More proof that Monongah = quality teaching

Monongah and quality teaching are synonymous.

This goes back to the incredible Mary Turkovich, who taught math, algebra and geometry to hundreds of miners’ children in the 1940s and for several decades after that.

Joyce Lipinski Evans, Class of 1969, is following in the hallowed footsteps of Miss Turkovich.

She was named for the Fairmont State Professional Development School Partnership’s Excellence in Teaching Awards.

Joyce is a super teacher at Jayenne Elementary School on Country Club Road in Fairmont. It is among 17 elementary schools in Marion County. Joyce is married to Donnie Evans, Class of 1969.

Joyce’s presenter was Dr. Carolyn Crislip-Tacy, dean of Fairmont State’s School of Education, Health and Human Performance. While Dr. Crislip-Tacy is a Fairmont West grad, she has Monongah High in his DNA, too. She’s a daughter of Doris Fox Crislip, Class of 1946, and the late Carroll Crislip, Class of 1941.

Joyce is a daughter of Goldie DeFazio Lipinski, Class of 1937. Goldie’s other daughters are Judy Lipinski Cook, Class of 1958; Henrietta Lipinski Hawkins, Class of 1959; and Sandra Lipinski Hawkins, Class of 1962. Judy, a former Maid of Marion chosen from among Marion County high schools yearly and Monongah High prom queen, lives on Pike Street in Monongah, within a block of where I was born in my grandparents' home on Walnut Street (at the Pike intersection). Judy Blocker Kincaid, Class of 1965, and Sandra Ann Tetrick Loretta, Class of 1966, also were chosen Maid of Marion.

Goldie’s sister is Loraine DeFazio Barth, Class of 1951.

Another DeFazio, Johnnie (1924-1975) once owned and operated DeFazio Esso Station, at Bridge and Lyndon streets in Monongah.

The Fairmont Times clipping was mailed to me by my “Monongah Bureau Chief,” Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah.

Ramona knows something about quality teaching.

Her daughter, Marcia Michalski Westfall, Class of 1974, of Kilarm, is a super elementary schoolteacher in Marion County when she’s isn’t gallivanting off with her husband, Dave Westfall, Class of 1948, on their Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide motorcyle.

Another daughter, the late Mary Frances Michalski Gapen, Class of 1968, who married Rick Gapen, was a teacher at Barrackville Middle School and Monongah Elementary. Hundreds paid their respects to Mary Frances at the funeral home.

Marcia and Dave’s daughter, Amy Westfall Raines, North Marion grad and former Fairmont State cheerleader, is the North Marion cheerleading coach.

The rewards of teaching: Steve Mikulski can tell you about that

Steve Mikulski

Steve Mikulski, Class of 1964, who grew up in Carolina, enjoys moments when his teaching career is rewarded.

Friday was the end of the school year where Steve teaches engineering design in Montgomery County public schools in Maryland.

Steve, who lives in Germantown, Maryland with wife, Holly, got this note in a card from a sophomore student:

“Thank you for always greeting our students and making us feel welcome. I have always been a little timid around my teachers but you helped me break out of my shell. Your positivity has had a great impact on my sophomore year.”

Responds Steve:

“This note from Carrie was special. I watched her grow more confident this school year and start finding out who she is. It is a nice feeling as a teacher to know that our actions and what we say does have an impact on a young person’s life.”

Amen, Steve!

Steve’s an expert because he’s been teaching for 47 years.

I’ve told the story many times how Mary Turkovich, who taught me math, algebra and geometry in success years at Monongah High, helped form the “me” who had a successful 43-year newspaper career that made it possible to visit 52 countries and 43 states and take 11 cruises during my 19 years in retirement.

And how I took my children and grandchildren to Miss Turkovich’s grave at Mount Calvary Cemetery, said “thank you” to her and told me children, “This is a teacher who was far more valuable than her paycheck.” Our society does not pay people in line with their value to society. Teachers are proof of that. Few millionaires among them. But they are rich in many other ways.

My older daughter, LaQuita, is a teacher in the Aurora, Ohio school system. They gave her a key to the building because she shows up early, stays late and even works on her “job” on the weekends. I call her “the Mary Turkovich of Aurora.” It’s the highest compliment I can give her.

I’m sure that Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah, feels the same about her daughter, Marcia Michalski Westfall, Class of 1974, of Kilarm, a super teacher in Marion County when she’s isn’t gallivanting off with her husband, Dave Westfall, Class of 1948, on their Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide motorcyle.

The Florida Keys, California, the Outer Banks of North Carolina have all heard the thrilling road of that Electra Glide.

Steve does a bit of traveling, too, with wife Holly, including to Istanbul, Turkey, one of the most marvelous cities I have visited, to see their daughter, Kristen Mikulski Mitchell, who lives there with husband Nick Mitchell, is a 2004 WVU grad. Steve spent five hours at Kaiser Urgent Care after the 11-hour flight from Istanbul with IVs helping him recover from whatever bad was on the plane with its recirculating air system.

Steve, like me, was born in his grandparents’ house – on First Street in Carolina. I was born on Walnut Street at the Pike Avenue intersection in Monongah. Steve didn’t leave Carolina till after his Fairmont State graduate.

The Mikulskis were in the same neighborhood as Harold Dean Kniceley.

Steve’s mother was the late Violet Morris Higinbotham Mikulski, Class of 1944, who was married to Eugene Higinbotham and then Stephen “Charlie” Mikulski. Violet’s parents were Courtie “Jack” and Eunice Louise (Belt) Morris. 

Through her stepfather Lloyd Whaley, who hired her mother as his housekeeper before marrying her, Violet had four step-siblings: Harold Whaley, Jeryl Whaley, Saranell Shaffer and Evalina Rowand. 

Violet lived in Carolina, where she worked in the U.S. Post Office from 1936 until 1968, when she moved to Monongah. She was a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist at Fairmont General Hospital for 30 years.

The siblings of Fairmont State grad Steve, a Montgomery County Public Schools teacher of engineering design, are Tom Mikulski, Class of 1966, who grew up in Carolina and lives in Henderson, Nevada just outside Las Vegas; David Higinbotham and wife Cheryl of Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Catherine Mikulski Rogers and husband Harry of Fairmont; and Susan Mikulski Morgan and husband Nick Perrotto of Cupertino, California.  

Tom’s son, Tom B. Mikulski II, is a 1986 North Marion High grad who lives in Denver, Colorado.

A granddaughter, Amie Marchesani, lives in Monongah with husband Nick.

Other Mikulskis who graduated from Monongah High or Marion High:

Violet Higginbotham Mikulski, Class of 1944.

Caroline Prahl Mikulski, Class of 1966.

Kathy Mikulski Rogers, Class of 1969.

Cheri Mikulski, North Marion 1988.