100th MONONGAH HIGH ALUMNI BANQUET DREW HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE!
Kathren Herndon Loss, 99, with John Olesky, 90
Susan Staron Sanders, John Olesky, Joan Salisbury
Ahouse sisters Kitty Morrison, left, and Sue Schrader
CLASS OF 1968
Connie Coldres Cameon (left), Bonita Lavencheck Waybright
Bill Meredith, right, with John Olesky
Dennis Edward, left, and John Olesky
L-R: Jim Gandy, Donna Davis, Bill Davis
Rosemary Raymond Pagliaro and John Olesky
Bonita Lavencheck Waybright, left, John Olesky and his companion Joan Salisbury of Maryland at former teacher Mary Turkovich's grave at Monongah's Mount Calvary Cemetery.
Otis Shaver
Jack Slimmer and Jackie Olesky Straight
John Olesky and companion Joan Salisbury dressed in red and black colors of Monongah High
John Olesky and Tom Commodore
Susan Staron Sanders with Judy Rose Mills
Cindy Domico woman in pink is Debbie Hayhurst Bouvey
100th Monongah High Alumni Banquet drew LARGE crowd, tons of fun!
The 100th Monongah High
Alumni banquet on May 27 was a rousing success!
Monongah High Alumni Association treasurer had the caterer prepare for 200 with reservations.
Everyone had fun.
Laughter, chatter and nostalgia
reigned.
Monongah High Alumni Association
president Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, later
posted:
“The Monongah High School Alumni Association has come to an
end. 101 years ago it was formed by a group of graduates, headed by Greta Mike
(Class of 1922). I know she has looked down at us to make sure we kept it going
and was very proud.
“The 100th banquet was a huge success. The largest crowd we
have had in quite a few years. THANK YOU to the faithful attendees and THANK
YOU to everyone who came, it was a great night, everyone enjoyed themselves.”
Indeed!
Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, microphone in hand, spoke for
the crowd when he thanks the Alumni Association Board for decades of making the
longest-running high school reunion in West Virginia history such a success.
That
would be Treasurer
Donna Colbert Davis, Class of 1961, Association President Linda Lopez Gandy,
Vice President Dolores Edwards, Secretary Connie Koldres Cameon, Linda’s
husband, andJim Gandy, Class of 1964, and others.
John Olesky, 90, Class of 1950, sat at
a table with Kathren Herndon Loss, 99, Class of 1942. John’s constant
companion, Joan Salisbury of Maryland, is 86. John’s sister, Jackie Olesky
Straight, Class of 1955, is 85. Jackie was with her daughter, Renee Straight.
Kathren was a magnet who drew a lot of visitors.
So we got to see Lions we might have missed.
Jack Slimmer, in Jackie’s Class of
1955, stopped by for a hug and a chat.
Jackie remembers when Jack picked up in
his car Jackie, Gean Meredith, Esther Marquis and Sandra Smith as they all
headed for Fairmont State in their student days.
Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, also
stopped by for a chat. Bill and wife Roleta, also at the banquet, hosted Lions
reunions in Florida at their Sarasota home that I attended winter after winter.
When I made my usual visit to former
teacher Mary Turkovich’s grave in Monongah’s Mount Calvary Cemetery I ran into Bonita
Lavencheck Waybright, Class of 1968, who directed me to Miss Turkovich’s grave
that I hadn’t been able to find the last couple of years.
I got together with Bonita again at the
reunion. She’s a daughter of Bea Lavencheck, who worked at Fairmont’s
Owens-Illinois Glass factory with Helen Bice, mother of Sue Bice Sowers,
married for 57 years to Jerry Sowers.
Susan Staron Sanders, Class of 1971, a
Monongah Town Council member who was the driving force behind Monongah having
66 Christmas Street lights, was there, too, at the same table with the Ahouse
sister, Kitty Morrison and Sue Schrader and Otis “Sarge” Shaver, Class of 1948,
who spent a few decades in the military.
Kitty is Class of 1968, Sue Class of
1971.
Their brother, Mike Ahouse, is a 1985 North Marion graduate and a mailman living in
Monongah.
Dennis Edwards, Class of 1971, also
stopped by for a chat.
Then there was ALMOST Monongah High grad Debbie Hayhurst Bouvey, who was at MHS as a junior but graduated from Fairmont West the next year.
Stepping Stones band – father, son and
grandson this time – provided the music.
It would be a shame to see the MHS
Banquets come to an end. Brenda Mills, Class of 1970, and Roseann Orwig, Class
of 1969, said they plan to talk to departing Alumni Board leaders to see if
Brenda and Roseann can drum up support for a 2024 101th Monongah High Alumni
Banquet.
I sure hope they succeed.
It’s just too good a thing to let die
out.
Ask anyone who attended this year!
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