This is the time of year when Monongah High Alumni say: Enough of winter in Ohio and West Virginia; we’re headed for Florida and sunshine and warm temperatures. Even with El Nino, which has Ohio and West Virginia warmer than usual, you just know there’s a avalanche of snow on the way some day.

Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, and wife Roleta, who “had a great time with our family” at their Buckeye Lake, Ohio home, took off from Rickenbacher International Airport near Columbus to return to their other, warmer home in Sarasota, Florida. “We will be glad to return to warm weather,” Bill writes.

Jim Gandy, Class of 1964, husband of Monongah High Alumni Association president Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, writes:

“Don't slow down, Bill. We are right behind you. We are going below Ft. Myers,” which is south of Sarasota. Previously, they thawed out on Sanibel Island.

And a long way from their Monongah home. And a lot warmer, usually.

Paula and I will begin driving from Tallmadge, Ohio to The Villages on Thursday morning. We'll arrive in TV on Friday evening. And STAY for FOUR MONTHS! Halleluah!!!! See you soon, Bill.

 

Since Linda and Jim are going below Fort Myers, they'll be 5 hours from us. Too bad. I have a second set of golf clubs waiting for visitors to the home Paula purchased in The Villages.

Bill and Roleta host the Monongah High Alumni Reunion/Florida every year. This will be the 4^th annual such southern reunion. As soon as Bill finds out when the most former Lions and their mates will be available, he’ll pick a date and I’ll post it on this blog.

 

If you live in Florida or will be on vacation there this winter, call Bill at (941) 342-0030 and let him know when you’ll be within an hour or two of Sarasota so you can join the gathering of Monongah High Alumni poolside at the Merediths with the golf course just beyond their property line.

It’s a 135-mile drive for Paula and me each way, so we usually get lodging for a few days on Siesta Key, adjacent to Sarasota, with the best sand beach in the world (well, top 10 in most travel magazines) when we drive down for the Monongah High Alumni Reunion/Florida.

Join us!

 There are other former Lions who live in Florida year-round.

Bob Cottrill, Class of 1951, lives in Melbourne, a few miles as the sea gull flies from the Atlantic Ocean.

John Matkovich, Class of 1948, and wife Dolores Sweede Matkovich, Class of 1953, and Joyce Cowart Davis Peck, Class of 1966, live in Palm Harbor.

Joe Martin, Class of 1957, and wife Arlene Kitchen Martin live not far from them on Treasure Island.

Bettie Hensley Lowther, Class of 1948, and Lloyd Schell, Class of 1957, live in Pompano Beach.

Lyla Cosner Howell, Class of 1958, and husband Len, live in Elkins and Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

 

Sandy Weils Shaffer Cook, Class of 1959, and husband Bob, live in Fort Myers. 

Leo Kubiet, Class of 1942, lives in Largo.

 

Pat Meredith Wills, Class of 1950, spends her winters in her St. Augustine Beach, Florida home with husband Don Wills (and summers in their Fairmont home).

Ted Nagel, Class of 1954, has homes in Vinton, Virginia and Micco, Florida.

 

The Cooks, Howells, Martins and Paula and I usually get to taste Roleta's fine cuisine at the Sarasota reunion.

So you have two choices for a Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Florida: With the Merediths in Sarasota or at the annual West Virginia Reunion in The Villages, where Paula and I will be living for 4 months, which will start at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 16 in the Savannah Center, one of several large recreation centers in the city that never stops having fun. The event is limited to the first 500 tickets purchased, and there’s always a crowd.

Many tables are labeled by counties so that Marion County folks, for example can sit near each other.

So, come on down to Florida, warm those bones and leave wintry blasts behind in the north.

I think there may be more Lions than alligators in Florida. At least, the Monongah High Alumni version.

Judy Stewart Razook, Class of 1959, is a retired nurse living in North Palm Beach.

Joyce Cowart Davis Peck, Class of 1966, lives in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Bettie Hensley Lowther, Class of 1948, lives in Pompano Beach. So does Lloyd Schell, Class of 1957.

Lyla Cosner Howell, Class of 1958, and husband Len, live in Elkins and Fort Myers Beach.

Sandy Weils Shaffer Cook, Class of 1959, and husband Bob live in Fort Myers.

Joe Martin, Class of 1957, and wife Arlene Kitchen, live on Treasure Island.

Peggy Rauer, Class of 1959, widow of Tom Orsini, Class of 1950, lives in Titusville.

Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, and wife Roleta live in Sarasota and Buckeye Lake, Ohio.

Leo Kubiet, Class of 1942, lives in Largo.

John Matkovich, Class of 1948, lives in Palm Harbor with wife Dolores Sweede Matkovich, Class of 1953.

Pat Meredith Wills, Class of 1950, spends her winters in her St. Augustine Beach home with husband Don Wills (and summers in their Fairmont home).

Ted Nagel, Class of 1954, has homes in Micco and in Vinton, Virginia.

Bob Cottrill, Class of 1951, lives in Melbourne.

Patty Timms Davidson, Class of 1958, and Merlin Davidson, Class of 1957, show up in the Sunshine State, too.

John Olesky, Class of 1950, and Paula live in The Villages and Tallmadge, Ohio.

Dozens of former Lions vacation in Florida every year, too. Mary “Kitty” Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968, who lives in Monongah, and her sister, Sue Ahouse Schrader, Class of 1971, who lives in Piscataway, New Jersey and Stoney Lonesome, are regular visitors, too.

It’s no wonder that Monongah High reunions in Florida draw as many as a dozen Lions. I think that qualifies as a pride.

Maybe they all should gather at The Villages, where Paula and I will spent the Winter, for the West Virginia Day Picnic the first Saturday in March.

If they do, there will be 500 Mountaineers joining them. Not all from West Virginia, of course. Just from Wheeling to Bluefield, Martinsburg to Williamson, and all points in between, to paraphrase Mountaineer broadcast legend Jack Fleming.