Monongah High Lions

    MIKE PREOLITTI AFTER KNEE SURGERY AND WALKING AN HOUR LATER!!!                      MIKE PREOLITTI WITH WIFE IRENE FAZIO PREOLITTI   Mike Preolitti walking HOUR after knee replacement surgery! Mike Preolitti, Class of 1962, had his knee replaced, as I have had, and walking an hour after the surgery.   It took me 2 to 4 weeks to do that.   Irene Fazio Preolitti, Class of 1966, my cousin because her father was the amazing Renzy Fazio, Class of 1937, and my dad’s sister was Renzy’s wife, Frances Olesky Fazio, also Class of 1937.   Irene’s siblings are Steve Fazio, Class of 1975; Mary Chris Fazio Ramsey, Class of 1969; Dave Fazio, Class of 1968.   Mike and Irene’s children include Pittsburgh Half-Marathon runner Monica Jo Preolitti and   Ann Marie Cochran, whose daughters are Rhyan and Renzy (yes, for her grandfather).  

                 ARLENE MARTENEY EDGELL AND OKLA ELMER "OKEY" EDGELL                                 OKEY WITH HIS NUMEROUS MILITARY MEDALS War hero Okey Edgell passes away   Okla Elmer “Okey” Edgell, Class of 1944, passed away. He had been married to Arlene Marteney Edgell, Class of 1951, since August 5, 2006.   Calling at Domico Funeral Home, 414 Gaston Avenue in Fairmont, are 2-8 p.m. Tuesday, October 24. The funeral at the funeral home will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Burial will follow at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.   I enjoyed many reunions with Okey and Arlene, in Florida at the Sarasota home of Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, and his wife Roleta, a   Clarksburg Washington Irving High graduate who helps other WI grads keep track of each other, just as I do with my Monongah High Lions blog (jo4wvu1954....

  Mary Lou Retton home from hospital   Mary Lou Retton’s daughter told the world that her mother is home from the hospital after battling to stay alive for weeks.   McKenna Kelley said: “Mom is HOME & in recovery mode. We still have a long road of recover ahead up, but baby steps.”

  Blast from the past: Bob Shears   Bob Shears, 1978 Fairmont East graduate, reconnected with 1980 North Marion graduate Cindy Corder. His father, also a Bob Shears, Class of 1949, lived at 549 Camden Avenue and had a reunion with me in my Ohio home decades ago. Bob Shears the son posted to 1980 North Marion graduate Cindy Corder Brooks:   “Our house was on the corner of Camden and Walnut. The bank bought that whole block I think it was like 71 or 72.”   Walnut Street, at the intersection of Pike Street, is where I (John Olesky, Class of 1950) was born in the 2 nd floor bedroom of my grandparents, Martin Olesky and Marie Perumba Olesky.   Cindy told Bob Shears the 1978 son that her sister graduated from Monongah in 1948. But I didn’t find a Corder in my Monongah High graduates lists that go from 1918 through the final class in 1979 before Monongah merged into North Marion. Bob Shears the son retired from the Farmersville Fire Department an...

               NANCY KANTURA             NANCY KANTURA WITH SON LEE KANTURA, SISTER CHARLOTTE DAVIDSON SOLES (DEBBIE SOLES SHAVER'S MOTHER) Nancy Kantura, 86, passes away   Nancy Kantura, Class of 1955, passed away Friday, October 13. Nancy was a medical transcriptionist/editor at Lakewood Hospital till she retired. She was George Kantura’s widow. Nancy’s obituary: NANCY C. KANTURA (nee Davidson), age 86, beloved wife of the late George W.; loving mother of Lee (Cheryl), Jeff (Gail), Chris, Nancy A. Slater (Jim Prokop), George W. IV (Lynne) and Amy Dienes (Joe); devoted grandmother of Stephanie, Dan (Lauren), Lindsey (Cameron), Luke (Samantha), Holly, Matthew, Amanda, Corey, Kelsey (Charles), George W. V, Monica, Rochelle (Nick), Jordan and Donald and great-grandmother of nine; dear sister of the late Charlotte Soles (John) and Donna Lou Murray; special aunt of Debbie Shaver (Mark). Passed away Octobe...

  Joyce Ahouse Blake moves from Salem to Mineral Wells, still in West Virginia     Joyce Ahouse Blake, cousin of Mary “Kitty” Ahouse Morrison, Class of 1968, has moved from Salem, WV to Mineral Wells, WV. Kitty will visit Joyce in Mineral Wells on Nov. 1. Joan and I will be in Marion County Oct. 30 and 31 to visit my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, in Rivesville. Jackie, Joan and I will be having dinner at a Fairmont restaurant to be named later Oct. 31. Phone me at (330) 388-4466 if you’re interested in joining us for a Lions reunion and, when I know it, I’ll tell you the name of the restaurant and the time of the dinner. Joan and I will stop at Fallingwater in Pennsylvania to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home that I love each time I want through it and on the grounds, then head to Marion County for Jackie’s home in Rivesville and the dinner in Fairmont. Then Joan and I will head to Glen Burnie, Maryland, a Baltimore suburb, where sh...

  Kitty Morrison’s cousin survived brain surgery   K itty Morrison posted: Please keep my cousin Henry Ahouse in your prayers, he was taken to Ruby last night with a brain bleed and he will be having surgery today. AFTER THE SURGERY, KITTY POSTED:   Henry from Doddridge county. Dad’s side of family, Joyce’s brother. Lived in West Union but has been living with his son and family outside of Salem for a while.   He has had several medical issues but is a fighter. He is doing very well from brain surgery. In regular room and out of ICU. Called me earlier and seems chipper as always.