CHECK OUT THE 1932 AND 1938 CLASSES AT THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY REUNIONS!

 

Dennis Basnett, Class of 1962 and a Fairmont State grad, mailed me copies of 50^th anniversary reunions by the Class of 1932 in 1982 and the Class of 1938 in 1988.

What a find!

First name I spotted, of course, was Helen Olesky Kerekes, Class of 1932, sister of my father, John W. Olesky, Sr. who lived on Church Street with my mother, childhood immigrant from Italy in 1920 Lena Futten Olesky, and Frances Fazio Olesky, who married Renzy Fazio.

Aunt Helen was married to Steve Kerekes, whose sister, Clara Kerekes Yuhas, once had a boarding house for miners on one of the steep street hills of Carolina after her husband, Andrew Yuhas, passed away. Her daughters were Irene Yuhas Ice, Class of 1946, who married Guy H. Ice, Jr.; Clara “Tunney” Yuhas Kniceley, Class of 1944, who married Jimmy Kniceley; and Elizabeth “Liz” Yuhas Dudash, who married Andy Dudash.

Both Irene and her sister, Tunney, once had a thing for the musical Vingle boys during their Monongah High days. Tunney set her sights on Raymond Vingle and Irene dated Anthony “Bugs” Vingle, who later married Mary Martha Cavrich Vingle.

Aunt Helen’s major claim to fame was the Christmas cookies she baked. They were astounding! Helen used to mail Christmas cookies to me after I moved to Ohio long after I left West Virginia. I looked forward to the luscious Yule tasties every year.

Because 1932 and 1938 were so long ago and they all were years old, give or take a year, most of those in the two photos have passed away. But, thanks to this photo, not forgotten.

In Class of 1932 photo for 50^th anniversary reunion in 1982:

Mary Eleanor Talbott Wilson

Gayle Birdine Talbott

Eva Mae Brown, class advisor

Ted M. Tureffs, class sponsor

Mary Manzo Hinerman

Katherine Shaver Sturm

Helen Olesky Kerekes

Catherine Tiano Fabian

Josephine Smolovich Jarusko Urban

Virginia May Lee Kisner

Roy G. Basnett

Fred Jones

Ray Morgan

George Shelosky

 

In Class of 1938 photo for 50^th anniversary reunion in 1988:

Clarence Bradley, Jr.

Quintin Farrance

Thomas Ammons

Loretta Lee Malcolm

Caroline Corbin Brown Suplita

Helen Heltzel Hay

Doris Jean Menear Basnett

Nellie Demus Bailey

Julia Osco Shaver

Eva Mae Brown, class advisor

 

Dennis Basnett’s interest, of course, was over both his mother, Doris Jean Menear Basnett, and father, Roy Basnett, being in the two 50^th anniversary MHS 50^th anniversary reunion photos.

Doris was 100 years old and still living in Worthington – she was born in Bingamon Junction, Worthington to Charles Edward Menear and Grace Ella Bell Menear -- when she passed away in 2020. After graduating from Fairmont State worked for Monongahela Power Company, took time out to have children and raise a family, then became manager of Hickory Farms in the Middletown Mall. Doris and Roy were married 61 years.

Doris and Roy’s children – all Monongah High graduates -- are Dennis, of course, Class of 1962; Thomas Basnett, Class of 1960, of Lumberport; Carlton Basnett, Class of 1965, of Fairmont; Jack Basnett, Class of 1969, of Denver, Colorado; and Michael Basnett, Class of 1975, of Worthington. Doris’ siblings were Frank Menear, Charles Menear Jr., George Menear, William Menear and A. Marguerite Menear Thomas.

Doris was president of the Marion County Democrat Women's Association, member of the Marion County Democrat Executive Committee, was inducted into the West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women Hall of Fame in 1997 and was Marion County Democrat of the Year in 1998.

As for Roy Basnett, who passed away in 2019, his parents were Evelena Bock Basnett and William E. Basnett and Roy’s siblings were Tom Basnett, Dennis Basnett, Carlton Basnett, Charles Jackson Basnett, Class of 1969, and Michael Basnett.

Dennis’ sister, Debbie Elaine Rutherford Basnett, Class of 1975, passed away in 2019. Debbie was a caregiver at the Old Folks senior facility and a Fairmont State graduate.

Basnetts have been around Marion County a LONG time  -- before 1849, when the Basnettville Post Office (renamed Basnett Post Office in 1880) was established. The Basnett family had a store in Basnettville. The Post Office closed in 1903. Saint John’s Cemetery, next to the church, is sometimes referred to as Basnettsville Cemetery because Samuel Basnett donated the land for the cemetery.

Nellie Demus Bailey was in one of the most famous in Worthington. She passed away at the age of 101 in 2018. Her parents were Nick Demus, Sr. and Theresa Elizabeth Puccio Demus.

Nellie’s siblings are Michael “Mickey” Demus, Class of 1948; Jim Demus, Class of 1954; Larry Demus; Nick Demus, Jr., Class of 1945; Rose Demus Argiro, Class of 1941, who married Larry Argiro; Joan Demus, Class of 1941; Theresa Demus, in my Class of 1950; and Madalaine Demus Schram, Class of 1941. Nick, Jim and Mickey played football for Monongah High.

 

Nellie was the only Demus sibling without a high school and college education. She dropped out after eighth grade because, she once said, “We were poor and there were no school buses at that time.”

 

Rose was married for 69 years to Larry Argiro, one-time owner of Country Club Bakery which invented the pepperoni roll now famous as the official food of West Virginia, who passed away in 2017.

 

Nellie moved from Zionsville, Indiana to join Nick in 1950 to start the Demus Kety Market at 263 Main Street in Worthington. They worked together for 55 years till the market closed in 2009. Nellie was featured on NBC’s “Today,” show, where Al Roker continued Willard Scott’s tradition of recognizing viewers turning age 100.

 

As for George Shelosky, there are a passel of Shelosky’s in Monongah history. George’s brother was Stanley “Strob” Shelosky, the late superb golfer at Green Hills who built up his body by laying bricks and cinder blocks for home foundations. Strob was married to Julia Lazorick Shelosky. Their children are Becky Shelosky Carvillano, Class of 1961, who lives in Fairmont, and Tom Shelosky, who lives in Monongah. Julia passed away in 2013, Strob in 1993.

Mary Eleanor Talbott Wilson, born in Gypsy in 1914 to Anna McGraw Talbott and John Franklin Talbott, grew up on Chieftan Hill, after Monongah High graduated from Fairmont State College where she met star athlete Wilford Russell “Squibb” Wilson. They eloped in 1940 and were married in Virginia Beach, Virginia. From 1939 to 1976 Squibb was athletic director, football, basketball and baseball coach at Fairmont State. He coached the Falcons to TEN West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball titles, was named Baseball Coach of the Year for the Eastern United States in 1967, coached Fairmont State to two WVIAC basketball championships and the West Virginia Sportswriters Association named him to their Hall of Fame in 1987. He also served three separate terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Mary taught first grade at Barnes Elementary for 21 years. In 2000 Mary was named Outstanding Alumni by Fairmont State. Mary established the Squibb Wilson Memorial Scholarship Fund for a Fairmont State athlete. Her siblings were James, Thomas and John Talbott, Julia Talbott Midkiff and A. Jean Talbott. Mary was 95 when she passed away.

Helen Heltzel Hay was married to Harry “Buck” Hay. Their son, David Lynn “Captain America” Hay, Class of 1969, who passed away in 2006 in Conway, South Carolina and also graduated from Fairmont State. He taught art in Monongah for three years before moving to Myrtle Beach in the 1980s. He owned Captains Custom Creations in Conway.

Helen’s sister, Betty Jean Heltzel, Class of 1941, was 96 when she passed away in 2020. Their parents were Virgil Glenn Heltzel and Edith Irene Bradley Heltzel.

Virginia May Lee Kisner was born in Monongah to Charles Edgar Lee and Georgia Ellen Davis Lee. She was married to Richard Dennis Kisner for 68 years. She once wrote the Monongah News column for the Fairmont Times, as I did when I was a student at Monongah High. Her children were Margie Kisner Cain of Vinton, Virginia, Carol Kisner Reese of Fairmont who married Chuck Reese, Etta Lynn Kisner Slack of Morgantown, Donald R. Kisner of Fairmont and Dennis Keith Kisner of Fairmont.

Clarence Bradley, Jr., who passed away in 2015 at the age of 94, was a son of Clarence F. and Virginia Catherine VanMeter Bradley. He served in India, Alaska and throughout America in the Army Air Corps. He spent 37 years in the Monongahela Power Company’s engineering division in Fairmont. He out-lived both wives, Mary Olive Harris Bradley, who passed in 1987, and Myrtle Greene Bradley, who passed in 2010.

His children are Michael Bradley of Parker, Pennsylvania, Jeffrey Bradley of Fairmont and Pamela Basnett of Fairmont. His siblings are Kenneth Eugene Bradley and Nancy L. Mason.

Earldelene Loretta Malcolm passed away at the age of 89 in 2009. Her parents were Marvin Early Lee and Beaulah Jane Jackson Lee. She was the widow of Herbert Wilson. Loretta’s son is Wilson Sterling Malcolm of Falls Church, Virginia. Her siblings are George William Lee, James Lee, Eleanor Mae Angelilli, Helen Jean Sturm, Susie Inabinet, Robert Earl Lee, Arlene Leona Straight and Mary Virginia Barta.

She also graduated from Fairmont Business College and was one of the first employees of the Small Business Administration in Clarksburg and a member of the Coon’s Run Baptist Church.

IN MEMORIAM FOR LIONS WHO ARE GONE BUT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

 

While there will be plenty of joy at the annual Mononongah High Alumni Banquets, the longest continuous high school reunion in West Virginia, there will be sadness for Lions who are no longer with us.

On the In Memoriam list compiled by Monongah High Alumni Association president Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, is one of the greatest athletes in Monongah High history, Kerry Marbury, Class of 1969,  the speed demon on the 1968 West Virginia high school champion football team.

Alabama football coach Nick Saban, also Class of 1969, was the quarterback. Brother and Kerry remained friends and saw each other often. Kerry also starred for WVU.

Also on the list is Nick Fiori, Class of 1948, who was at the 2005 Banquet because I got Nick’s son, Mike Fiori, to prod Nick into attending. Nick lived at the Walnut Street/Camden Avenue intersection. Nick and I caddied together at Fairmont Field Club.

My favorite Nick Fiori story involves playing “Marines and Japanese” during World War II while we were caddies at Fairmont Field Club, and waiting for someone to show up to play golf and pay us to carry their clubs.

 

Nick volunteered to be a “Japanese” soldier, and was fairly high up on a tree limb when one of the “Marines” “shot” him. Nick did a great shot/dying pose and dropped out of the tree – and into unconsciousness. The fall just knocked the breath out of him, though.

 

Evelyn Kasper Boggess, Class of 1953, also is on the list. Her brother is Bob “Satch” Kasper, my life-long friend, who lives in South Lyon, Michigah. Her son, John Boggess, owns the former P.P. Shenasky building.

 

Also at the 2005 Banquet was Mildred “Hazel” Stafford Frost, Class of 1960, who used “Hazel” to avoid confusion over the name of her mother, Mildred Gaye Stone Stafford.

 

Hazel was born in Hutchinson but moved to Carolina by the time she attended Monongah High.

 

1989 North Marion grad Jeffrey Lee Frost, who did his pre-med at Auburn University in Alabama, is her son. Her sisters are Sandra Sue Ashcraft, Class of 1964, and Marion Faye Stafford Pirkheim, Class of 1948.

 

Dorothy Koon Ice, Class of 1947, also was at the 2005 Banquet. The Koon family practically owned Swisher Hill. Lois Florence Koon Lee, who worked at the Monongah National Bank for 27 years, married George Lee, Class of 1941.  Lois and George’s sons David Lee, Class of 1967, who married Nancy Levelle Lee, Class of 1969, and Curtis Lee, Class of 1970, continue to live on Swisher Hill.

 

Weaden Koon, Class of 1929, had a farm on Swisher Hill. Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, who lives in South Lyon, Michigan, remembers working on Weaden’s baling hay and slinging manure for Weaden. Bob aka “Satch” and I have been friends since 1^st grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School.

 

There’s hardly a month goes back that we don’t phone each other and we had reunions in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Florida during our 83-year friendship and have exchanged the same two Christmas cards since 1955 that tell of births, deaths, marriages and grandchildren, much like a family Bible.

 

Bob and I will get together again next at his Michigah home. My daughter, LaQuita, and her husband, Tom, will go with me. Then LaQuita, Tom and I will spend the next day wheeling around Put-In-Bay island on Lake Eries before I return home to Tallmadge, which borders Akron, Ohio.

 

Shirley  Smith Halpenny, Class of 1955, was married to John Halpenny, Class of 1952, brother of Donald “Jake” Halpenny, Class of 1950, who lives in Fairmont. You may remember her for her years of work at Sweet William’s Restaurant.

 

Her parents were Clifford Smith and Dorothy Ashcraft Smith. Her siblings were James Smith, William “Butch” Smith and Julie Ann Sheets.

 

There are two Cameons on the In Memoriam list, son and mother Joseph Cameon, Jr., Class of 1974, and Frances Ann King Cameon, Class of 1941, whose parents were Dorothea Anna Tekaucic and George Kralj (family name later changed to King). Frances met her husband and Joe, Jr.’s father, Joe Cameon, Sr., at the Consolidation Store and Recreation Center. They had another son, George Claudius Cameon.

 

Tina Virginia “Peaches” Aldridge DeMary, Class of 1945, married Frank DeMary, Jr., Class of 1947. They had a grocery store on Bridge Street in Monongah before they moved to Rivesville. DeMarys Market in Rivesville, run by the late John June DeMary, Class of 1937, sometimes gets confused with the DeMary Grocery in Monongah. Previously, Peaches and Frank owned a grocery store in Pennsylvania.

 

I can’t find a family connection in obituaries but Cheryl “Sherry” Diana McIntire Sheets, Class of 1975, married to Randy Sheets, also is on the 2021 In Memoriam list. Her parents were Edgar Warren McIntire and Roberta Jean Martin McIntire.

 

Edmond Kanios, Sr., Class of 1948, passed away August 23, 2019. His parents were John and Leokadia Piekutowski Kanios.

 

Edmund was married to Dorotha Lee Sayre Kanios. Their children are Edmund John Kanios, Jr., Melanie Kanios Taylor and Mitchell Stalnaker.

 

Edmund’s siblings are Mary Kanios Vanet, Albina Kanios Lemanski, Class of 1941, Gertrude Kanios Senchina, Class of 1948, Frank Kanios, Vac Kanios, Janina Kanios Bernardo, Class of 1949, Stanislaus Kanios, Class of 1954, and Kasmier Kanios, who died in infancy.

 

Albina was typist for the 1941 Monongah Black Diamond yearbook staff.

 

I met Stanley and his sisters in Akron, Ohio when I paid my respects at the funeral home calling hours for their older brother, Wenceslaus. Stanley and another older brother, Frank, who caddied at Fairmont Field Club when I was doing the same thing in my teen years.

 

Janina's late daughter, Janina Maria Bernardo, a 1975 Fairmont West High and 1980 WVU graduate, was engaged to Adam F. Michna II of Monongah, son of 1939 St. Peter's High graduate Adam Michna, when she passed away.

 

Doris Menear Basnett, Class of 1938, also is on the In Memorial list for 2021. Her son, Dennis Basnett, came across 50-year anniversary reunion photos of his parents, Doris and Roy Basnett, Class of 1932, which he promised to mail to me for a possible future blog article.

 

Roy graduated with names familiar to me and others in Monongah: Helen Olesky Kerekes, sister of my father, John W. Olesky, Sr. who married Steve Kerkes of Carolina and lived in the house on Pike Street at the Walnut Street intersection that is the current residence of Mary Chris Ramsey, daughter of my dad’s other sister, Frances Olesky Fazio, who married Renzy Fazio. Mary Chris is married to Tom Ramsey and attended the July 17 J&J&Lions Get-Together in the Monongah Town Hall.

 

Also in the Class of 1932 were Frank Bombard, George Shelosky, Jim Meredith, Paula Calabrase Hewitt, Mary Monzo Hinerman, Dorothy Rogers Wilson, Josephine Smolanovich Jurasko, Catherine Teano Fabian, Julia Urban and Louise Shroyer Trader. Some might strike a bell in your memory  tower.

 

Ireta Jean Fortner Levine, whose brother Harold C. Fortner, Jr. is Class of 1967, passed away October 30, 2019 in Spartansburg, South Carolina. Jean was born in Monongah to Harold “Bud” Campbell Fortner, Sr., who helped his brother, Jim Fortner, who owned the pool hall across from Monongah High in the same building as Carlot’s Grille. Jean’s mother was Winifred Grace Fleming Fortner, whose Fleming family settled in Marion County centuries ago.

 

Bud Fortner passed away in 1999. Bud’s widow, Bernice Evangeline Fortner, passed away in 2017.

We had played hooky from Monongah High and went across the street (yes!) to the Fortner pool hall in the same building as the Carlot Grille and put us in detention for being that stupid. It didn't take long for Monongah High principal Paul Michael to show up and take us back to school. We weren't very smart at that age.

Anthony Pulice, Jr., Class of 1945, married Barbara Jean Shaffer Pulice. Tony worked at Fairmont Wall Plaster, Federal Civil Service and WVARNG Retired Reserve, State of West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and Fairmont General Hospital as the Medicaid Liaison. His nephew, Jim Pulice, Class of 1969, was principal of Monongah Middle School.

 

Jim Shamrock is not on the In Memoriam list even though he passed away in November 2, 2020 in Cortland, Ohio. He attended Monongah High but did not graduate, his sister Christina Shamrock Hennig, Class of 1955, informed me even though James T. Shamrock’s obituary credited him with being a Monongah High graduate. I could not find Jim’s name on any of the 1960s Monongah High graduation lists that Ramona Fullen Michalski sent me years ago. So I’m siding with Christina on this one.

 

Pat Kiehl Williams, Class of 1950, got her GED after she moved to New Mexico and had the certification sent to Monongah High, which put her on the Class of 1950 graduation list retroactively. Pat passed away in Edgewood, New Mexico in 2017.

 

Christina, who lives in Abilene, Texas, is married to college professor Charles Hennig, on the faculty at Salem College in West Virginia and McMurry University in Abilene.

 

Jim and Chris were among the 7 children of Mary Ann Jurasko Shamrock and John Steve Shamrock.

 

His sister, Cecelia Shamrock Eller, Class of 1955, who passed away in 2003 was married to Robert Eller of Francis Mines. Other Shamrock siblings were John, Class of 1947; Joe; Paul, Class of 1962; and Mike, Class of 1966.

 

The annual Monongah High Alumni Banquet will be Saturday, September 4 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Fairmont. Dinner at 6 p.m. Group photos of the honor classes at 5:30 p.m. at $15 per photo.

Stepping Stone will provide the dancing music till 11 p.m. There’s a story behind that Bridgeport “band” of father and son.

Pop Ron Poole began playing in 1961, giving his guitar its money’s worth. Todd Poole joined his father in 1976, at the age of 3 for a local Lions Club chapter.

Their first album was recorded by Wedge Records in 1989. In 1991 the named themselves Stepping Stone. They list their address as 421 Worthington Drive, Bridgeport, West Virginia and phone number as (304) 842-3697 in case you want to line them up for a gig. They have become a fixture at Monongah High Alumni Banquets.

Mail Reservations by August 26 deadline and a check made out to

Monongah High Alumni Association

 for $30 per person to

 

Donna Davis

858 Park Avenue

Monongah, WV

26554-1143

 

If you have any questions call Donna Davis at (304) 534-5636.

 

 

2019 Monongah High

Alumni reunion

Even though Monongah High hasn't graduated anyone since 1979, there were 144 at the 2019 Reunion. Maybe this marvelous event can hit its 100th anniversary in 2022.

Julie Monell Koloskie’s sister-in-law,

Elaine Hewitt Monell, coming to MHS Reunion

John Koloskie, Jr., Class of 1944, who married the late Julia Monell Koloskie, also Class of 1944, will be celebrating his birthday June 8. I am 86 and Junior is 6 years older than me. Do the math.

Junior shares the same birthday as Bernie Shelosky, Class of 1965, whose widow is Linda Mazza Shelosky.

Jerry Koloskie, who spent decades in the athletic departments at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Albany University in New York, is Junior’s son. Jerry played baseball for two years at Marietta (Ohio) College before graduating with a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University in 1980.

Julia’s brother was the late Raymond “Soak” Monell, whose widow is Elaine Hewitt Monell, Class of 1949, of the Dayton, Ohio suburb of Riverside. Elaine and I will be sitting at the same table Saturday at the Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Fairmont with Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah, and Tom Dean, also Class of 1949, who moved from Lynch Station, Virginia, to Goldsboro, North Carolina, after his wife, Rosemarie Dean, passed away. Tom has three sons in Goldsboro and brother Jim Dean, Class of 1945, not that far away in LePlace, Louisiana.

 

This will be the 60^th anniversary of Ramona and Tom’s graduation from Monongah High.

 

Junior, as John is known to this day, graduated a year before Tina Ann “Peaches” Aldridge DeMary, Class of 1945, who lives with husband Frank DeMary, Jr., Class of 1947, in Monongah. Peaches has a birthday June 5. Frank and Peaches once had a grocery store at the end of Bridge Street in Monongah before they moved to Rivesville.

Patty DeMary Evans, Class of 1972, is their daughter. Patty is married to Brian Evans.

 

Frank, Jr.’s parents were Frank Joseph DeMary, who passed away in 1972, and Lena Duva DeMary, who passed away in 1986. His siblings are Louise DeMary Lusi of Clearwater, Florida and Rose Ann DeMary Flore, Class of 1943, married to Robert and living in Princeton, Rhode Island.

 

Frank, Jr.’s brother, Joseph A. DeMary of Rivesville, passed away in 2007. Joe’s children are Kimberly Jo DeMary Clowers, Class of 1979, married to Earl Clowers and living in Rossville, Georgia; Sgt. 1^st Class Joanne Mary DeMary of Fort Meade, Maryland; another Joseph Allen DeMary, living in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee with wife Yvonne; and Julie Ann DeMary, also of Soddy.

 

Sally Ann Woods Merchant, Class of 1953, will be celebrating her birthday June 20. She is a schoolteacher at Springfield Local Schools near Akron (1967-1993) and got her post-MHS education at Fairmont State, University of Akron and Malone University in Canton, Ohio. Her siblings are John Woods, Class of 1957, and the late Clarence William “Bill” Woods, Class of 1952.

 

Bill’s widow is Dorothy Browning Woods, Class of 1955. John Woods is an IBM retiree and a math graduate of Bob Jones University in Greeneville, South Carolina.

 

1959, 1969 and 1979 will be the honor classes at Saturday’s Monongah High Alumni Reunion, the longest-running continuous high school reunion in West Virginia. Greta Martin Mike, Class of 1922,  founded the Monongah Alumni Association in 1922 and came up with the first Monongah High Alumni Reunion, which is only 3 years from its centennial reunion unless dwindling attendance causes it to die out.  

 

The Class of 1959 includes Dietta Harden Goush, Carole Lushinsky, Peggy Rahl Orsino (widow to Tom Orsini, Class of 1950) and the late Eugene “Sonny” Kubiet, who was part of the facietiously named Gang That Terrorized Marion County that I ran around with in my teens).

 

The Class of 1969 includes Mary Chris Fazio Ramsey, whose mother Frances Olesky Fazio, Class of 1937, and my father, John W. Olesky, Sr., were siblings; Debbie Urish Carpenter, who grew up in Four States but lives in Clarksburg; Paulette Ellison, who grew up in and still lives in Four States; Nancy Cowart Willis, who married Larry Willis and lives in Worthington, where Nancy grew up.

 

Nancy, who was cafe manager at the old Monongah High School for 26 years, lives in Worthington where she spent her childhood with siblings Joyce Cowart Davis Peck, Class of 1966, who lives in Palm Bay, Florida, Alma Cowart Allen, Class of 1963, Carol Cowart Ensminger, Duane Cowart and Warren Cowart, Class of 1967.

 

Besides Kim DeMary Clowers, the Class of 1979, the last graduation class before Monongah High helped form North Marion High, includes Brenda Lee Graffius, Anthony “T.J.” Saverino, Class of 1979, whose siblings are Linda Saverino Moorehead and Mark Saverino, Class of 1970; Delmas Gene Hartley; and Paula Kerns Fazio.

 

The original T.J. Savereno, Class of 1948, who lives in Florence, South Carolina with wife Lynette Saverino, is a former Extension Associate at Clemson, where he studied Wildlife Biology after his Fairmont State College and Monongah High days. The elder T.J. is a son of Tony Frank Savereno, Monongah's mail carrier for many years.  Tony’s siblings were Christine, Orlando, Jean, Frances and Mary.  Tony’s mother is Harriet (Hattie) Savereno.

 

Trudy Hartley Plaugher, a 1982 North Marion graduate. Carla Hartley Vanfossen is a 1986 North Marion graduate. Rocky Hartley is a 1988 North Marion graduate. David Hartley, Class of 1963, lives in Circleville, Ohio.

 

The Hartley brothers’ mother, Velma Hartley, worked in Worthington’s Hertzog Drug Store run by Virgil Hertzog, father of Marylee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948, who lives in Rockville, Maryland, and the late Dick Hertzog, Class of 1942, a WVU chemical engineering grad.

 

 

Paula Kerns Fazio, Class of 1979, married Joe Fazio, Class of 1974. Her mother, Dorothy Stevenski Kerns, was Class of 1942. Her father was Wester Warren “Bud” Kerns. Paula’s brothers are Dave and Donnie Kerns and her sisters are Pam and Patti. Paula grew up living near the late math/algebra/geometry teacher Mary Turkovich, my favorite teacher at Monongah High. Dave lives in Mannington. Donnie lives in Worthington with wife Linda. Pamela Kerns Ross, Class of 1970, lives in Syracuse, Indiana, with husband Christopher Ross, and Patti Kerns Haught lives in Lumberport with husband Glen Haught.

 

 

Monongah High birth dates

 

If your name is not on this list, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com  with your full name, including maiden name, your birthday date, your graduation year and your current hometown.

 

May

21 – June Paxton Rogers, Class of 1948

22 – Toni Pflock Hennis, Class of 1955
27 – Ed Graffius, Class of 1971

28 – Terri Orsini Saye, Class of 1972

29 – John Woods, Class of 1957

30 – Dave Westfall, Class of 1948  

 

June

1 – Parma Kay Fetty, Class of 1973

3 – Jim Birdsell, North Marion grad from Monongah; married to Angela

5 – Ann “Peaches” DeMary

8 – John Koloskie, Jr., Class of 1944

8 – Pat Slovekosky Morris, Class of 1970

13 – John Melton, Class of 1975

13 – C.L. “Roy” Parker II, North Marion Class of 1982

13 – Rick Morrison, son of Kitty Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968  

14 – Pamela Morrison Bombardiere, Class of 1967

14 – Regina Levelle Humphrey, Class of 1973

14 – Regina McCoy Murphy, Class of 1973

17 – Delmas Gene Hartley, Class of 1979

20 – Shirley Ann Woods Merchant, Class of 1953

22 – Prudence Deane Tetrick Funk, Class of 1960.

23 – Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949

23 – Kathryn Manuel Marshall, Class of 1960

23 – Ron Manzo, Class of 1969

23 – Frankie Vandetta, North Marion grad

 

July

1 – Roger Fisher, Monongah High grad

3 – Susan Ahouse Schrader, Class of 1971

5 – David Gowers, Class of 1971

5 – Bill Meredith, Class of 1957

7 – Alex Fazio Huff, North Marion 2005 grad

10 – Mary Fleming Toothman, Class of 1960

14 – Ted Nagel, Class of 1954

14 – Bentley Evans, Class of 1978

18 – Larry Zickefoose, Class of 1968

19 – Arlene Martha Edwards Costelac, Class of 1958

20 – Catherine Reckart Boyce, Class of 1973

21 – Robin Huffman Satterfield, Class of 1973  

16 – Jean Nagel Viglianco, Class of 1949

19 – Jane Pritchard Moore, Class of 1975

29 – Pete Basagic, Class of 1972

 

August

1 – Kim DeMary Clowers, Class of 1979

5 – Robert Tennant, Class of 1971

6 – Wauneda Evans, Patty DeMary Evans’ mother-in-law

7 – Dorie Mike Whetsell, Monongah graduate

8 – Sandra Ashcraft, Class of 1964

9 – Paula Kerns Fazio, Class of 1979

15 – David Kelly, 1980 North Marion grad after 11 years at Thoburn & Monongah High
16 – Debby Morrison Harden, Class of 1966

17 – Twins Earnest Hayes & Chester Hayes, both Class of 1965

18 – Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960

18 – John Fazio, Class of 1970

19 – Greg Postlethwait, Class of 1964

19 – Barbra Eller-Hanning, Monongah grad

20 – Irene Fazio Preolitti, Class of 1966

20 – Connie Warash, Class of 1975

21 – Robert Howard Edwards, Class of 1959

24 – Sean Patrick Fazio, 2015 North Marion grad

29– Pat Meredith Wills, Class of 1950

30 – Beth Pritchard Brooks, Class of 1978

30 – David Harbert of Idamay, Farmington grad

 

September

 

1 – Claude Domico, Jr., Class of 1959

3 – Debra June Knight, Class of 1973

6 – Dave Domico of Monongah, Fairmont West grad married to Andrea Justice Domico

7 – Phillis Tarley, North Marion grad from Idamay living in Fairmont

8 – Fred Moorehead, Class of 1964 

8 – Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955

13 – Karen Manzo Tennant, Class of 1974

14 – Jim Shaver, Class of 1954

15 – Bettie Hensley Lowther, Class of 1948

17 – Patti DeMary Evans, Class of 1972

20 – Greg Patrick, Class of 1970

23 – Sally Wood Tarley, Class of 1959

24 – Joe Fazio, Class of 1974

25 – Marylee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948

25 – Jim Davis, Class of 1964

26 – Nathaleen Cameon Oliverio, Class of 1948

27 -- Bonita Lavencheck Waybright, Class of 1968

29 – Dietta Harden Goush, Class of 1959

29 – Pamm Yanero Bragg, Class of 1969

 

October

 

2 – Stanley H. Vance, Class of 1964

7 – Sherry McIntire, Class of 1975

8 – Susan Staron Sanders, Class of 1971

8 – Valerie Vandetta Aldridge, Class of 1973

11 – Jay Holman, Class of 1971

12 – Brenda Manzo, wife of Danny Manzo, Class of 1957

14 – John Prunty, Class of 1949

20 – Leona “Duckles” Davis Schooley, Class of 1953

20 – Richard Edwards, Class of 1978

21 – Ken Slovekosky, Gilmer County High Class of 1976.

22 – Mike Uram, 1981 North Marion graduate

25 -- Rachel Vivian Stalnaker Sloan, Class of 1962.

26 – Lori Hawkins Ice, Fairmont East graduate living in Carolina

29 – Robert Boydoh, Class of 1956

31 – Patty Steele McCombs, Fairmont East graduate who lives in Monongah

31 – Helen McDougal Mudry, Monongah High grad

 

 

November

1 – Tom Dean, Class of 1949

4 – Roger Harbert, Class of 1960

5 – John Olesky, Class of 1950

8 – Diana Pishner Walker

10 – Tony Orsini, Class of 1946

10 – Anthony Pulice, Jr., Class of 1945

13 – Elwood Toll, Class of 1951

14 – Ann Marie Mascak Davis, Class of 1955

17 – John Todd Moats, North Marion Class of 1985

20—Hellen Snider Carpenter, Class of 1950               

20 – Kathryn Toothman Crim, Class of 1950

22 – Mike Ahouse, Class of 1968

23 -- Antheai Justice Turner, North Marion 1982

25 – Gerald Nelson Hartley, Class of 1955

27 – Roy Foster, Class of 1945

28 – Danny Fullen, Class of 1961

29 – Dave Westfall, Marcia Westfall Michalski’s son

 

December

2 – Adam Michna, 1980 North Marion graduate

2 -- Mareia Wilmouth McDougal, Class of 1964

3 – Goldie Mae Martin, Class of 1964

4 – Ronald Pearse, Class of 1961

4 – Jay Michalski, 1980 North Marion graduate

5 – Duane Harbert, Class of 1951

5 – Frances Victor Eates, Farmington grad, wife of Larry Dan Eates, Class of 1970

6 – Goldie Basagic Huffman, Class of 1974

8 – Brenda Urban, Class of 1971

10 – Richard Weaver, Class of 1957

11 – Paulette Colanero O’Connor, Class of 1966

13 – Otis “Sarge” Shaver, Class of 1948

14 – Bev Morgan Colisino, Class of 1974

16 – Shelvy Maze Cunningham, Class of 1964

16 – Henry Moore, husband of Beth Pritchard Moore, Class of 1975

16 – Paula Rossi Wiley, Class of 1976

18 – Bill Cameon, Class of 1960

20 – Mike Hess, Class of 1975

22 – Frances Wimer Miller, Class of 1951

23 – Jim Fullen

25 – Charles Melton, Class of 1973

25 – Chris Shamrock Henning

27 – John Yokay III, son of John Yokay, Class of 1953

29 --  Dolores Edwards, Class of 1955

30 – Deborah Prunty Poluck, Class of 1973

 

January

6 – Jeanette Barr Baczuk, Class of 1940

13 – Beatrice Salisbury Mills, Class of 1951

17 – Susan Colaneri Monell, Class of 1949

18 – Arlene Marteney Decker Edgell, Class of 1951

?? – Marie Bee Zwiegel, Class of 1951

18 – Bertha Pazdric Sullivan, Class of 1954

18 – Greg Vandetta, Monongah mayor, husband of Debbie Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973

19 – Joe Martin, Class of 1957

19 – Joann Thompson, Class of 1962  

22 – Jo-Jo DeMary of Monongah, who lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is married to Yvonne King DeMary

24 – Marcia Michalski Westfall, Class of 1974

24 – Mark “Hooch” Aldridge, Class of 1973

29 – Kitty Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968

 

February

1 – Debra Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973

2 – Sylvia Edwards, Monongah grad living in Idamay

3 – Debbie Weaver Hurley, Monongah grad living in Monongah with husband Milton Hurley

3 – Rebecca Urish Anderson, Class of 1971

8 – Tom Fleming, Monongah grad living in Bridgeport

9 – Bob Nichols, Class of 1964

10 – Bonnie Nicholson Moats, Class of 1960

11—Linda Renay Hess Postlethwait, Class of 1968

15 – Jerry Koloskie, Class of 1975

17 – Larry “Danny” Eates, Class of 1970

18 – Mark Tarley, North Marion grad

20 – Harold Dean Kniceley, Class of 1960

21 – Eva Huey Jarvis, Class of 1975

24 – Mary Kelly, Monongah & North Marion

29 – Betty Sikinow Cunningham, Class of 1954

 

March

5 – Phil Colanero, Jr., Class of 1963

5 -- Doris Carpenter Rogers, Class of 1971

6 – Karen Fitzwater Pausch, Class of 1961

9 – Richie Basagic, Class of 1975 

9 – Brian Evans, Monongah graduate married to Patty DeMary Evans

15 – Donna Colvert Davis, Class of 1961, married to 1958 MHS grad Bill Davis

15 – Clarence William “Bill” Woods, Class of 1952

18 – Nancy Carol Davidson Kantura, Class of 1955

20 – Barbara Melton Earl, Class of 1978

22 – David Haines, Class of 1964

25 – Sandy Cook, Class of 1959

25 -- David Edwards, Class of 1976.

25 – Richard Fitzwater, Monongah graduate

28 – Josephine Popovich Jones, Class of 1952

 

April

 

4 – Charlotte Walker Cahill, Class of 1954

5 – Bernie Fullen, Class of 1963

9 – Paula “P.J.” Hickman, North Marion 1983

11 – Leo Kubiet, Class of 1942

12 – Linda Sawyer Duckworth, Class of 1966

14 – Lyla Cosner Howell, Class of 1958

15 – Judy Stewart Monell Razook, Class of 1959

16 – Becky Shelosky Carvillano, Class of 1961  

18 – Aaron Justice, Jr., Class of 1972

30 – Shirley Knight Ritterhouse, Class of 1954