ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT TO MAKE MONONGAH HIGH BANQUET RESERVATIONS !!!

 

Not even COVID, one of the worst pandemics in American history, was able to stop the Monongah High Alumin Banquet from being the longest continuous high school reunion in West Virginia history.

The 98^th annual banquet will be at 6 p.m. Saturday, September 4 at the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont. That’s only TWO years from the Centennial Banquet in 2023!

The town of Monongah has only received its charter in 1891.

The majority of the "Semi-Formal" banquets were in the Fairmont Hotel.  The banquet site was switched to Morgantown’s Ramada Inn in 1972. Later, it was  moved again, to Westchester Village in Fairmont. When Westchester Village closed, the MHS Banquet switched to the K of C in 2014.

Greta Martin Mike, Class of 1922,  founded the Monongah Alumni Association in 1922 and came up with the first Monongah High Alumni Reunion that year, which was held in Mannington. Irene Waltz Joyce, Class of 1922, attended every MHS Alumni Banquet for 64 years.

Greta was married to Jimmy Mike, of the legendary Monongah Mike family barbers that included Dominic Mike and Mutt Mike.

Warren G. Harding was America’s President in 1922, when the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated and New York’s Yankee Stadium was being built and legendary “Golden Girls” and “Mary Tyler Moore” actress Betty White and singers  Doris Day and Judy Garland were born.  

The first Monongah High graduation class, in 1918, was four students – Dr. Stanley Skarr, a physician in Davis, West Virginia; Robert Jones; William Fay Holbert; and Sylvia Swisher. That was the year that World War One ended on November 11, Armistice Day when eventually became the national holiday known as  Veterans Day.

They were in one room of the Thoburn Graded School building. In 1921 the name was changed from Thoburn High School to West Monongah High School.

Greta Martin Mike, Class of 1922,  founded the Monongah Alumni Association in 1922 and came up with the first Monongah High Alumni Reunion that year. Greta was married to Jimmy Mike, of the legendary Monongah Mike family barbers that included Dominic Mike and Mutt Mike.

Rose Marie Mike Merrifield married Bill Merrifield. Her parents were Franklin and Emma Jean Mike. Franklin's mother was Rose Scudure Mike, who passed away at the age of 96 in 2014.

 

Rose’s husband was Dominic Mike who had the barber shop under the Monongah Bank on Main Street where I got many a haircut during my childhood in Monongah.

 

Rose’s siblings were Joe Scudure, Cora Scudure Mike, Anna Scudure Olds, Mary Scudure Scrivo and Virginia Scudure Richardson.

It was Greta, later a teacher in Worthington, who began compiling Monongah High graduation lists that I use today in putting together information on this Monongah High Alumni blog. It also was Greta who began the practice of finding out where former Lions lived and putting in their post-Monongah High addresses and marital information.

Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah, took up the cause after Greta passed away. Ramona has been my go-to person for Monongah High information ever since, along with the 1973 North Marion Alumni Directory that includes Monongah High graduates.

The last graduation class at Monongah High was the Class of 1979 before Monongah consolidated into North Marion High. The Lions won state titles in football in 1952, 1955, 1968, 1969 and 1973, baseball in 1925 and 1955 and basketball in 1928.

Among the 3,143  Monongah High School graduates are doctors, nurses, state legislators, prosecuting attorneys, engineers, attorneys, school superintendents, judges, educators, business leaders, military personnel including a general and newspaper editors and reporters.

That includes Dr. Michael Bruce Edmonds, head of WVU Medical Center in Morgantown, a pioneer in the treatment of COVID patients through use of fecal matter. His method is used today throughout the world.

And Nick Saban, Class of 1969, who has won more national college football titles than anyone else in history with 7, including 6 at Alabama.

Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, is president of the Monongah High Alumni Association. She lives in Alachua, Florida with husband Jim Gandy, also on the Alumni Board.

Donna Davis, Class of 1961, has been Alumni Association treasurer since forever. She is married to Bill Davis, Class of 1958.

Donna’s parents were Norma Lee Croaston Moorehead and Walter Colbert, killed during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

To make YOUR reservation for the September 4 MHS Banquet, send a check for $30 per person made out to the Monongah High Alumni Association and mail it to:

Donna Davis

858 Park Avenue

Monongah, WV 26554-1143

Photos for the honor classes (1960, 1961, 1970, 1971) will be taken at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. The Stepping Stones band – Ron Poole and son Todd Poole – will provide music for dancing till 11 p.m.

Ron Poole began his music career in 1961 and is a guitar player. His son, Todd Poole, began performing with his father in 1976 at the age of three for a local Lions Club. Their first album in Nashville, with Wedge Records, was in 1989. In 1991, they changed the group’s name to Stepping Stones.

There also is an In Memoriam list of those Lions who passed away since the last MHS Banquet.

There will be a rotating picture frame with almost 2,000 photos of Monongah High alumni, a large framed photo of the Monongah High Lion and photos and obituaries/tributes to those who have passed away since the 2020 reunion.

Another Lions reunion broke out

Monongah High alumni have unexpected reunions all over the country. I’ve experienced it myself, in Florida and, with a former Akron Beacon Journal co-worker, at an airport in Auckland, New Zealand.

For example, at a Steak ‘n Shake in Bristol, Tennessee, Barbara Marsh stops for a bite to eat after visiting her grandchildren in Alabama.

And runs into Patty Steele McCombs, Monongah Town Recorder.

Barbara is 428 miles from Nick Saban’s territory and Patty is 296 miles from Monongah. What are the odds?

Patty quipped, accurately: “It’s a small world!!!”

Barbara responded: “I was in shock. Looked like I slept under the bridge. Have a great holiday. Good seeing you.”

From Monongah and Alabama to 413 Pinnacle Parkway in Bristol. Amazing!

Patty is married Monongah Water expert Bill McCombs, Class of 1969. Bill’s parents were the late Loretta June Fox McCombs and Harless McCombs. Patty’s uncles are Kevin McCombs, married to Vicky, and Monongah fire chief Harless “Mutt” McCombs, married to Monongah Middle School language arts teacher and children’s books author Lisa Myers McCombs, Class of 1977.

Don’t confuse Barbara Marsh with Barbara Fleming Marsh, who was a Thousand Oaks, California resident before she passed away in December 2016. Fleming Barbara with part of the Fleming family on Fleming Hill in Monongah that overlooked the railroad bridge that crossed over Booths Creek into the West Fork River.

The Barbara Marsh who was widowed when Dennis Toler was a victim in the Farmington #9 mine explosion a half-century ago writes the Monongah News column in the Fairmont Times. And does a dang good job of it, too! Barbara and Dennis had three sons and a daughter.

If you are a Lion and you hit the road, don’t be surprised if you hear another Lion roaring in surprise.

Ah, the wonders of the social media.

Ellen Ruth Martin, Class of 1956, and Virginia Littleton Curtis, Class of 1957, who grew up on Harter Hill in Worthington, connected with each for the first time in more than a half-century via Facebook.

Ellen, the name she goes by now, inquired about the house behind Monongah High School where Mary Weis conducted her home economics classes. She wondered what happened to the building.

Helen Moore, Class of 1975, replied that Holy Spirit Church razed the house for an addition to the church in about 1979.

Then Virginia responded with “Ellen, is your middle name Ruth? I think I used to know you when we were kids on Harter Hill. I’m Virginia Littleton.”

Ellen’s reply:

“Yes, Virginia. I was Ellen Ruth Parrish and lived in the last house up the right fork. The only people that call me Ellen Ruth are from Harter Hill.”

A happy Virginia came back with “It’s good to find old friends, for they are the best and it’s never too late. I am so glad that you never forgot me. I have lived in Four States for 50 years.”

Ellen lives in Fairmont. Virginia still lives in Four States. Helen, the middlewoman in this connection of long-ago friends, lives in Fairmont with James Moore, her husband since 1976.

In the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance tradition, which Cubs baseball fans will remember, it was a double play from Ellen to Hellen to Virginia.

Class of 1971 in ANOTHER reunion: Jay Holman, Susan Sanders, Jim Foster, J B Baransky

.

Those who have read this Monongah High Alumni blog for only a few years know that Bob Kasper and I, both Class of 1950, have been friends since first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Monongah.

That covers 80 years since we’re both close to 85 in age.

Every summer I go to Michigan to play golf with Bob, who was known as “Satch” during his Monongah High days (because he always wore a cap as did Huntz Hall in “The Bowery Boys” co-starring with Leo Gorcey), and sit on the deck of his summer home on Grand Lake in Presque Isle and reminisce about our MHS days and our lives since then.

Schmuck stuck in the muck & 1 of 3 rescuers

And every fall Bob comes to my Tallmadge, Ohio home to watch a WVU game with me. In previous year, it was in Mountaineer Field. This year, Bob will watch the WVU-TCU game with me on my TV set in Tallmadge.

Thursday morning we played a round of golf at The Back Nine From Hell at Peninsula’s Brandywine Country Club. It’s a narrow course wedged into the wilderness and hills. You stray slightly and you’ve lost a ball, either in the woods, or the creek, or to the snakes.

Paula’s brother, Tom, and the husband of Paula’s long-ago Kent State University, John A., joined us. The foursome lost FOURTEEN golf balls in 9 holes. And laughed all the way around the torturous course.

At least I didn't get stuck in the muck near #9 green as I did a week ago at Brandywine, but I did meet one of my rescuers and got to thank him personally and had Satch take a photo of me and my rescuer together.

Thursday evening 10 of my family members joined Bob and me at the Burntwood Tavern in Cuyahoga Falls, on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, for dinner and reunion conversation.

My two great-grandsons, Bryce and Brett John (King John V, I tell everyone, because he follows a long line of Johns in the Olesky family – John W. Olesky, Sr. (I), me, John Olesky, Jr. (II), my son John Larry (III), his son John Richard (IV) – sat next to me.

Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960, who lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is one of five King James in his family.

Jim wrote:

“I liked the pic of your family at the restaurant.  McDaniels have 5 James just like your family of Johns.  My Dad was James B, me James C, my son James D, grandson James E and great-grandson James M. 

“Baby James will have to see that the name is carried on.  

“Jim”

Also at the table, besides Bob aka “Satch,” was my son, John Larry; his wife, Kathy; their son, John Richard, and his wife, Adri; my daughter, Monnie Ann, her husband Bob, and their children Ray and Beth.

Families are more precious than diamonds and gold. Long-term friendships are rarer than the appearances of Halley’s Comet.

I was blessed to have both at the same table with me.

Foursome that braved Brandywine's Back Nine From Hell

61’s go 91 mph with fun

The Class of 1961 sure knows how to throw a party. But I’m not surprised since Donna Davis, who collects the dinner-dance reservations for the Monongah High Alumni Reunions, is in that class.

But it was Harold Maze who rounded up the '61 troops. Good job, Harold!

TWENTY THREE of them got together at 3 Ways Inn Restaurant in Fairmont on Thursday night.

The lineup of laughter:

Georgetta Blake

Nicky Smith Cullen and daughter

Donna Davis and husband Bill Davis, Class of 1958

Phyllis Henderson Day and husband

Sandy Batson Hulsey

Dave Loretta

Harold Maze

Clifford Morgan

Lorraine Day Patton

Keith Raddish

Luanna Felton Raddish

Bill Schell

Carolyn Satterfield Smith

Jackie Swinger Neese and husband

Dave Willis and wife

 

There will be another Monongah High reunion March 3 at the Sarasota home of Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, and wife Roleta Meredith, a Clarksburg Washington Irving grad.

 

 

If you can make that one, call Bill at (941) 342-0030 or (614) 582-0335. So far, 18 say they're coming. Another half-dozen and we can beat the Class of 1961 turnout, which is saying something.

 

MHS graduation classes that are on the ball

There are at least four Monongah High graduation classes that do an excellent job of getting together and keeping track of each other.

Taking them in order of age, the Class of 1957 and the Class of 1958 meet every month for lunch.

The Class of 1961 meets every month for dinner. And has a good turnout, Monongah High Alumni Association’s Donna Davis reports.

 

Donna, of course, handles the dinner-dance reservations for the Monongah High Alumni Reunion every Memorial Day weekend.

Jay Holman rounds up his Class of 1971 troops pretty well, too.

Have I missed any classes that have regular monthly reunions? If I did, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com and I’ll add your class to the faithful gatherings list.

My role, obviously, with this Monongah High Alumni blog is to keep as many Lions as possible informed about the activities of as many Lions as possible, including travels, reunions, wedding anniversaries and, sadly, when one of us passes away.

Monongah High will always be in our memories and in our genes.

 

About once a year, even though they live in Ohio only 45 miles from each other in North Olmsted and Tallmadge, Jerry Loss, Class of 1955, and John Olesky, Class of 1950, have a reunion. Their mothers were sisters who came from Italy to America as young children.

Tuesday, October 11 was one of those days. Jerry and Elaine drove south from North Olmsted and John drove north from Tallmadge to meet in a Hudson restaurant.

Last year a visit to a nearby funeral home gave John and Paula Tucker a chance to visit Jerry and Elaine in a North Oldsted restaurant.

Other reunions took place in the Brunswick home of John’s daughter, Monnie Ann, or poolside at John’s previous home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Jerry grew up with his late brother, Robert Loss, on the Mill Fall farm of their parents, Frank and Gezala Futten Loss. Gezala came from Pellizzano, Italy to America in 1920 with John’s mother, Lena Futten Olesky, along with their brother, the late Si Futten, who was a long-time Fairmont barber. They were 7, 9 and 10 years old.

Their mother, Maria Fedrigon Futten, couldn’t speak English but went from Pellizzano to Genoa, Italy where she got on The Queen of Italy ship with her three young children, went through Ellis Island immigration, took a train from New York City to Clarksburg and then got on a bus from Clarksburg to Swisher Hill, West Virginia, an incorporated wide place in the road. She just showed a note that said “Swisher Hill, West Virginia” as they made her way by boat, train and bus to her husband, Severino Futten, who came over a few years earlier (and then World War I kept the family apart).

My Nona’s (Maria) brave and intimidating journey has been repeated many times over by immigrants from many countries who came to America for a better life for themselves and, more importantly to them, for their children. They were part of the “poor, tired, huddled masses yearning to be free,” as it is emblazoned at the base of the Statue of Liberty. It is this amalgamation of people from many lands and languages that makes America the most amazing and unique democracy in the world.

Jerry and John have survived a toe infection, knee replacements, hip replacements, gall bladder removal and Pacemaker insertions into their bodies.

The latest reunion was so much fun that they spent nearly three hours in the Hudson restaurant, which was mostly empty between lunch and dinner arrivals, just talking about the days on the Mill Fall farm amid the chickens and cows and a rare deer sighting and splashing in a tiny creek that ran alongside the Loss farm. John’s sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, also took part in the Mill Fall gatherings.

If you want to contact Jerry,  his address is:

Jerry Loss

23560 Sharon Drive
North Olmsted, OH  44070

Phone: (440) 777-0183.

It was billed as WVU’s Homecoming, but it felt more like a Monongah High Alumni Reunion.

I had dinner at the Cracker Barrel on University Town Centre hill off the Star City Bridge I-79 exit with my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who was there with her daughter, Renee, a WVU Ruby Memorial Hospital pharmacist, and Bob Kasper, Class of 1950, my best friend since we were 5 years old at Sts. Peter and Paul School.

I live in Tallmadge, Ohio and Bob lives in South Lyon and Presque Isle (Grand Lake), Michigan, his winter and summer homes. Bob comes to Mountaineer Field with me for a game every year; I go to his home on Grand Lake to play golf and reminisce every summer.

After Bob and I parked in the Light Blue Lot and started walking toward Mountaineer Field for the Kansas State-WVU football game, we came across Monongah Mayor Greg Vandetta, Class of 1975, married to Monongahfest president Debbie Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973.

They were with folks with Monongah connections throughout their tent, including Debbie’s cousin, Ron Manzo, Class of 1969, a retired coal miner, and his wife, Fairview High grad Janice Manzo. Ron is a nephew of Ernie “Frog”, Joe, John “Duke” Manzo, Class of 1945; and Raymond “Pigeon” Manzo, Class of 1947.

Ron and Janice have five children – Andrew, Evan, Aaron, Ashley and Jared. They have two grandchildren in Illinois. Andrew works at The Villages, Florida Daily Sun newspaper and beats me in golf when Paula and I are there for the winter.

Mayor Vandetta is the cousin of Frank Vandetta No. 4.  

The first Frank Vandetta was born in the early 1900s. The second was Frank Junior Vandetta,  born in 1928. The third is Frank Vandetta III,  born in 1955. The fourth is Frank Anthony Vandetta IV, born in 1990. The fifth is Frank Charles Vandetta V, born in 2015.

The 5^th Frankie Vandetta’s parents are Frankie Vandetta (No. 4) of Monongah and Stephanie Kishbaugh Vandetta, who once lived in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. Papa Frankie Vandetta is a North Marion graduate and member of the Monongah Volunteer Fire Department.

Frank No. 4's parents are Frankie Vandetta Jr. (Frank No. 3), a Monongah High graduate married to Brenda Sturm Vandetta. 

Greg and Debbie’s son, Greg Vandetta II, and Janelle Vandetta were wed amid a snowstorm.

I went to Monongah High with Carl Vandetta, Class of 1948, and passed by his house many times on my way to my Uncle Frank Loss and Aunt Gezala Futten Loss’ home in Mill Fall. Aunt Gezala was a sister of Fairmont barber Si Futten and my mother, Lena Futten Olesky, who was married to John W. Olesky, Sr.

Wait, I’m not finished.

Also tailgating was the family of my cousin, Irene Fazio Preolitti, Class of 1966, who lives in Traction Park, Monongah, with husband Mike Preolitti, Class of 1962. Irene’s siblings (and my cousins, of course) are Dave Fazio, Class of 1968, married to Cora Fazio, who runs Fazio Eldercare on Stoney Lonesome hill; Mary Chris Fazio Ramsey, Class of 1969, married to Tom Ramsey and living on Pike Street in Monongah in the home once owned by Helen and Steve Kerekes; and Steve Fazio, Class of 1975, whose wife, Nancy, is deceased.

They are the children of the late Frances and Renzy Fazio, both Class of 1937, who owned Fazio Grocery at the bottom of Jackson Street hill at the Thomas Street intersection.  Frances was the sister of John W. Olesky Sr., who was the father of John Olesky, Jr., Class of 1950, who publishes this Monongah High Alumni blog. Helen was Frances and John’s sister.

Wait, there’s more.

Edwin Birdsell, Class of 1973, and son Jim Birdsell, a North Marion grad, also were tailgating before the WVU game.

Jim is Monongah Fire Department Captain. Jim and wife Angela Birdsell live in Millersville, West Virginia. Jim works in parts at Leslie Equipment. Edwing grew up on Park Avenue by Mount Calvary Cemetery as a son of Zelda and Byron Birdsell, Class of 1947, a long-time Monongah mailman.

Byron’s brother, the late Bill Birdsell, Class of 1950, married Fairmont Field Club pro Reggie Spencer’s daughter, Barbara, and became a golf course maintenance guru in Florida where Bill’s son is in charge of the greenkeeping at the University of Florida. Both Bill and Barbara are deceased.

Sandy Weils Shaffer Cook, Class of 1959, and husband Bob Cook, who live in Fort Myers Beach, Florida also were there, in Section 107 (Jackie and I have our season ticket seats in Section 105). Both sections are in the East stands, which has been improved tremendously, expanded and given a new entrance away from the students’ entrance as long as retirees don’t mind climbing 44 concrete steps to get into the stadium.

I’m sure there were other MHS Lions on the WVU serengetti parking lots. I just didn’t run into them. This time.

I don’t think there was anyone left in Monongah while the fantastic, electric, thrombosis-stirring game was lighting up Mountaineer Field. Even God parted the clouds and allowed sunshine to beat down on our faces in the East stands.

But, along with 61,700 Mountaineer Field fans, we were treated to a fantastic comeback by WVU in a 17-16 victory. The Mountaineers never led until their final score of the game. It was the first time WVU has beaten Kansas State since 1930 (the Mountaineers lost to the Wildcats in 1931, too, and then 4 straight years under Dana Holgorsen against 72-year-old coaching legend Bill Snyder).

It was the most exciting WVU Mountaineer Field victory that I have seen in 20 years, topping even Pat White’s amazing freshman season, when he came into the game against Louisville after Adam Bednarik was injured, late in the third quarter with a two-touchdown deficit, and won the game in overtime. Pat started every game after that at WVU, and became the first college football QB to win four bowl games in his college career.

It was the first time since I had my Pacemaker inserted into my body a few years ago that I didn’t need it to keep my heartbeats at 60 or more per minute.

Perfect doubleheader:

1971 Class dinner, then Morgantown MHS reunion

Jay Holman, keeper of the flame for his Class of 1971, has called for a meeting of the 1971 fun folks at Denny’s restaurant in Clarksburg at 10 a.m. Friday, September 30.

They can discuss ways for WVU to beat Kansas State coach Bill Snyder for the first time on Saturday, Oct. 1 in Mountaineer Field.

They also should consider joining Bob Kasper, Class of 1950; Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955; and John Olesky, Class of 1950, at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Cracker Barrel on University Town Centre Hill, just off the I-79 Star City Bridge exit.

We’ll be having lunch before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff in Mountaineer Field.

This is Bob’s annual visit to a WVU football game with John, a tradition that’s been alive for a long time.

For 78 years, since first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Monongah, Bob Kasper and John Olesky, both Class of 1950, have been best friends.

70 years ago, they began playing golf together, first as caddies at Fairmont Field Club, then on the Fairmont State golf team, later at Monongah High Alumni Reunion scrambles and most recently when John visits Bob at his Grand Lake summer home on Presque Isle, as he did this week, or when Bob visits John at his Tallmadge, Ohio home he shares with Paula, before Bob and John sit together in Mountaineer Field to watch WVU play football.

This year Bob will be seated next to John at the Oct. 1 Kansas State game in Mountaineer Field. Right next to John’s sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, and Jackie’s daughter, Renee Straight, a pharmacist at WVU’s Ruby Memorial Hospital.

As I’ve often written, Bob & John have exchanged the same two Christmas cards since 1955 – SIXTY ONE YEARS AGO.

Bob’s sister, Evelyn Kasper Boggess, Class of 1953, still lives in their childhood home in Frogtown, south of Monongah and just north of Swisher Hill on U.S. 19 between Monongah and Worthington with her husband, retired coal miner Okey Boggess.

As usual, Bob shot lower scores, but John was happy with his 51 and, after putting tips from Bob, a 48. As a bonus, when John returned to Ohio for his seniors golf league outing at Sunny Hill in Kent with Paula’s brother, Tom, John had 12 putts for a 46 instead of the 25 and 24 putts he had just before leaving for Michigan.

If anyone wants to fly Bob in for putting tips, I can give you his phone number, but you’ll have to negotiate his teaching rates with Bob.

Len Howell, Lyla Cosner Howell, Rosemary Raymond Pagliaro, Carmen Pagliaro, Bill Davis, Donna Colvert Davis,
Dixie Slimmer Rogers Edmond, Phyllis Shelosky, Tom Shelosky, Bruce Edmond

Lions gather year-round

Monongah High alumni are always having reunions. Graduation day rarely is the end of friendships.

Lyla Cosner Howell, Class of 1958, and Len Howell; Rosemary Raymond Pagliaro, Class of 1958, and Carmen Pagliaro; Donna Colvert Davis, Class of 1961, and Bill Davis, Class of 1958; Tom Shelosky, Class of 1958, and Phyllis Shelosky; and Dixie Slimmer Rogers Edmond, Class of 1958, and Bruce Edmond, Class of 1957, gathered in Elkins for dinner and shopping and good old-fashioned Lions reunion.

Lyla and Len live in Elkins and Fort Myers Beach, Florida, so they must have been the host couple. Lyle sent me the photo, too.

Rosemary and Carmen came from their Fairmont home and Donna and Bill and Tom and Phyllis and Dixie and Bruce from their Monongah homes.

Paula and I regular have MHS reunions with the Howells and the Edmonds in Florida during the winter, when we’re all escaping the Northern winter, in Sarasota and Punta Gorda.

There were 21 Lions at Three Ways Inn in Fairmont two winters ago when I stopped there on my way to the Amtrak auto/train in Lorton, Virginia, for yet another MHS reunion. While waiting for the train to head for Florida, I had a reunion with Pat Urban Utz, Class of 1950, and her husband, John Utz. They live in Springfield, Virginia, not far from the auto/train station.

Lyla and Len, like Paula, have a 2^nd home in Florida. Paula’s is in The Villages, where 119,000 senior citizens make every day playday.

Dixie and Bruce had attended every Monongah High Alumni Reunion in Fairmont from 2006 through 2016. Only the Alumni Board of Directors, which includes Donna and Bill, have a longer attendance streak.

Donna keeps the Monongah High Alumni Reunion humming by handling the dinner-dance reservations, not an easy chore.

Rosemary and the late Bob Raymond’s parents were Mary Dudiak Raymond and Angelo Raymond. Bob’s widow, Susan Russell Raymond, lives in White Hall.  

 

Rosemary and Carmen’s children are Melanie Ann Pagliaro, policy analyst for the Majority Leader in the West Virginia House of Delegates, who lives in Charleston, and C.J. Pagliaro.

Rosemary’s mother’s siblings were Anna Dudiak Koval and the late Sophie Dudiak Shelosky of Monongah, who married George Shelosky, and John Dudiak. Sophie passed away in 2009.

Anna’s children are John Koval, Class of 1956, who lives in Cincinnati, and Larry Koval, Class of 1968, who lives in Columbus, and the late Shirley Koval Dodd, Class of 1953, who passed away in her Idamay home after growing up at the top of Jackson Street in Monongah.

Sophie, who passed away in 2009, was an aunt of Bernie Shelosky, Class of 1965, who passed away in 2013. Bernie’s widow, 1965 Fairmont East High grad Linda Mazza Shelosky, lives on Cottage Street in Monongah. 



155 Lions roared loudly

The 93rd Monongah High Alumni Reunion on Saturday at the Knights of Columbus in Fairmont was a rousing success – with a surprise bonus.

155 showed up, which was more than the 125 who made it in 2015.


And the Monongah High Alumni Association was ready to end the scholarship awards for lack of money, but a surprise donor donated $5,000 to keep the fund going.


I suspect I know who did it, but I’ll need to confirm to be sure.

MHS Alumni President Linda Lopez Gandy was absolutely and understandably giddy about the turnout.



Pat Fleming Satterfield,
Class of 1962; Ramona
Fullen Michalski,
Class of 1949 

Linda wrote:  




“Another alumni has come and gone. What a great group last night. Last year 125, this year 155. The Knights of Columbus were perfect hosts. The dinner, was delicious, the band Stepping Stone was great.

"Our 2 scholarship winners were Andrew Combasky and Anne Spatafore. Since the alumni started the scholarship fund we have had 27 recipients

and have given out $43,000.00. Isn't that something?   “But last night I was ready to announce this year was our last to give the scholarship. We only have $1,898 in the bank and we were going to give a small donation to another source. Also we were going to pass the basket like we always do.   “WELL!!!!! When we were having roll call for the classes a generous person said he was donating $5,000 to the fund. WOW!!!! We're on for next year and the year after.   “Thank you all for coming and your generous donations. You make our jobs so much easier.”   Donna McGinnis Suppa, Class of 1963, was at the Reunion with other thoughts on her mind.   She’ll be moving on Friday to her new house in Shinnston after living forever in Worthington.   Writes Donna:   “It is going to be emotional. I am leaving and selling my family home and the home that Jack and I bought from my mom 41 years ago and raised our daughters in.”