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, Patty Clark of Ohio, William Hammond of Four States and James Hammond of Fairmont.

Linda was born in a house on Front Street below Schrader’s. She was reared by the Tomlinsons as a foster child.

 

Linda was a children’s books author. Chetty T. Chipmonk is one of her most famous book characters.

 

Jiggs and Linda were among 21 at the reunion of mostly Monongah High alumni that I arranged at the 3 Ways Inn Restaurant in Fairmont in 2015.

I was on my way to my annual Florida winterizing and stopped to visit my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, before taking the auto/train in Virginia for the Florida journey.

JIM BIRSELL'S SON PASSES AWAY

 Jim Birdsell’s son Drew passes away

Drew Birdsell son of Jim Birdsell, passed away Tuesday, January 12.

 

Jim is a Monongah Fire Department captain. He lives on Shaver Street in Monongah. 

 

 

North Marion grad Jim’s dad is Edwin Birdsell, Class of 1973, who grew up on Park Avenue by Mount Calvary cemetery as a son of Zelda and Byron Birdsell, Class of 1947, a long-time Monongah mailman.

 

Byron’s brother, the late Bill Birdsell, was in my 1950 class at Monongah High and achieved fame by riding me double on his bicycle handlebars down 50 streetcar station steps in Monongah without crashing the bike or smashing my head into the concrete or plowing into stationmaster Ted McDaniel’s workplace.

 

Bill, Class of 1950, married Fairmont Field Club pro Reggie Spencer’s daughter, Barbara, and became a golf course maintenance guru in Florida where Bill’s son is in charge of the greenkeeping at the University of Florida.

 

Just to confuse me more, there’s a Byron Birdsell who is a 1982 North Marion grad who is the 1947 Byron Birdsell’s grandson.

LINDA & BILL McCULLOUGH HEALTH REPORT

 

McCulloughs health report

Bill McCullough will begin 3 months of chemotheraphy to try to shrink the cancerous tumor.

Wife Linda McCullough in a week or so will begin the same treatment.

Linda posted:

“Continued prayers would be wonderful. I really appreciate each and every one of you for thinking about us.”

That with Lions to, Linda. Support each other.

Linda is on Susan Sanders’ Monongah Christmas Street Lights Committee.

Her parents are Joyce Locke and the late Larry Hamilton. Her siblings are Christy Hamilton and the late Lori Lee Morris.

There is a Joe McCullough, Class of 1962, who hung out with the Worthington gang of men for regular lunches.

The monthly get-togethers in Worthington included David Willis, Class of 1961; Edward Burley, Class of 1962, widower of Katherine Ely Burley; Roy “Jaybird” Murphy, Class of 1966; Joe McCullough, Class of 1962; Clifford Morgan, Class of 1961; Harold Maze, Class of 1961; Wilbur Smith, Class of 1960; Jim Nottingham, Class of 1961; and Howard Shuttlesworth Jr., Class of 1972.

 

Want to see old Monongah High yearbooks?

To go to the yearbook you want to see, on that yearbook's blue URL line and that should take you to the yearbook you want to see. Or follow the Copy and Paste instructions if that doesn't work.

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High 1964 yearbook. 

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/109595153419846725152/1964MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

IF YOU WANT TO SEE ANY OF THE OTHER ONLINE YEARBOOKS

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1939 yearbook

 

       https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/1939MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1940 yearbook

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1940MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1941 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1941MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1942 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1942MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1943 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/1943MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook?authkey=Gv1sRgCK-jxabN5YaQdw#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1944 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1944MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1945 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1945BlackDiamondMonongahYearbook#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1946 yearbook

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1946MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1947 yearbook

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1947MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1948 yearbook

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1948MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1949 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/1949MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook?authkey=Gv1sRgCL36u9jE8r_WiwE#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1950 yearbook

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/MonongahHighClassOf1950Book#

 

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1951 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/1951MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1952 yearbook

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/1952MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook?authkey=Gv1sRgCNOYy9uP__yZ9AE#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1953 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1953MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1954 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/1954MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook?authkey=Gv1sRgCL3exdyNkuif8wE#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1955 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1955BlackDiamondMonongahHighYearbook#

 

 Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1956 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1956MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1957 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1957MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1958 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1958MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the online Monongah High Class of 1959 book

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/1959MonongahHighBlackDiamondYearbook#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of Monongah High Alumni album

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/MonongahHighEmailGroup#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see miscellaneous photos that have appeared in Monongah High Alumni newsletters, mostly recent photos of MHS grads mentioned in 2013 or later newsletters

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/MissingMHSNewsletterPhotos#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of Monongah High’s Kendzior family

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/KendziorFamily#

 

 

 Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Sarasota Jan. 21, 2012

 

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/2012MonongahHighAlumniReunionInSarasota#

 Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Sarasota Jan. 19, 2013

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/2013MonongahHighAlumniReunionInSarasota#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of the 2010 Monongah High Alumni Reunion. Everyone who was there, except those in the balcony at Westchester Village, is in the photos.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/MonongahHigh2010Reunion#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of the 2012 Monongah High Alumni Reunion.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/2012MonongahHighAlumniReunion#

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos the 2013 Monongah High Alumni Reunion

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/2013MonongahHighAlumniReunion#

 

   Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot yo see photos of the Kubiets, Pigotts and Weises

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnOlesky/KubietPigottWeis?authkey=Gv1sRgCManzbPpk7KPyQE#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of the trip to Tom Dean, Class of 1949, to the Offutt AFB of his Air Force career, Missouri relatives, Monongah High classmates in Ohio and his Fairmont birthplace

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/TomDeanS2012Trip#

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see the Henry “Dinkle” Martin tribute

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/HenryDinkleMartin#

 

 

Copy and Paste the next 3 lines into your Internet browser’s http destination spot, one at a time, to see each of the photos of the 3 visits by John Olesky, Class of 1950, to the summer home of Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, on Grand Lake, between Alpena and Rogers City in Michigan

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/2011VisitToGrandLakeSummerHomeOfBobKasper#

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/2012VisitToBobKasperOnGrandLake#

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/Michigan2013VisitToBobKasper#

 

 

Copy and Paste the next line into your Internet browser’s http destination spot to see photos of the visit by Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, to the home of John Olesky, Class of 1950, in Tallmadge, Ohio and the LSU-WVU game in Mountaineer Field

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483244393507838338/BobKasperS2011VisitToJohnOleskySHome#

 

 

Feel free to send emails with details about your life since Monongah High, with photos if possible, to John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com  so that we can share experiences and Monongah High and childhood memories.