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SITTING: Dave Westfall, wife Marcia Michalski Westfall; Ally Raines, Dave & Marcia's daughter Amy's daughter; Ethan Raines, Ally's brother; Kiley Haney and Aiden Haney, children of Dave & Marcia's daughter Brandie
STANDING: Amy Raines, husband Chad Raines; Brevon Westfall, Amy & Chad's son; David Westfall, Jr., his daughter Lucy Westfall held by Dave, Jr.'s wife, Nichelle Westfall; Brandie Haney, husband Kiley Paul Haney, their son, Caleb Haney |
Family of the Year, indeed!
Well, I had to
wait 4 days till the Fairmont Times lifted its ban on me copying and pasting
the article for free (everyone gets a 5-article free view every 30 days), but
I got a bonus the Times’ story about the Westfall family being the Times West
Virginian Family of the year and the follow story 3 days later detailing the Westfalls' holiday and family life.
The Westfalls came by their family traits honestly.
Among the finest
Monongah High graduates in history (I include him even though he didn’t
technically graduate) are the late Frank Michalski, my protector on the Sts.
Peter and Paul School playground if anyone made fun of my speech because I was
born with a cleft palate, and his still very alive Ramona Fullen Michalski,
Class of 1949, my Monongah High Alumni Monongah “bureau chief.” If I have any
questions about former Lions, I phone Monie, as close friends call her, and
she’s there with the answers.
And when former
Lions are in Monongah from their homes far from the West Virginia mountains,
they visit Ramona and her swimming pool. It’s normal for Ramona to have 20 to
50 people enjoying conversation at her place on Bridge Street Extension which
is a few hundred feet outside the Monongah town limits.
Ramona’s house is
a living museum of Monongah High and Monongah history, right down to the
Monongah Lion spitting out water for the thirsty.
Here’s the
Fairmont Times story about Ramona’s daughter, Marcia Michalski Westfall, Class
of 1974, of Kilarm, married to Dave Westfall,
Class of 1948. Marcia and Dave whisk their way to Florida and California on
their Harley motorcycle. These two know how to enjoy life.
I
embrace the articles but would add the the Michalski family falls into this same
category. The fruit didn’t fall far from the family tree.
By Matt Welch Times West Virginian Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — As the busy holiday season
began, Judy McCoy decided this was going to be the year she didn’t let the
perfect opportunity slip through her fingers.
It wasn’t the opportunity to bake a
dozen of her best cookies or buy the perfect Christmas gift.
Instead, it was the opportunity to
nominate Dave and Marcia Westfall’s family as the Times West Virginian Family of the Year.
“It’s funny,” McCoy said as she told
the story. “I hadn’t bought a paper in a few days, and then I got one and read
John Veasey’s column asking for nominations for Family of the Year. Every year
I always say that Marcia and her family would be the perfect choice. This year
I made sure to put it at the top of my holiday to-do list.”
Her efforts paid off, as the Times
West Virginian has named the Westfalls this year’s Family of the Year.
Marcia is a kindergarten teacher at
Monongah Elementary School, while Dave works for the Division of Highways,
Marcia having served for more than 25 years and Dave working on his 23rd.
It was in the classroom where Marcia
and McCoy first met.
“Marcia was in school ahead of me,
but I had the opportunity to teach with her for several years when she was at
Blackshere,” McCoy said. “She’s awesome. She was teaching third grade at the
time, then she came down to kindergarten and we taught together. She was a good
fit to our school and our school family. It was wonderful working with her.”
During those years as co-workers,
McCoy and Marcia became close and often shared memories outside the classroom,
whether it be at a family get-together or a weekend bonfire.
McCoy said that no matter the
occasion, the Westfall family is always together having fun in some capacity.
“They’re an awesome family. They do a
lot together, and they’re very supportive of each other,” McCoy said of the
Westfalls, who have three children and eight grandchildren. “If one grandchild has
a game, the whole family goes to that ballgame. It’s absolutely wonderful to
see in these days and times where people are so busy.”
Marcia and Dave are the parents of
Brandy Haney, Amy Raines and Dave Westfall and have welcomed each of their
children’s spouses into the family along with a handful of grandchildren.
According to her nomination letter,
McCoy said that both Marcia and Dave came from great families and have passed
on their values to their children and grandchildren.
One of the neat things about this
family, McCoy said, is that they all live relatively close to each other. While
Dave and Marcia live on Koons Run Road, their two daughters live just a few
miles away and their son lives on East Side.
“They’re all right there close
together, and they’re always helping each other out,” McCoy said.
This time of year is always a special
one for families, and one thing the Westfalls enjoy doing is sending Christmas
cards to their friends and loved ones.
As much as they enjoy sending them,
friends like McCoy enjoy getting them.
“It’s always a family picture with
all of them in it,” McCoy said. “I always enjoy getting their Christmas cards
because I always want to see how the kids have grown each year.”
For McCoy, being able to nominate her
good friends was truly a blessing.
“I’ve
known them and watched their kids grow up and have grandkids,” said McCoy, who
has known Marcia and Dave since the 1970s. “I just think they’re very deserving
of this award.”
And the second article on the Westfalls:
TWV’s Family of the Year the
Westfalls celebrate life together
By Matt Welch Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — For Dave and Marcia Westfall,
family is everything. Then again, how could it not be when you have three kids
and eight grandchildren to share everything with?
For the Westfalls, who have been selected
as the Times West Virginian Family of the Year for 2015, family is built on
love and respect and everything else follows suit.
“I know that my parents respect each other.
They were always good to each other,” Marcia said. “It’s the same way with Dave
— his mom and dad are both still here, and his dad really takes care of his
mom. That’s important.
“And,” Marcia continued, “if you don’t have
love, it’s hard to have respect.”
The Westfalls have enjoyed a wonderful life
of raising children, attending many sporting events and taking family trips,
including a cross-country trek that Dave and Marcia endured on their
motorcycle.
Without their family, those things may have
never happened. “We always do everything together. We celebrate everything,” Marcia
said.
For as long as they can remember, sports
has helped the family form a bond.
“When the kids come around, there’s a lot
of basketball. We have a basketball court in the yard,” Marcia said. “That’s
special.”
Between their children and grandchildren,
attending sporting events has gone from just something to do to almost a good
time for a family reunion for the Westfalls.
“My grandkids are getting older, so we go
to a lot of their events,” Marcia said. “We spend a lot of time at Husky Field
and the Monongah gym. One time, there was like 15 of us at a game. That almost
filled a whole bleacher.
“There’s a lot of cheering for the
grandkids,” she said. “It’s something special to do since we’re older. It’s
fun.”
When they’re not watching their grandkids participate
in sports, the Westfalls enjoy having picnics and their annual trip to Florida.
But no matter what’s going on, the family
is usually together.
“There’s always somebody that you can count
on when you have family,” Marcia said. “You know that you’re going to be loved.
You know that when you’re in trouble, someone can comfort you.”
But even more than being an emotionally
close family, the Westfalls are even physically close — their two daughters
live just down the street and their son lives nearby on East Side.
Dave even helped build their two daughters’
houses, Marcia said.
Being a close-knit family, though, has been
a longstanding tradition in the Westfall family.
“My mom and dad were married for a long
time and so have Dave’s,” Marcia said. “For us, that’s almost like a family
tradition: staying together. It gives us some pride.”
As the winter holiday season comes to a
close, the Westfalls have celebrated another year together.
As a kid, Christmas time is always special.
But as a grandparent?
Even more so.
“It’s always nice to see them get something
they weren’t expecting,” said Marcia, who added that they always make the trek
to visit the kids for the holidays. “They’re always grateful and they
appreciate everything.”
It’s no secret that grandparents are said
to be the ones who are able to spoil the grandkids without repercussion.
Marcia laughed at that statement and put it
this way: “When you’re raising your children, you’re very busy. It’s kind of
hard to realize what you’re doing and what you’re building. But when you have
grandchildren, it’s like, ah, now I see.
“That’s why you can have a little more fun
with the grandkids,” she continued. “You can sit back and enjoy it a little
more, because you don’t have as much responsibility.”
For the Westfalls, Dave and Marcia hope to
continue to watch both their children and grandchildren grow day by day.
