CATCHING UP WITH THE CLASS OF 1955

 

                           NANCY CAROL DAVIDSON KANTURA

2023 Class of 1955 Catching Up With article

Time for Catching Up With the Class of 1955 since they graduated from Monongah High after spending weeks and dozens of hours doing my research (if I got anything wrong or you have new information on anyone, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com With this many balls in the air I'm sure I got something wrong):

Ann Marie Mascak Davis, Class of 1955, of Shinnston is the widow of Jimmie Lee Davis, who was born in Miletus, Doddridge County. Jimmie passed away in 2007. They were married for 46 years.

 

They have two daughters, Lee Ann van Egmond of Pittsburgh and Sabrina Jo Plachta of Plum Run in Rachel, a Mannington High grad.

 

Jimmie Lee played with bluegrass musicians for years. He rode motorcyles and drove cars at Eldora Raceway.

Ann Marie’s parents were Veronica Mozuke Mascak and John Mascak, Jr. of Hutchinson, where Ann Marie lived when she attended Monongah High. Veronica worked at St. Barbara’s Nursing Home just south of Monongah and was a member of the Hutchinson Improvement Association.

Monongah High Alumni Association vice president Dolores Edwards, also in the Class of 1955 with Ann Marie, describes her as "a very nice lady. Had a conversation with her the other morning when I ran into her at breakfast."

Dolores is an expert when it comes to baked sauerkraut.

 

She came by it naturally. She spent her childhood with her grandmother, who was Polish and “made everything from cabbage.”

 

That love started at a young age. The Four States resident spent her childhood with her grandmother, who was Polish and “made everything from cabbage,” according to Edwards.

 

Her children David, Richard, Patty, Barbara and Cathy benefitted from the hand-me-down recipes.

 

Just reading about it made me think of my Polish grandmother, Mary Peremba Olesky, who filled my tummy with delicious Old Country food a few years after I was born in her house on Walnut Street.

 

My childhood was a euphoria of golabki (aka golomsky), kielbasa and pierogi.

 

Jim Pulice, Class of 1955, performs in the Jenna Won’t Sing Band with Ron Yanero, Greg Patrick and Jim’s son, Eric Pulice.

Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, my sister, is a widow living in Rivesville with three daughters in Marion and Harrison counties, and grandchildren from two of them.

Jackie received the North Central West Virginia Salt & Light Award for her decades of raising money, purchasing and distributing food, clothing, toys to children in financially strapped families. She also was a Rivesville schools teacher for decades. Her and husband Dave Straight ran a 100-acre farm till they sold it off. We get together every time I'm in West Virginia. I always include a visit with Jackie no matter where I travel in Almost Heaven.

Dorothy Browning, Class of 1955, is the widow of Bill Woods, Class of 1952, who passed away in 2015 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dorothy is a registered nurse.  Bill was the 1952 Monongah High Black Diamond yearbook editor and in the senior class play, “My Cousin From Texas.”

Their children are William B. Woods, Robert L. Woods and Sharon D. Ringenberg. They have 13 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Bill’s siblings are John Woods, Class of 1957, of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Shirley Woods DeMarco Merchant, Class of 1953, a schoolteacher in Akron, Ohio. Another sibling, Harriet Jane Woods, Class of 1949, predeceased Bill.

 

John was on the 1955 Mononongah High state champions football team.

 

John and Bill Meredith, Class of 1955, were teammates, classmates and good friends from first grade at East Monongah Grade School through Monongah High School. Their families attended Monongah Baptist Church.

Donna Post Swiger, Class of 1955, was a majorette at Monongah High, in the Majorette Minstrel, on the Black Diamond yearbook staff and participated in class tournaments.

Sandra Ann Smith Swiger, also Class of 1955, is the widow of Fairmont West grad Charles Swiger.

Sandra was in the Monongah High band, on Student Council, in the junior and senior class plays, in the Future Teachers of America Club and an MHS office girl.

 

Sandy attended the Class of 1955 dinner in 2015 at the Three Ways Inn in Fairmont.

Adam Michna, my helpmate for Monongah history information and photos, wrote:

 

“I remember Sandra and Charles. Sandra was the daughter of Fay and Martha Smith. They lived on McCue Street (formerly Front Street) below my parents’ house and between Jake and Mildred (Fullen) Puffenbarger & George and Katy (DeFazio) Manley.

 

“Your friend, Ramona Fullen Michalski, was a daughter of Jake and Mildred. Good people, good memories.”

 

There were other Swigers at Monongah High, and at MHS Reunions in recent years:

 

Harley Swiger, Class of 1962, and Debbie Swiger, Class of 1972.

 

Jimmy Swiger, Class of 1961.

 

Judy Swiger, Monongah High grad.

Cecillia Shamrock Eller is among many Shamrocks at Monongah High.

Including 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; Jim Shamrock, who attended Monongah High; Paul Shamrock, Class of 1962; and Mike Shamrock, Class of 1966.

 

Jean Meredith, deceased, sister of Patty Meredith Wills, Class of 1950, deceased, and Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, who lives in Sarasota, Florida and regularly hosts with wife Roleta, a Clarksburg Washington Irving graduate, both Monongah High and Washington Irving reunions at or near their Sarasota home.

 

Geraldine “Jerry” Elsie Smollar Weaver passed away November 13, 2019 in Pompano Beach, Florida. Jerry's husband of 39 years, Allen David Weaver, passed away in 1996.

Jerry was born in (Little) Washington, Pennsylvania to Anthony Jacob Weaver and Louise Eva Ozana Smoller.

Jerry’s siblings were Louise Peterson, Ottilia MacDonell and Ernest Smollar.

Jerry had 3 daughters: Deborah K. Poole of Big Spring, Maryland; Annette G. Mummert and Darlene L. Sherman, both of Hagerstown, Maryland.

Jerry lived in Four States while attending Monongah High. She graduated from the Maryland Medical Secretarial School in Hagerstown, where she met her husband Allen Weaver.

Jerry later worked at Walter Reed Medical Hospital in Washington, D.C. until her marriage to Allen. They moved to Hagerstown. Allen passed away Jerry moved to Pompano Beach.

Friends called Jerry The Sunshine Girl because of her positive personality.

Jerry was an active woman. Excellent golfer, golf course marshal for Honda Classic Tour  when it appeared in Palm Beach Gardens and  the Nike South Florida Classic in Pompano Beach, played trumpet and baritone in the Monongah High band and in a bowling league.

In Florida Jerry was a model, in 2014 named best overall model by the Miami Board.

She was a member of Christ Lutheran Evangelical Church in Hagerstown for 53 years. In Florida she joined the US Navy League of Broward County, an associate member and a doe of the Pompano Beach Elks Club and associate member of Christ Church, Coral Springs.

Jerry joined the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Elks Club, the Hagerstown Moose Club and the North American Rod and Gun Club in Hagerstown.

Mary Ann Spatafore Lonergan lives in Fairmont and has been married to Patrick Lonergan since 2022.

Carole Thompson Spatafore, Class of 1965, widow of John Spatafore, handles the Monongah High Alumni Association scholarship fund. She once oversaw the Monongah High Alumni reunion golf outings at Green Hills till interest grew so small that they quit doing it.

Carole’s sister is Sandra Lee Thompson Barton, a 1991 Northeastern Bible College graduate,  Bible teacher, author and speaker in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. She was at the 2018, 2014, 2012 and 2055 annual Monongah High Alumni Banquets.

Daniel Thompson, Carol’s brother, lives in Monongah with wife Letha.

Patricia Urish, Class of 1955, is among other Urish in Monongah High history:

Rebecca Urish Anderson, Class of 1971, married to Gary Anderson for more than a half-century and in Clarksburg. Debbie Urish Carpenter and Cindy Urish are Rebecca’s sisters.

 

Helen Starcher Byrd, Class of 1955, passed away February 28, 2010 while residing in Worthington. She was born in Wendle in Barbour County.

 

She married Ward “Les” Byrd. Their children are Kim Glover Ice, who married Tom Ice; Mark Glover and Kevin Byrd. Her siblings are Nelson Starcher, Doug Starcher, Shara Starcher Schell and Jim Starcher, also Class of 1950.

 

Helen’s parents are Damon "Bus" and Kathryn "Toots" Starcher.

 

Brothers John and Paul Harbert both were in the Class of 1955. Their parents were Mary Manzo Hinerman and David Keith Harbert. Other siblings are James Harbert, Kathy Harbert Kolson and Joseph Harbert.

Other Harberts are Monongah High included:

Donald Duane Harbert, Class of 1951, part of the group I ran around with in Marion County during our Monongah High days.

Cindy Sue Brooks Harbert, Class of 1975.

Danny Harbert, Class of 1975.

Sandra Saunders Harbert, Class of 1965.

Ferrell Harbert, Class of 1958.

Gerald Nelson Hartley, Class of 1955, who passed away in 1920, is one of three Hartley brothers who went to Monongah High from Worthington. He retired after his Air Force career and stints with multiple companies as an accountant (including 4 firms where he never left the same office because of buyouts). He studied accounting at the Ohio Institute of Business in Wooster.

 

Jerry --  who went by Nelson at Monongah High -- remarried after his first wife, Connie Robinson, passed away. Connie grew up in Worthington but graduated from Fairmont West after her family moved to Fairmont.

Connie's father and the father of Nancy Robinson Sauders, Class of 1950, were brothers. Connie's mother, Leona, and Nancy's mother, Hazel, were sisters. Nancy was the prom date of John Olesky, Class of 1950, at Monongah High. Nancy's father and Jerry's father also were good friends and visited each other often. Nancy passed away in 2008. She was at the 2005 Monongah High Alumni Reunion. 

As for his name, Jerry explained:

"When I was born my parents named me Gerald Nelson. Everyone in WV knows me by Nelson but, after I left WV, naturally people used my first name. And mostly I am going by Jerry. When I joined Facebook I put Nelson in there so that the people I used to know in WV would recognize me."

 

Jerry remarried Harry Parker’s widow, born Kathryn Smith on the Ohio side of the Ohio River near Wheeling. The current Mrs. Hartley has been dealing with a 2008 back surgery that only made the situation worse. The two families had been friends for years.

 

Jerry didn’t meet Bobby Knight, Orrville’s famous basketball coach (Indiana and Texas Tech), but he did visit Bobby’s mother, Margaret Knight, at her Orrville home before she passed away.

 

Jerry’s daughter, Kathy Purcell, lives in Richmond, Kentucky. 

He had another daughter, Sarah Moore, who passed away Sept. 27, 2013. Sarah's son, Brian Moore, married Chastity Shalon Moore. Brian and family live in Scott Depot, West Virginia, near Charleston. Their children (and Jerry’s great-grandchildren) are Wyatt and Shelby.

 

Delmas Hartley, Class of 1959, lives in Carolina but likes to take his camper to Blackwater Falls or in the Summerville area in the summer. He married Peggy Lou Workman Hartley, Class of 1969. 

 

Delmas’ son, Delmas Gene Hartley, is Class of 1979. Delmas’ daughter, Trudy Hartley Plaugher, is a 1982 North Marion graduate. Carla Hartley Vanfossen is a 1986 North Marion graduate. Rocky Hartley is a 1988 North Marion graduate.

 

The third Hartley brother, David Hartley, Class of 1963, lives in Circleville, Ohio.

 

The Hartley brothers’ mother, Velma Hartley, worked in Worthington’s Hertzog Drug Store run by Virgil Hertzog, father of Marylee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948, who lives in Rockville, Maryland, and Dick Hertzog, Class of 1942, a WVU chemical engineering grad who lived in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area till his 2005 death.

 

Louise Crim, mother of Martha and Reid Crim (whose widow, Kathryn Toothman Crim, Class of 1950, lives in Farwell, Michigan), also worked at the Hertzog Drug Store.

Jim McDaniel, Class of 1960, who lives in Behoboth Beach, Delaware, provides additional information on the Crim siblings:

“There was a younger brother, Tommy, who began at Monongah High but later switched to Farmington High where he played football. He passed on many years ago.

“The Crim family lived upstairs over Thompson’s store. On the other side of the hall where Dr. Barr (who delivered about every baby born in Worthington for decades) had his office.”

 

Nancy Carol Davidson Kantura, Class of 1955, passed away in October, 2023. She was a medical transcriptionist/editor at Lakewood Hospital till she retired.

She was George Kantura’s widow.

Her children are Lee, Jeff, Chris, Nancy Slater, George and Amy. She had FOURTEEN grandchildren, double the amount I have.

Nancy’s sisters are Charlotte Soles and Donna Lou Murray, both deceased.

Raymond Joy, Class of 1955, passed away February 5, 2023. His parents were Joseph and Mary Falcone Joy.

Raymond retired from Consol Robinson Run Mine. He served in the Army. Raymond married Lois Merico Joy. Their children Anna Maria Bennington of Barrackville and Johnna Phillips of Monongah. Raymond and Lois had 3 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

Raymond’s brothers Joseph, Robert, John and William Joy also passed away.

Antoni “Toni” Pflock Hennis, deceased. She lived in Jacksonville, Florida.

Nita Pflock Brooks, Class of 1963, corrected me on that one:

“Toni is my sister and she is still alive. She is not in the best of health but she's still alive. She lives with her granddaughter in Crawfordville Florida.

“I was.really shocked when I was reading your blog about the class of 1955. I hope you will correct it.”

Done, Nita. My apologies to Toni. I’ll let my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, know, too. Jackie is a widow living in Rivesville, not far from Fairmont.

Ronald Hayes, deceased.

Lyndon Wells, deceased, who married Patricia Mason Wells, both Class of 1955.

Donnie Wells, deceased.  

Dollie Engle, deceased.

Sue Greynolds Davidson, deceased, who married Melvin Davidson.

Frank DeMoss, deceased, star pitcher on Monongah High’s only state baseball championship team, in 1955.

James Edgell, Class of 1955, also passed away. So did his brother, Okla Elmer Edgell “Okey”  Edgell, Class of 1944, in 2023. Okey was married to Arlene Marteney Edgell. Their sisters are Lillieray Hall and Janette Lane.

Their parents were Ray and Lucy Cain Edgell.

Okey was in the Army Air Corps in World War II. Okey married Patricia Saurborn Edgell and Virginia Allison Hampton Edgell, both deceased.

Earl “Buck” Parrish, Jr., Class of 1955, died in a 2009 auto accident. He married Phyllis Parrish.

Wilma McNece Dyer, Class of 1955, passed away in 2015. Her sister is Monongah High graduate Bet6ty McNece Poster. Their parents are Joseph and Mildred Shepard McNece.

Wilma worked at Westinghouse in Fairmont. Her husband, husband, Walter Dwyer, passed away in 2007.

Wilma’s sisters are Betty Poster, Juanita Aycock and Lessie Kelly.  Her children are Rick and his wife Lois of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Joe Scott of Worthington and Joy Damico of Worthington. She had 5 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

Friends Lucille Wells and JoAnn Lehman took care of Wlima during her final illness.