5 DAYS IN ALMOST HEAVEN TURNED INTO A HEAVENLY TRIP FOR JOHN OLESKY AND COMPANION JOAN
John and Joan at 100th Monongah High Alumni Banquet
Joan laughing & dancing at Stonewall Jackson Resort
Watching fireworks at Stonewall Jackson State resort
Joan and Pam Corey, of Chloe, West Virginia, laughing during their first reunion in 15 years
John and Joan on bench with words:
West Virginia . . . Wild and Wonderful
Joan at Oglebay Park fountain in Wheeling
John and Joan enjoying dancing, music and fireworks at Stonewall Jackson State Resort
Almost Heaven?
It WAS Heaven!
John Olesky, Class of 1950, and companion Joan Salisbury of
Maryland took a 5-day trip through Almost Heaven that DID become Heaven!
As Joan said, “There are SO many friendly people in West
Virginia.”
Wrong turns in the road that took us to 2-way rural roads
with only room for approaching cars if both got 2 tires off the road . . .
carefully. And no ability to get GPS reception so we had to wing it! Wi-Fi was unavailable in some parts of our West Virginia trip, too. It seemed like we were in a Third World nation. But it was awesome anyway!
It all began with a stop in Wheeling for Oglebay Park. We
enjoyed sitting on a bench atop the mountain overlooking most of the park. And
the water fountain where John took Joan’s photo.
On Day Two it was off to Fairmont and John’s 100th
Monongah High Alumni reunion at the Knights of Columbus on Mary Lou Retton
Drive in Fairmont with about 200 other Lions (the Monongah sports nickname).
Joan purchased a red and black dress – Monongah High’s school
colors – and John wore black pants, red shirt and red tie with black squigglies
on it.
The MHS gathering of Lions drew the largest crowd in years –
about 200.
Since John, 90, and Joan, 86, sat at the same table as
Kathren Ahern Loss, Class of 1942, where the 99-year-old drew a lot of people stopping back to chat we
saw far more people than we would have if we had plunked down at a different
table.
Also at the table was John’s sister, Jackie Olesky Straight,
Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville and Jackie’s daughter Renee Straight, a
pharmacist at WVU Medicine (once called Ruby Memorial).
John got to chat with Susan Staron Sanders, Class of 1971, on
the Monongah Town Council and sit at a table with Kathren Herndon Loss, 99, Class of 1942.
The next
day began with a visit to Blackwater Falls State Park, with a great view of the
waterfalls from our outlook perch, and continued with a wild night of partying,
dancing and fireworks at Stonewall Jackson State Resort.
A video of
Joan dancing went viral after John put it on Facebook. We had a fascinating
discussion with a family from Romania with two children.
Day Four
was devoted to a reunion, after 15 years, between Joan and Pam Corey and her
companion, Keith Lahti. They have 2 greenhouses and grow everything they eat
including the fantastic pasta dinner with herbs chopped up by Pam’s “machete”
into teeny pieces.
We headed
for Parkersburg and our overnight stay at the Blennhassett Hotel, named for the
island in the middle of the Ohio River about a 10-minute walk away. A young man
with a horn provided a couple of hours of music while we dined and met more
people.
Our final
day involved driving from Parkersburg to John’s condo apartment in Tallmadge,
Ohio.
The
journey was WAY better than John had hoped.
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