Dan Bonasso passes away

Danny Bonasso, Class of 1975, of Carolina, passed away. His wife Jan survives.

He was a son of Virginia Ann “Dee” Bonasso and the late Jack Ignatious Bonasso, Sr.

His six siblings are Jack Bonasso Jr. of Florida, Linda Jones and husband Charles of Morgantown, Jo Ann Bonasso Rengers of Morgantown, Robert Bonasso, Class of 1971, and wife Diane of Carolina, Annette Bonasso Ellyson and husband Jeff of Carolina and Maria Bonassoa Bluestone and husband Jim of Pittsburgh.

His uncles and aunts are Peter Bonasso, Class of 1943, and wife Jane of Fairmont and Bill Bonasso and wife Mary of Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Other Monongah High Bonassos are Connie Bonasso Rogers, Class of 1948, who married Carroll Rogers; Lucille Bonasso Fuller, Class of 1945; Natalie Bonasso, Class of 1957; Daniel Jude Bonasso, Class of 1975; and Lucille Bonasso Fuller, Class of 1945.

Robert Bonasso, Daniel’s brother, writes:

“As per Daniel Bonasso's request, There is no visitation or service. Perhaps a memorial service in the future will take place.

“Thank you,

“Robert Bonasso
“(Daniel's brother)”

Gary Haught, Class of 1971, posted:

“My heart & soul goes out to 2 of our fellow alumni tonight as I sit & reflect on the memories of both of them. Brenda Urban’s brother Mark, who was as kind & friendly person as you could know, and to the Bonasso family for the loss of a great person and musical talent in Bob’s younger brother Danny.

“My hopes go out to all of Marion County to remember these two for what they represented.  US!

“RIP, my friends.”

Well said, Gary.

Gary’s parents are Nellie Haught, who lives on Traction Avenue in Monongah with him, and Jennings Haught.

#63 & ill-fated #8 are the same Monongah mine

I got this email from Mike Shamrock:

“Hi John,

“You probably don't really know me but I'm one of the Shamrocks. I have been trying to find out just where the No. 8 mine was. I looked it up on Google map and I am still not sure just where it was at. It shows it as if it was by Booths Creek where it comes into the West Fork.

“Can't seem to find anyone that knows. We lived by the old 63 mine; people seem to think that it was around there. Some say that it was down from the old streetcar station.

“Any info would help.

“Thanks, Mike”

As a newspaper editor for 43 years, retired since 1996, I learned that if I didn’t know the answer to find someone who did.

So I called Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, who lives in Sarasota, Florida and Buckeye Lake, Ohio and has been inside mines and his Meredith Brothers company in Ohio has thrived by dealing with coal and utility companies.

Mine #63, Bill says, and #8, which along with #6 exploded in 1907 and killed 362 workers, are the same mine.

 

#63 & #8 are up the streetcar tracks on the west side of the West Fork River in Monongah, and a mile or so south of the streetcar station where Ted McDaniel was the stationmaster.

By the way, Bill says #6 mine was near the Central Shop on Camden Avenue, near where Mascara’s had the store. #5 was by the Prahl family’s house.

As for Booth’s Creek, it might be #2 mine, but I’m not sure about that.

Hope that helps, Mike.

I’m don't know where Mike is on the Shamrock family tree, but the Shamrocks of my childhood in Monongah were Christina Shamrock Hennig, Class of 1967, who lives in Abilene, Texas with her husband, Charlie Hennig, a retired college professor, the youngest of the seven siblings.

The others were John Shamrock, Class of 1947; Joe Shamrock, who attended Monongah High; Cecilia (Cil) Shamrock Eller, Class of 1955; Jim Shamrock, who attended Monongah High; Paul Shamrock, Class of 1962; and Mike Shamrock, Class of 1966.

Small world, twice in one day

Talk about a small world.

Paula and I are in The Villages, Florida for four months in the home she purchased last March. I had to go to Sumter Landing to sign up for the ability to get golf tee times online.

As I was walking down the street in my WV jacket (of course), two women sitting in the outside patio of a restaurant said: “I like your jacket. From the best state.”

Debbie Rogers Truno, John Olesky

So I stopped and we talked. One woman was from Philippi and the other from Elkins. I first said I was from Fairmont, because few people know where Monongah is. Later, I said I was from Monongah.

Whamo!

Debbie Rogers Truno of Elkins said she often visited her cousin, Betty Lynn Wilson Feltz, Class of 1954, in Monongah.

Debbie’s mother, Leanna Rogers, and Betty’s mother, Dorothy Rogers Wilson, were sisters! Dorothy married Monongah Bank president Faye Wilson.

My mother, Lena Futten Olesky, helped former MHS majorette Betty get started as a teenage wife when Betty and Monongah High football coach Jim Feltz bought the green Domico house next to Our Lady of Pompeii Church, 3 doors down from the Oleskys on Church Street. 

When Mom died, Betty checked in regularly on my father, John W. Olesky, Sr., and notified my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, if anything seemed awry.

Jackie and her late husband, Dave Straight, would babysit their son, Jay Feltz, the quarterback who brought Monongah High its 1973 state football title, while Betty and Jim went out for the evening.

At Fairmont West High, the late Jaimie Feltz Riley’s son Jayce Riley was best friends with Adam Morris, Jackie and Dave’s grandson whose mom is Belinda Straight Morris, Jackie and Dave’s daughter.

 

John Olesky, Dick Reed

Before running into Betty’s cousin, I played golf on the Silver Lake course in The Villages. I was assigned randomly to a foursome.

 

Dick Reed of Lansing, Michigan, who lives on Kelsea Circle in The Villages, also was in the group. We got to talking about where we lived up north and in The Villages and I gave him the address of Paula’s Florida home.

 

Well, the house that Paula bought in March is the one that Dick bought in 1997 and sold in 2000 to the late couple whose children sold it to Paula.

 

Dick had the cheapest carpeting he could find put down in the home in 2000 “so I could sell the house.”

The first thing Paula did was replace the cheap 15-year-old carpeting with laminated wood.

It made a tremendous improvement.

 

So it was a small world – twice – on this day in The Villages, where there are more than 300 activities listed on its web site EVERY day.

Another book-signing for Lisa & Diana

Lisa Myers McCombs, Class of 1977, and Diana Pishner Walker, a 1977 graduate of Clarksburg Notre Dame High School and Fairmont State who works for the Marion County Board of Education, will be signing their books at 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday, January 18 at the Craft Connection, 303 10^th Street, Fairmont.

The children’s books triology for Lisa, Y-Teens sponsor at Monongah Middle School, is “Opening Pandora's Box,” “Abby” and “Raspberry Beret.”

Lisa is married to Harless McCombs, Class of 1976, Monongah Fire Department chief.

Monongah Town Recorder Patty Steele McCombs is married to Harless’ brother, Bill McCombs, Class of 1969, who is Monongah Water Director and on the Town Council.

Lisa’s mother, Pat Myers, taught at Monongah Elementary and her father, John Myers, was the Golf Pro at Green Hills Golf Club for many years.

Diana’s latest book is “Spaghetti and Meatballs! My family is Italian!”

Her first book was “I Don’t Want to Sit in the Front Row Any More,” a memoir based on the loss of her parents, Anna and Louis Pishner, within seven months of each other.

Diana grew up in Clarksburg, a mecca for Italian-Americans in West Virginia.

Who can sleep after a great trifecta for WVU and Brother

If you didn't stay up till 2:34 a.m. to watch WVU beat Arizona State, 43-42, in the Motel 6 Bowl, you missed 9 lead changes, 1,100 yards of offense and heart-thumping excitement down to the last play of the game, when the Mountaineers went into victory formation to run out the clock.

WVU football won.

WVU basketball beat Kansas State in double overtime.

Brother's team beat the crap out of Michigan State.

And you slept through it! Boy, do you miss out on the excitement in life.

Well, it's 3:39 a.m.. and I think I can finally go to bed and TRY to sleep.

It's a great night to be a Mountaineer and a Monongah High grad (Brother was, too, of course).

‘Meatballs’ gobbles another award

Diana Pishner Walker’s “Spaghetti and Meatballs: My Family Is Italian” got honorable mention among children’s books at the London Book Festival.

Diana is a 1977 graduate of Clarksburg Notre Dame High School and Fairmont State who works for the Marion County Board of Education.

The grand prize for the 2015 London Book Festival is a $1,500 appearance fee and a flight to London for the awards ceremony in this month at the British Library.

Cellphone helps find lost Dolly Sods hikers

Two female hikers who got lost hiking the Dolly Sods trails used their cellphone as a Saint Bernard rescue electronics.

The Kanawha County 20-year-olds took several of the trail loops before losing track of where they were.That was Wednesday. At 9 a.m. Thursday they called the Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department, which tracked the cellphone’s ping location.

“Once they called us and we got an 'X-Y' ping off their phone,” Canaan Valley VFD fire chief Sanford Green said, “they hunkered down and stayed underneath a spruce thicket, held onto to one another, conserved their body heat, and survived a night, they were lucky to survive."

With wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph and temperatures in the 30s, the wind chill was in the teens.

I’ve hiked in Dolly Sods. It has plants that are not found east of the Mississippi because the Ice Age brought them down Canada, then receded and the unique flora was created.