Frances Raymond (once Raimondi before it was Americanized) Manzo, the woman sitting in the chair in this ancient photo, was Angelo Raymond’s sister. Angelo and wife Mary Raymond lived on Church Street one door from the Olesky rental on Thomas Street.
Frances was born
in Jersey City, New Jersey. She married Emilio Manzo, born in Italy. They met
and married in Monongah.
Angelo and Mary’s son, Robert Raymond, and I were friends almost as we came out of our mother's wombs. We played. We fought.
When I began first grade at what now is Sts. Peter and Paul School and Bobby
was too young to attend he ran away from home and dashed into my schoolroom.
The Sisters of the Auxilaries of the Apostolate had a good laugh over it and
called Bobby’s mom to take him home.
Bobby’s sister, Rosemary Raymond
Pagliaro, had to endure jokes about her “peanut” size during her childhood.
Raymond “Pigeon” Manzo, John “Duke”
Manzo and Joe Manzo were all Fairmont Field Club caddies, like me.
Danny, Ronnie, Jimmy and Johnny Michael
all graduated from Monongah High. Since they went to school after Monongah High
merged with other Marion County schools to form North Marion, that’s where
Danny, Jr. and David graduated from.
Frances married Emilio Manzo. Their
son, Raymond Lavar Manzo, and his wife, Shinnston graduate Mary Ozi Manzo, had a daughter, the late Karen Sue Manzo, Class of 1974, Monongah High
majorette and a WVU graduate and epidemiologist with a Publish Health Service
master’s degree. Karen Sue and Robert Tennant’s son is Fairmont State graduate
Matthew Tennant. Karen Sue’s brother, Jim R. Manzo, married Marie Manzo.
During my Monongah childhood you couldn’t look anywhere without
seeing a Manzo. There has been a Manzo at Monongah
High from 1935 through 1950 and 1969 through 1978 (the year before the final
1979 MHS graduation class that preceded the consolidation into North Marion
High).
Other Manzos at Monongah High or North
Marion (when Monongah merged into North Marion), include:
Phyllis Manzo Berardo, Class of 1935.
Genevieve Manzo Lopez, Class of 1937.
Mike Manzo, Class of 1941, on the 1948 world champ coal-loading
crew at Monongah Mine No. 63 which loaded 1,536 tons on one shift on June 14.
He was a Ford Motor retiree in Cleveland before he passed away. He married
Isabelle Kish Manzo.
Patsy Manzo, Class of 1942.
Helen Manzo Raspa, Class of 1945.
John “Duke” Manzo, Class of 1945.
Raymond “Pigeon” Manzo, Class of 1947.
Mary Manzo Tiburzi, Class of 1949.
Ernie “Frog” Manzo, Class of 1953, who got his nickname because
he perfected the “art” of belching like a frog during our Fairmont Field Club
caddying days.
Danny Manzo, Class of 1957, who married Fairmont East grad Brenda Manzo. Danny was on the 1955 Monongah High state champ football team and was co-captain with Joe Meffe of the 1956 Monongah High state football title game runnerup team.
Lisa Jacobin Manzo, 1986 North Marion grad,
and Kristen Manzo, who formed the Thistle & Tweed folk duo with Patrick
Blood that performed at the Monongahfest, are in Brenda and Danny’s family.
Ronald Manzo, Class
of 1969, son of Helen Cecelia Manzo and Phil Manzo; brother of Monongah’s
former First Lady, Debbie Manzo Vandetta; nephew of Ernie “Frog”, Joe, Duke and
Raymond “Pigeon” Manzo. Ron retired from the Bailey mine of Consol Energy. Ron married Fairview High grad Janice Manzo and their children
are Andrew, Evan, Aaron, Ashley and Jared.
I met Ron and Janice’s son, Andrew Manzo, in The Villages, Florida, where I spent winters for about a decade to escape Ohio’s cold months. We met on a golf course, of course, Hilltop Golf Course, to be exact, my favorite in The Villages because the FIRST hole was hilly enough to remind me of my 10 years of caddying and playing golf at Fairmont Field Club – with a lot of Manzos, of course.
Andrew was
production editor for the Village Sun newspaper and parred so many holes I
thought he was a reincarnation of Renzy Fazio, who married my dad’s sister,
Frances Olesky Fazio, and gave me the same golf “schooling” in West Virginia as Andrew did in
sunny Florida.
I ran
into Ron and Janice and Debbie Manzo Vandetta and husband Greg Vandetta in the
Light Blue Lot more than once before a WVU game in Mountaineer Field.
Manzo Bolyard, Class of 1970.
Pat Manzo, Class of 1973.
Debbie Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973, married to former Monongah
Mayor Carl Vandetta.
Lisa Myers Manzo, Class of 1977.
Tina Manzo Prodanovich, Class of 1977.
Jim Manzo, Class of 1978.
Kim Sapp Manzo, North Marion 1980
Lisa Jacobin Manzo,
1986 North Marion grad
There was a Manzo – how could their
NOT be – in my Class of 1950, part of our gang that roamed Marion County during
our high school years. That was Joe Manzo, who survived being a medic during
the Korean War, married Louellen “Boots” Saunders Manzo, Class of 1946 who
lived in Everson while attending MHS. Both are deceased.
You will never know how tough it is
to keep track of the Manzos. When “Boots” passed away her obituary listed
Debbie Manzo as her granddaughter and I explained in this blog at the
time that this was NOT the Debbie Manzo Vandetta who married former Monongah
Mayor Greg Vandetta.
Shout "Hey, Manzo" around Monongah are you're likely to be flattered by a stampede of Manzos!
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