Mary Lou Fortner Pugh, Class of 1954,
daughter of Mary Shank Fortner and Jim Fortner, who operated the Fortner pool
hall across the street from Monongah High, is a wheeling and dealing
homebuilder, historic building restorer in Appomattox, Virginia after 45 to 50
years in Richmond, Virginia.
Mary Lou bought a large farm in Appomattox
and got busy. Homes in that allotment run $300,000 and up these days.
Jim Fortner’s brothers were Harold
“Bud” Fortner, Jr. and Jack Fortner. I remember seeing Bud around during my
Monongah High days when I handed over my money to pool players out of my
league.
Mary
Lou’s sister, Dolores Ann Fortner Osbourne, Class of 1956, passed away in 2016.
Dolores was in the Monongah High band and MHS orchestra, on the
yearbook and newspaper staffs and in the speech class ministrels
Bud’s daughter, Ireta Jean Fortner
Levine, passed away in 2019 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was the widow
of Max Levine, her husband for more than 40 years, and the late surviving
member of her immediate family and a descendant of the Fleming family that settled
Marion County.
Bud’s wife was Winifred Grace Fleming
Fortner of the Fleming family that lives on the hill in East Monongah
overlooking the West Fork River and the railroad tracks.
|
Judy Layne Alkire, who
grew up on Willow Road near St. Barbara Nursing Home in Monongah, and Dolores
were friends since 1st grade at Thoburn School. Judy was the widow
of Charles Alkire and lives on Bunner’s Ridge. |
Judy was one of 12 children in the Layne family. Judy’s sister,
Doris, married Joe Kubiet, Jr. Carol Layne Elliott of Mill Fall married Ronald
Elliott; Shirley Layne Russell of Fairmont married Charles Russell; and JoAnne
Layne Snider of Monongah married William Snider. Bradley, Charles, David,
Johnny and Robert Layne and Betty Layne Bowyer and Margaret Layne Faber have
passed away.
Mary Lou, married to Jim Pugh since
1957, remembers her sister and Evelyn Kasper, the late sister of Robert “Satch”
Kasper of South Lyon, Michigan, being pregnant at the same time. Evelyn’s child
by husband Okey Boggess, John Boggess, owns the building that once housed P.P.
Shenasky Grocery in Monongah adjacent to Thoburn School.
”I really liked Satch,” Mary Lou
said. And, she said, Robert “Chubby” Dean apparently had a thing for her,
keeping Mary Lou’s photo from a MHS senior outing in his wallet for 50 years. Chubby
also “stole my homework” regularly, Mary Lou remembers.
Mary Lou has a son, Jay, 58, and a
daughter, Michelle, 54, and three grandchildren.
With all that farm acreage Mary Lou
was into horseback riding. But her fall off a horse made that painful at one
stage.
She also was into music. So much so
that, as a fourth grader at Thoburn School, she was in the Senior Band.
Mary Lou tried to get some of her
friends to join her in attending the July 17 J&J&Lions Get-Together
that I co-hosted with my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who
lives in Rivesville. But no dice. So Mary Lou hopes to make it to the Saturday,
September 4 annual Monongah High Alumni Banquet, the longest continuous high
school reunion in West Virginia. I’ll be there. If you missed the July 17 event
in the Monongah Town Hall here’s another chance to see former classmates.
Judging by the laughter on July 17
and the cavalcade of smiles, it would be worth your time and effort.
The cost is $30 per person. Contact
Donna Davis at (304) 534-5636.
Or you can mail her a check for $30
per person made out to Monongah High Alumni Association at:
Donna Davis
858 Park Avenue
Monongah, WV
26554-1143
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