Weather freezes out Dairy Kone

Sandra Sendling Parrish, who with husband Lloyd Parrish owners and operates the historic Dairy Kone in Monongah, said they will be closing up shop for the winter on Saturday.

Sandy says the nasty weather which contributed to a lack of customers caused the decision.

But Sandy is leaving with a cheerful note: “We hope to see all of you in the spring.”

Amelia Shenasky Zentz, who is making a serious run at becoming 100 years old from her Shenasky Lane home in Monongah, and her late husband, Bruce Zentz, started the Dairy Kone where Camden Avenue (U.S. 19) meets Pike Street in 1968. That’s where Joe Hanus’ second station location was. Earlier, Joe had his garage next door to the PNA Tavern, which was next door to Joe’s parents’ Hanus Grocery, all in the same building across from Thoburn School.

After 18 years, Amelia and Bruce sold the Dairy Kone to their employee, Chris Martin, who sold it Monongah Town Recorder

Patty Steele McCombs, who sold it to Milton Hurley, who sold it to Larry and Donna Anderson, who sold it to Gary and Diane Masters, who sold it to current owners Lloyd and Sandy.

Amelia’s parents were Pete and Nell Shenasky, who owned and operated P.P. Shenasky Grocery adjacent to Thoburn School and across U.S. 19 from Monzo Grocery and the loud and raucous outdoor bocce ball games at night with beers going to the winners.

Tony’s doctor is a cut-up

Despite his health situation, including a replacement heart valve, Anthony Pulice, Jr., Class of 1945, has not lost his sense of humor.

He quipped to me:

“John Olesky, Dr. Nagy, my heart surgeon, said my new heart valve will last me a lifetime. LOL. He should also be a stand-up comedian.”

The replacement heart valve was installed about a week ago.

Tony’s sense of humor was installed in childhood.

In a few weeks he again will enter Fairmont General Medical Center’s cardiac recovery program. Tony worked at the Fairmont hospital till his 2013 retirement.

I call him Tony the Tiger even though he’s a Lion like the rest of us Monongah High alumni.

If you want to wish Tony happy NINETIEETH birthday on Friday, November 10, go to his Facebook page.

Tony and wife Barbara live in Fairmont. She went to Fairmont West and Fairmont State. So a Lion and a Polar Bear have been pouncing through their marriage for 37 years.

Until Adam Michna, who graduated from North Marion in 1980 after attending Monongah High for 3 years, posted the grave markers for the Sisters Auxiliaries of the Apostolate on Facebook, I never realized that so many of the nuns were Polish.

Duh!

The guiding force behind the beginning of the order in Canada was Father Frances Olszewski, a Polish immigrant, who passed away in 1955.

Sisters Auxiliaries of the Apostolate, eventually motherhoused in Monongah, was founded in Alberta, Canada in 1903 by Father Francis Olszewski.

When the motherhouse was destroyed by fire in 1910, the Sisters moved to Fargo, North Dakota in 1911.

In 1937 the order moved again, to New Cumberland, West Virginia.

Then the Motherhouse found its final resting place, at 142 Maple Avenue in Monongah (although you entered the driveway and playground from Church Street, which also went by St. Stanislaus and Our Lady of Pompeii churches) with missions in Scarbro and New Cumberland in West Virginia and Kilgore in Texas.

The order died out in 2006 but Sister Stephen didn’t pass away until 2012. 

When the order was chartered in West Virginia in 1937 as a type C non-profit, Sisters Mary Teresa Czapiewski and Cecilie Mary Klawitter were the official incorporators.

Monongah was chartered in 1891. The nuns came along 46 years later. The primary objective was to teach the children of the workers, such as the coal miners in Monongah and surrounding towns.

Adam Michna’s ad hoc honor roll of nuns included:

Mother Mary Ursula Langowski, 1900-1989, who could have played linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers the way she whacked me with that 2-hole paddle for more serious violations. That wood sure whistled as it approached my butt in a millisecond. The 1-hole paddle was for lesser offenses. Believe me, you felt the difference between the two paddles. Less wind resistance, more impact.

Sister Mary Clara Bednarski, 1891-1975.

Sister Mary Teresa Czapnewska.

Sister Mary Blaszkorasioa.

Mother Mary Arsenia Dziewenka, 1879-1966.

Sister Mary Cecilie Klawitter, 1890-1977.

My favorite teacher of them all, Mother Mary Agnes Lancki, who passed away in 1984. I’ll never forget her speeding on Church Street in her brother’s Jeep. Even the police who pulled her over were afraid to give her a ticket. Or the way she instilled a love for reading, grammar and writing in me that led to my 43-year newspaper career as a sportswriter, reporter and editor. Which led to, so far, a fantastic 21-year retirement with travels to 55 countries, 44 states, 20 years of Mountaineer Field football attendance and alternating between our Tallmadge, Ohio home (in kinder weather) and Paula’s home in The Villages, Florida (when Ohio is too damn cold and snowy).

Another from my stay at SP&P, Sister Mary Joseph Jankowski, 1907-1995.

Mother Mary Dolores Michna, 1912-1989.

Sister Mary Rose Michna, 1916-2006. I guess that makes Sister Dolores and Sister Rose double sisters, huh? They are Adam Michna’s relatives, of course.

Sister Mary Geraldine Wodzinski, 1907-2000.

Ah, there are always exceptions, which came later in the history of the order:

Sister Mary Francis Dunigan, an Irish lass who passed away in 1981. She was quite upset the day she found out I urinated on the steps leading to the restroom you approached from outside the building because the restroom was locked and my bladder couldn’t wait on a cold, cold day to go retrieve the key.

Sister Mary Anne Hatty, another nun you didn’t mess with, 1910-2004.

Sister Mary Stephen Reynolds, who made sure the old Sts. Peter and Paul School photos were distributed to now-adult alumni as the convent was being closed and razed, 1935-2012.

Sister Phyllis Marie Smith, who passed away in 1988.

Sister Mary James Watts, 1913-1994.

Sister Mary Madelene Colusso, 1914-2007.

Thanks, Adam for this great find of the nuns who are owed a great debt by the children of Monongah’s coal miners over the decades.

I, for one, will never be able to fully repay what I owe the Monongah nuns. This tribute is a small thank-you from the grateful son of a Polish coal miner and an Italian immigrant mother.

Angelucci father-in-law passes away

Junior Byard of Mannington, whose daughter Kathy is married to Mark Angelucci of Farmington, passed away Monday, October 30.

Fairmont State grad Mark is with the Fairmont Fire Department.

Mark and Michael Angelucci operated Angelucci Trucking in Marion County for three decades till it was dissolved in 1986.

North Marion and WVU graduate Michael Angelucci’s grandfather is Julie’s brother. Michael lives in Farmington.

Junior’s obituary:

 

Junior Byard (Encil Ray), age 68 of Plum Run Community, Mannington, WV passed away on Monday, October 30, 2017 at Fairmont Regional Medical Center, surrounded by his loving family after a long battle with numerous health issues.

He was the son of the late Encil Ray and Florence (Stoneking) Byard. Junior was born September 9, 1949 in Fairmont, WV. He attended Mannington High School, worked at Hermosella’s Men Shop in Mannington, Standard Furniture in Fairmont and JoAnne Mine in Rachel until its closure in 1984. He then became a self-employed truck driver and auctioneer until he returned to Federal II Mine and retired in 2001.

He is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Sharon (Fluharty) Byard, whom he married April 29, 1967. Two daughters, Kathy (Mark) Angelucci, Barbara (Dave) Ware, both of Farmington, WV and one son, Chuck Byard of Clarksburg, WV. Seven grandchildren, Josh (Faith) Price, Jake Price, Marlee Angelucci, Lane Byard, Logan White, Brianna and Jaden Ware. One great-granddaughter Karmendi. A sister Mary Freeland of Fairmont, WV and a brother, Jim (Wanda) Byard of Mannington, WV. Sisters-in-law, Linda (Jim) Hyde of Enterprise, WV, Sandy (Dallas) Heldreth of Flat Run, WV, Lorna Toothman and fiancé Dave Chappell, Donna Fluharty, Cathy Fluharty, and brother-in-law, Roger (Mary) Fluharty, all of Plum Run, WV and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by an infant brother Robert Byard, in-laws Joseph and Helen (Haught) Fluharty, brothers-in-law Ernest Freeland, Alan and Randy Fluharty and Stanley Toothman.

Junior was a member of the Monongalia Baptist Church of Plum Run and enjoyed his family, farming and his dog Buddy. A very special thank you goes out to all of the wonderful nurses in the Fairmont Regional Medical Center ICU and his special nurse, Becky Wade.

Family and friends will be received at Masters Funeral Home, 209 Main St., Mannington, on Thursday, November 2, 2017 from 11am to 8pm. Funeral services will be held in the funeral home on Friday, November 3, 2017 beginning at 11am with Reverend Richard Fluharty officiating. His final resting place will be at the Fluharty Cemetery on Plum Run, WV. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.mastersfuneralhomewv.com

 

85 and still alive

. . . and lively

My youngest child, Monnie Ann, hosted my 85th birthday party today at her house in Brunswick, Ohio.

Among my presents:

2 WVU gnomes carrying footballs.

3 dozen orange golf balls (playing 163 rounds this year, I lost a few).

Cutting board in shape of outline of the state of West Virginia.

Bluejeans to match a new pair I already have so that I can throw one in the washer and dryer while I'm galivanting about in the other one.

 Flattering birthday cards.

And Paula called from her Florida home via FaceTime (same as Skype) so that she could see the partygoers.

My oldest, LaQuita, and her husband, Tom; my son, John Larry, and his wife, Kathy; LaQuita and Tom’s son, Devin, and his wife, Courtney; Monnie Ann and Bob’s daughter Beth and son Raymond also attended.

 

My sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, gave me two more WVU shirts after Saturday's victory over Iowa State in Mountaineer Field. I can never have too many WV items.

 

Instead of "Happy Birthday" they sang "Country Roads" to me. More appropriate.

 

And you will notice that there are THREE WVU flags draped in the stairway. There's also another WVU flag flying above my garage door in Tallmadge, Ohio.

 

I believe in showing the colors, gold and blue.

Nothing like family.

Nothing like being alive and ambulatory at 85 either.

Mareca’s dad ‘doing great’

 

East Fairmont High grad Mareca Savonarola, a lieutenant when Susan Staron Sanders began her Charge of the Lights Brigade fundraisers for Monongah Christmas street lights, reports that “My dad, John A. Savonarola, is being taken to VA hospital at 3 p.m. today to start his physical therapy. He is doing great. Thanks for all the prayers.”

Mareca moved to Monongah and got caught up in Susan’s fundraising activities. She later got busy with other events in her life that took her away from helping lead the lights fundraising.

The good news from Anthony Pulice, Jr., Class of 1945:

“I have some serious ‘BooBoos’ and I am very tired . . . but I'm home. Thanks for your prayers.”

Tony had a heart valve replacement at Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown.

In three weeks he plans to again get into Fairmont General Medical Center’s cardiac recovery program. Tony retired from Fairmont General Hospital in 2013.

That once more will put him under the wing of Rivesville High grad Yvonne Hershman, who got her nursing degree from Fairmont State and is RN in cardiac rehab at the Fairmont hospital.

Yvonne calls Tony “one strong man.” Indeed, Yvonne. We love our tiger.

Tony has survived a heart attack and surgeries to put stents in his arteries.

Our Tony the tiger will be 90 years old on November 10. That makes me a “kid” by comparison since I’ll be only 85 on Sunday, November 5.

And a bit of a wimp compared to what our Tony the tiger has survived. He’s the Lion King when it comes to dealing with health adversity.

Lions and tigers, oh, my!

Tony wrote:

“Mon General really has my love and respect. I could not have been treated better.”

Tony and wife Barbara have been married for 37 years and live in Fairmont.

He grew up in Worthington. His nephew, Jim Pulice, Class of 1969, was principal of Monongah Middle School for years.