THE WI NEWSLETTER 07/14


THE WI NEWSLETTER


Editor: Roleta Smith Meredith Issue 179 July 2014


               






JULY MYSTERY PICTURE



submitted by: Cliff Cleavenger (WI '70)
cliffcsc@aol.com

I believe it is the trestle at the end of Traction Street crossing the West Fork River. If so, on the other side was Maxwell Bottom and the VA hospital. In fall of 1963, I crossed it each day traveling to football practice. Our team, Hartland Panthers, was one of the four original teams of the local Clarksburg Pop Warner Football League. Maxwell Bottom was the site of our practice field.



submitted by: Gladys Williams (WI '71)
Gwill1004@aol.com

I can remember walking the train trestle from Hartland to VA park, but only a few times. I really was a little scared to walk across it, but when all your friends were going to the park you had to stay with the crowd.



submitted by: Rebecca Allen Ausmus WI '70)

I think this was the railroad crossing that went through the Hartland Area across the West Fork River ??



submitted by: Fred Alvaro (WI '59)

The mystery picture is the railroad trestle in Hartland, which I and a couple others walked over numerous times going to Little League practice at the VA Hospital baseball field. From lower Broad Oaks, we went over swinging bridge to Water St., Up Lowndes Hill, over to upper Chestnut Hills and down that street and past Chestnut St. to the trestle. We crossed over trestle and up the hill in back of hospital to the field. Without an auto in the family, I walked many places or hitched-hiked.



submitted by: Wayne White (WI '60)

The trivia picture looks like the railroad trestle in Hartland section of Stealey....It was the train line that ran behind the Byron Construction and came out on Liberty Ave in Hartland.



submitted by: Homer "Bud" Burnett (WI '65)

Railroad bridge in Hartland
I used to walk across it and try not to get dizzy watching the water flow beneath it. This was in 1964.



submitted by: Colleen Luzader Holliday (WI '61)

Hi Roleta!

Thank you so much for your continuing work in keeping us Clarksburg folk entertained.

The picture looks as if it could be the old railroad trestle off Traction Street in Hartland over the West Fork of the Monongahela River. It no longer exists.

As children and young adults we crossed the trestle with trepidation as you could look between the ties and see the water far below. Every few ties there was a metal "step-down" and we used to frighten each other pretending we fell between the ties. We crossed the trestle to go sled riding on the VA property (nice hills), to pick violets, or walk with our sweethearts. I believe there were also tennis courts for public use a little later. The guys walked over the trestle as they traveled to their BAB where they swam every summer. There was NO SWIMMING IN THE RIVER BY ORDER OF THE CLARKSBURG WATER BOARD. Some of the neighborhood girls broke the rules too, and swam around the trestle area from a small dock on the bank sans clothes (hid them in the bushes) until the guys discovered what was happening and would steal our clothes. However, there was always some wonderful hero to save our clothes--thank goodness! Tom Tricot was one of our favorite heroes for negotiating for our clothes.

Someone was forever daring someone else to jump from the trestle to the river, and I believe Sue Rudd was the only one who actually did jump.

To the right of the picture on Bridge Avenue was the Hartland Youth Center where teenagers "hung out" on Friday and Saturday nights to dance.

This trestle picture brought back fun memories.



submitted by: Jerry Hustead (WI '63)

June Mystery picture looks like one of the many train trestles in and around Clarksburg. This one I believe is the Hartland trestle. As kids we would jump off that trestle in the summer time into the West Fork.



submitted by: Elaine Zabeau Norteman (ND '62)

Looking at the mystery picture for June reminds me of the trestle off Liberty Ave. where my Uncle use to walk my sister Judy and me across. I was so afraid as I looked down. Recently on a trip to South America I had to cross a dock which reminded me of the trestle in Hartland off Liberty Avenue. Today I think they have made a walking area on the other side of the river near where the Veterans Hospital was.



submitted by: Rebecca Allen Ausmus (WI '70)

My goodness three in a row I have guessed right .. I am on a roll .. The Hartland Kids used to go in that area in the summer and party. I won't tell you the name they had for it ... but whenever I visited a friend from the Hartland Area we would go there and walk and walk the trestle. It was quiet there and isolated and a lot of good memories were shared by mostly the kids from that area. Me being a Broad Oaks girl did not go there much, only to visit once in a while. But it was the party spot for those kids growing up in that area.



submitted by: John Cooper (WI '51)

Looks like the streetcar bridge in Hartland going over the river..south to Weston. Well anyway.., I rode that street car going to the Spring Hill Country Club stop before Mt.Clare. I walked up the hills in the dark to my home after school. I would go to the movies then coming home sometimes it was really dark, sometimes so dark "I could hardly see my hand in front of my face.” Another great WI Newsletter..!!!

Just getting back to your question if I was sure it was a street car trestle.. it was only a streetcar used from Clarksburg to Weston thru Stealey. I rode it many times and at times when we wise guys would take turns each trip to pull down the steel pole that had the connection to the elec power line down and everything would go dark. The conductor, cussing and upset, would have to come back all the way to the back and reach out to re-connect to the overhead power line. Sparks and excitement us guys loved it when we were together coming home late at night. So we thought.



submitted by: Jim Alvaro (WI '56)

I think I know of only 3 trestles in the Clarksburg area. One is on the way to Hepizabah. That one, we rode the street car to my grandmothers house about every week. Before they lived in Hepizabah, they lived near Cook's Mine. That one, we took the street car to Meadowbrook. From Meadowbrook, Mom, Dad, Fred, and I would walk a little way to the trestle. Dad would carry me across the trestle to Mom and then go back and get Fred. Remember we were very young then, and a lot lighter. That evening, Dad would repeat the same back to Meadowbrook, then the street car back to the "car barn" near the Fourth Street Bridge. From there we would either walk, depending on the time, or we would catch the City LInes Bus to Broad Oaks. I don't think the mystery trestle is either of those. So, it must be the one in Hartland. Sorry I have any stories to tell you about that one. I do know it is near the VA Hospital where we would watch my brother play baseball.



submitted by: Sandra Zickefoose Lindke (WI '56)

The mystery photo is the railroad/streetcar trestle at Liberty and Traction street in Hartland. After the V.A. hospital was built we would cross the trestle to the baseball field.



submitted by: John Teter (WI '61)

I will take a guess that the Railroad Bridge is the one that was in Hartland, as there appears to be "water under the bridge". I do not actually remember the bridge, as I did not spend a lot of time in the Hartland area "back in the day". The only other Railroad Bridge that I can remember in Clarksburg, was the one going over Sycamore Street close to The Hazel Atlas, and that would have been above a road going into Northview.



submitted by: Jim Callis (WI—Greenbrier Military Academy 19521-1953)

The trestle bridge is in Hartland…..The trolley rails went to Weston….next to the bridge was a good softball field….Clarksburg had great inner urban travel….Weston and Fairmont ….good fishing under the trestle….I walked those tracks from Ida’s to the glass plant in Hartland 5 days a week…White and Bailey Glass Company…cut myself so much I decided for college….



submitted by: David Corsini (WI '60)

The mystery picture is the railroad bridge at Traction St over the West Fork to the VA. Crossed it many times with my two sons Chip and Kevin whom I coached in Litle League baseball for several years. That is where we practiced.




THE TRESTLE OVER THE WEST FORK RIVER

submitted by: John E. Stealey III (WI '59)

This trestle over the West Fork River is located near the intersection of Traction and Liberty Streets and was one of two between that point and south to the stop at Keeley Construction Company (the old Libby-Owens-Ford glass plant). (The photograph is pre-1950. The river ran right to left under the bridge). The Clarksburg and Weston Electric Railway Company originally constructed the track and trestle in 1911 to carry streetcars from Clarksburg to Weston (reached in 1913). The rails left Milford Street near Grove Avenue, passed under (east of) the steep hill paralleling Milford Street, emerged on Alexander Avenue in Hartland, ran under the Hartland Avenue Bridge, and bisected Traction Street to the trestle.

When the streetcar line, finally operated as the Monongahela West Penn Service Company, ceased operation in the 1947, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad converted the trestles and tracks to its exclusive use to reach shippers. The track connected by switch south of the pictured trestle to the main line near Loveberry Tunnel. The main railroad line crossed Routes 19 and 50 at the West End, encircled Hite Field by the West Fork River, crossed Camden Street by the Hartland bridge, and after Loveberry Tunnel ran to Mt. Clare, Lost Creek, and other points south. The main railroad cargo was coal from deep and strip mines. The railroad brought mostly empty coal cars through the switch toward and across the trestle, and depending on train length onto Traction Street to clear the switch and then reverse and proceed south to the sidetrack at Kelley’s coal tipple. Loaded cars were removed in reverse order. Other customers at Keeley’s sideswitches were General Storage, Universal Concrete, and Mountain State Fabricating Company. General Storagewarehoused raw government rubber, Carnation condensed milk, and other commodities for later transport. Universal Concrete manufactured pipe and other forms. For a time in the 1950s, the fabricating company assembled U. S. Air Force towing cranes and booms on trucks. Hundreds of government trucks arrived, in staggered quantities, by flatcar and were removed in various numbers after assembly. The arrival and departure of this unique cargo, some destined for international locations, always attracted the attention of Hartland residents. At the south end of Traction Street by Stanley Helmick’s house before reaching the trestle, another switch allowed the railroad to reach the peninsula by Hartland Dam. The track primarily served the Hartland Lumber Company.

When the Veterans Administration Hospital (VA) (dedicated in December 1950) was built, a pier was erected upriver next to the trestle pier to support a utility bridge over the river to carry pipes for city water and natural gas. The concrete for the pier was pushed by many men with onewheeled wheelbarrows on planks strung over the trestle ties to the trestle pier, then sluiced over to the new pier forms. Concrete trucks, straddling one rail, backed from Liberty and Traction Streets to the trestle abutment to unload, one wheelbarrow at a time.

For everyone who grew up in Hartland, the picture brings back a flood of personal memories. My father worked at Keeley Construction Company and walked the trestle everyday to and from his job, until he purchased a car in 1951. Before the VA, its highway bridge, and its road, the trestle was one of three access points to the Maxwell Farm where aged and other draft horses were pastured. When the first autumn frost fell, my father took me across the trestle, first in 1946 and afterward, to gather a large bag of thin-shelled nuts under three shag-bark hickory trees on the Maxwell Farm. They were his secret trees. In the late 1940s, a softball field stood on the right after crossing the trestle.

Later, during my teen years, Chester Grimm and Clarence Lunsford, the adults, and several Hartland boys (you know who you are) built a baseball field with backstop across the trestle in a field to the left between the track and the river. Materials, mower, and tools passed over the bridge. Another location nearby on the river became notorious as Bare-A---d Beach where swimming occurred in the Clarksburg water reservoir.

Many Hartland residents fished and boated in the West Fork “above the dam.” My father borrowed a small boat from Buddy Graves and anchored it near the trestle and utility piers where a huge pile of brush and driftwood accumulated from high water and flooding. This resulted in our best day of fishing on the West Fork. Together, we kept over thirty large sunfish, blue gills, crappie, and large-mouth bass from dozens caught.

I hunted rabbits and quail across the trestle and up the tracks to Layfields and Mitchells beyond Oak Mound Farm and below Barnett Stop. A neighbor, Starling Williamson, kept a Beagle hound that he wanted run more frequently than he had time to hunt him. I led Chase many times across the trestle ties for quarry on Oak Mound Farm and in surrounding territory. Later, Bernard Snyder and I hunted in the same direction the numerous quail in several coveys. (I often think what people would think today about a teenager who carried an uncased shotgun and other firearms through a residential neighborhood.)

The streetcar and railroad tracks served as a pedestrian pathway in a time when many people walked to their jobs and to conduct life’s duties. Hartland residents often walked to the West End and uptown even though the City Lines bus could be employed. Some may remember seeing the Nicholsons on the tracks and trestle. Ray and Goldie tramped the many byways. Living by their wits, they domiciled in a dilapidated tenant house by the river on the Oak Mound Farm and traveled with gunny sacks, filled with assorted mysterious contents,slung over their backs. Sometimes they detoured to our house on Verdun Street to visit my father who maintained a friendship with them.

The presence of the Hartland Trestle and railroad track offered other adventures to teenagers. Some aspired to climb the rivets on the slanting side-supporting beams to the trestle top. Many encountered the arrival of the train while walking between the switch and the bridge. One had to judge the speed of the locomotive and cars before entering the trestle. Usually, the train moved slowly, but its speed varied greatly and was difficult to estimate. Once, misjudging locomotive speed, I had to step aside on the middle pier to dodge the train and await its passage through the switch before it reversed direction to Keeley’s. Some intrepid Harland teenagers hitched rides on the rail car ladders, usually for short distances.

These recollections may be more extensive than desired, but they may stimulate memories of others who benefited from the privilege of growing up in Hartland/Stealey in a distant, more innocent time. Like the Hartland Trestle that was abandoned and razed, those times no longer exist.



MYSTERY PICTURE FOR AUGUST



This picture is another mystery. We don't know the identification of this house. Can you help us? Please write to Roleta1@aol.com.

Remember to add a memory and include your name, school and year of graduation. Thanks.


GUESS WHO FOR AUGUST



We know who the 3 guys are but not the 2 girls. We didn't get any replies last month so we are running it again. Please help us identify the girls. Send your guesses to Roleta1@aol.com



PICTURE
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Pictured below are John Jett and Marilyn Tustin Jett. Marilyn looks very patriotic. Marolyn Tustin Jett graduated from WI in 1956. John graduated from Pennsboro High School in Ritchie County in 1953.





PHONES IN YOUR HOME
WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP

submitted by: Sandra Zickefoose Lindke (WI '56)

Our phone was in the hall by the front door. I can remember calling the radio station to make song requests. If a boy called for one of us girls and we got tired of talking and listening, we would pass the phone to Mom or the other sister for a while. The boy would never know that he had been talking to three females instead of one.



submitted by: Roleta Smith Meredith (WI '59)
Roleta1@aol.com

We lived in a two story house with a walk-out basement….the back porch was off the basement level. The only phone in the house was in the entry area of the front room. If the phone rang, everyone in the house started moving toward the phone, and first one there yelled, “I’ve got it.” For privacy, we would usually just sit on the stairs to talk.

Seems like there was a pretty long cord. When boys called me, I would sit on the steps and talk almost in a whisper as the TV was in the front room, thus the rest of the family was there too. It seems that later we did have a white wall phone in the kitchen but that probably was about 1957-58.



BEST CLASS I EVER TOOK
IN GRADES 1 THRU 12

submitted by: Dede "Short" King (WI '94)
KING4189@aol.com

The best class that I ever took in grades 1-12 had to have been Show Choir. I tried out just before my sophomore year and was so excited to learn that I had made it! David Webster was our teacher in this class and was by far one of the most enjoyable people to be around. A great teacher, a great person!

During the 3 years I was in Show Choir, we performed on many local stages including the Clarksburg Italian Heritage Festival and even went as far as Orlando, Florida to perform with "America Sings" alongside other show choirs from all over the United States.

It was wonderful to be able to express ourselves through song and dance :)



submitted by: Roleta Smith Meredith (WI '59)
Roleta1@aol.com

Looking back over my 12 years in Public education, I am surprised about my answer. I think Latin was the most valuable class I ever took. Even though at the time I thought it was stupid and that I would never use it. I find so often I can figure out the meaning of words due to the Latin I learned. Miss Nutter and Miss Albright kept telling us this would happen but I couldn’t see how it would since Latin was a dead language. Now I wish I had studied more in school. I must confess, I slid by……average and without really applying myself….imagine what I could have done if I had studied! Also, giving it more thought, I believe I enjoyed my English and English Literature classes the most. Yes, even those stupid diagramming of sentences with the crayons, which we all made fun of, have come in handy over the years…..remember blue for subject, red for verbs, brown for prepositions. Now, what was orange, green, yellow? There were 8 colors, did we use all 8? I can remember the longer we diagrammed and the better we did, the longer the sentences became. Miss Taylor loved to challenge us. And Miss Bailey was a wonderful English Literature teacher, she even made Shakespeare interesting.



SHOP BUILDING

submitted by: Charles Ferrell (WI '46)

I had a WI mechanical drawing shop class in the building shown in the June newsletter. I used to get a small bag of pretzels from Murphy's to snack on while in class. These were disappearing from some unknown cause so I put a ten cent store mouse trap in the bottom of the bag. One day when I returned it had snapped close. I do not know whose fingers I caught. One other time when some class member tossed a pealed orange at another classmate but it missed and hit Mr Gregory dead center in the face as he was coming up the stairs. No one would admit to tossing the orange so he assigned the whole class to print in cap letters 100 times that "we should behave in class".

This class came in great when I was in the US Army Chemical Corps working on military projects involving atomic weapons tests in the Nevada Desert.



SALUTE TO VETERAN
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

submitted by: Dede "Short" King (WI '94)
KING4189@aol.com



Pictured above: CHARLES R. (“Rusty”) SHORT

I have never served in the military, but wanted to spotlight my father, Charles R. (Rusty) Short Jr, who retired Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. A graduate of RW High School, Class of 1973, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force the same year.

While serving active in the U.S. Air Force, he was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi and Misawa, Japan (where I was born).

He returned home to Clarksburg, WV when I was just beginning elementary school and took a break from the Air Force changing branches to the US Army National Guard where he would be closer to home (Nathan Goff Armory). While in the Guard, he received Soldier of the Month and Soldier of the Year at the same awards ceremony. I remember being so excited for him when he walked off the stage with a huge trophy and a huge smile...I was prouder than ever to say, "That's my Dad!!"

After a few years, he changed his branch back to the Air Force, this time, Reserves. He would make a trip once a month to Pittsburgh, PA for his UTA Weekend and 2 weeks every summer for training. Over the years, his hard work would get him to the rank of Master Sergeant and his determination would lead my older brother and 2 of my younger sisters to also enlist in the US Air Force Reserves to follow in his footsteps as proud U.S. Soldiers.



Pictured above: Rusty Short, son Chad Short and daughter Gina Short Shaffer.




Pictured above: center Rusty Short, on left daughter Candice Short Matheny, on right daughter Gina Short Shaffer.


 Though he fought hard to stay in because he loves his country, the Air Force eventually made him retire in 2009.

\

Pictured at his Retirement: Rusty Short (right)


He has accomplished so much over the years and while others refer to him as "Master Sergeant Short", I have the honor of calling him "Dad". A huge THANK YOU to him and all of his fellow soldiers for our freedom. God Bless the USA!



Pictured above: Rusty Short.



SOME INTERESTING ST. MARY’S AND NOTRE DAME NEWS

Notre Dame teacher, Jan Romain, Wins McCallister Award for Her Work With Key Club. Read more here. http://notredamewv.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click? u=abd7588b5b1b93c432c72c331&id=58e9fb482b&e=997a7b6513

Notre Dame Director of Religious Education, Patty DuPont, has been selected from a large pool of outstanding applicants to participate in the Eileen Ludwig Greenland National Bearing Witness™ Summer Institute. Read more here. http://notredamewv.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click? u=abd7588b5b1b93c432c72c331&id=fe6ff03da1&e=997a7b6513

Congrats to Chris Petrucci and Jordan Miller for being named to the First Team All-State Baseball Team. TJ McKinsey was named to the 2nd team. Anthony Belcastro, Kolby Abruzzino, DJ Murphy, and Josh Baker were given Honorable Mention.

The school community is proud of the baseball team's accomplishments this season. http://notredamewv.us8.list-manage.com/track/click? u=abd7588b5b1b93c432c72c331&id=0b8556bc9b&e=997a7b6513



SHOP PROJECTS

submitted by: John Teter (WI '61)

I remember that during my shop classes, both during my tenure at Central and WI, that I made:

METAL ASHTRAYS
LEATHER ITEMS
RED PLASTIC NAPKIN HOLDER WITH MY INITIALS (JAT)
WOODEN CORNER SHELF
WOODEN FLAT SHELF
WOODEN TABLES FOR THE HALLWAY IN MY PARENTS HOUSE (3)

I am not sure what happened to the metal ashtrays or the napkin holder or the leather items, but I can remember that when we moved my mother out of her house on Broaddus Avenue several years ago, that there was at least one corner shelf that either my brother (Bob, WI 60) or I had made in shop, plus a couple of flat shelves in the bedrooms. Two of the wooden tables were still in use in my mother's hallway when we moved her out of the house. The first table that I had made was destroyed in the flood that devastated Clarksburg back in 19??, as it was in the basement at the time of the flood, as it was being stored in the basement after being replaced with a more functional piece of furniture with a drawer in it.

I remember making the three wooden tables, specifically to occupy three locations in the entrance hallway in my parents' house. The first one was built to house the telephone by the front door as well as the phone books on the three shelf areas. The second one was built to go under the mirror in the entrance hallway and had knickknacks on it. The third one was built to put the stereo on as well as magazines and other "catch-all" items. I started the third table late in the 8th grade, but was not able to finish it until my Freshman year at WI. That table was so sturdy, that I was able to sit on it to sand it down and stain it. I remember getting a lot of help and encouragement from the shop teacher (Mr. Ramsey) to finish the three matching tables.

When we moved my mother out of her house, I remember my brother (Bob, WI 61) and my sister (Lib, WI 56) trying to talk me into bringing the tables home with me to put them somewhere in my house in Alexandria, Virginia. BUT, my wife and I decided that we really had no ideal place to put the tables, so they went with the auctioneer that took some of the items from the house.



A REMARKABLE WOMAN POSSIBLY THE OLDEST WI GRADUATE

submitted by: Tim Cork (WI '62)

Today I had one of the most delightful experiences of my life. I had the opportunity to chat with Levina Chapman Gibson. Mrs. Gibson is 106 years old and graduated from Washington Irving High School in 1926. To my knowledge, she is the oldest living WI graduate.

Below are pictures of Miss Levina Chapman in 1926 and Mrs. Levina Chapman Gibson in 2013.



Mr. and Mrs. Chapman and their daughter Levina Chapman moved to Clarksburg from Pennsylvania in 1910 and made Stealey their new home. She recalls Stealey was sort of a new section of Clarksburg back them and the street were not paved at the time. She also recalled watching the brick layers pave the street in front of their house several years later.

Mr. Chapman was a bricklayer by trade and moved his family to Clarksburg to help build the Lyon Apartments at the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets. He later helped build the Goff Building on Main Street.

I asked her if she had a favorite teacher in high school and she replied, "I loved all my teachers at Washington Irving, but if I had to chose a favorite, I guess it would be my English teacher Mildred Dunn".



MILDRED DUNN

It was written in the 1926 WI yearbook, that Levina Chapman was "A graceful, brave and amiable maid; her choicest gift an open eye and heart". If you ever have a chance to talk with her, you would understand these words even better.

In 1930 Miss Chapman married Emil Gibson who graduated from WIHS in 1921. She was introduced to him by his cousin.



EMIL GIBSON

They had two children; Nancy and Kenneth Gibson.

Her daughter Nancy graduated from Roosevelt Wilson High School in 1949 and is still living in the Richmond, VA area under the name of Nancy Gibson Barr. Like her mother, she too is a delight to talk with.

Mrs. Levina Gibson enjoys reading novels and watching television. She also enjoys eating chocolate and tries to eat something made with chocolate each and every day.

She has a humorous side too. For example if you ask her, "what is the secret to your longevity?" She will simply reply, "I just breathe"

Yes, Mrs. Gibson is one remarkable person and if you're planning to attend the WI celebration in Clarksburg you will have a chance to meet her in person



WHERE Y’ALL FROM?
HAS ANYONE EVER ASKED YOU WHERE YOU ARE FROM
THEN SAY THEY DETECT A LITTLE SOUTHERN ACCENT?
WRITE AND TELL US ABOUT IT…WRITE TO Roleta1@aol.com

Here is one to start us off in this discussion:

submitted by: DeDe Short King (WI '94)
KING4189@aol.com

Living in PA after growing up in Clarksburg, WV, I always get, "Wow! Listen to that accent! Where are you from?" My response is "WV, I don't have an accent, but wow, everyone here sure does!"




submitted by: Roleta
Roleta1@aol.com

I have tried so hard to lose my accent but it is there. I lived in the Columbus, Ohio area (middle of the state) for 45 years after we left WV and not too many people said anything about my accent, most people there have accents as a majority of the people are from KY, VA, and WV. But for most of the last 20 years we have split time between Ohio and Florida. Every once in awhile someone will mention that I seem to have a bit of a southern accent. I say, no not really, I did but I lost it and then everyone around me at the time will start to laugh. Recently I was leaving the club after golf and 2 of the men who help us with our carts, etc told me to have a nice day. I replied, “ Y’all have a good one too” Then I said, “No, I mean You have a nice day too. I don’t know where that y’all came from as I have lost my southern accent.” They laughed and one said, “No, Mrs. Meredith, you haven’t lost it and it works very well on you, don’t lose it”. LOL Wasn’t that nice? I don’t know about you but sometimes it slips out….I know I have to stop and think before I say FINE LINE. Now you try it and see how it comes out when you don’t stop and think first…Well, Mine comes out sounding almost as southern as Paula Dean….

WRITE AND TELL ME ABOUT YOURS! Write to Roleta1@aol.com



submitted by: Billie Anne Clevenger (WI '52)

Once again, I want to tell you how very much I love the WI Newsletter and appreciate all of the time and effort that it takes to prepare it each month.

I am looking forward to the August 23rd celebration of WI's "Diamond Jubilee" being held here in Clarksburg. I do hope that you will be able to attend.



submitted by: Judy McIntire Jones (WI '64)
Judjins5@aol.com

Hi Roleta, I was recently "found". I didn't know that I was lost but as the years go by, those occurrences are ever increasing. I graduated from WIHS in 1964, left the area that summer and while we visited family in the area over the years, have not kept in touch with folks from school. I was on classmates recently and found a note from John Teter telling me Dave Kuhl was trying to find those of us lost to the system.

Dave provided lots of info including the link to your newsletters. Wish I had know it was out there!! Amazing thing you have done!!

I am hoping to attend the 50th in August but if I miss that, may try for the centennial event. Thanks for all the efforts to keep the story of WIHS alive.



submitted by: James Fragale (WI '58)

To all: If you see the movie JERSEY BOYS and the filmmakers retained the Charles Calello character, Charlie is "Charlie Cato" character in my novel "The Answer to Life."

By the way, nine amazing reviews on Amazon From Wednesday, June 18, 2014 Cindy Adams column in the New York POST with the headline "Pay Attention" in an item on AARP, Mrs. Adams suggested " … parents can read James A. Fragale's autobiographical novel, 'The Answer to Life,' which garnered nine 5-Star reviews on Amazon.com."



submitted by: Dave Kuhl (WI '62)
dbkuhl@bellsouth.net

The honor roll tablets which you were discussing for those who served in WW II from WI are displayed in the 1945 yearbook and attached here.

They list both those killed and those who survived the war and do not list the class year.

Tommy Abruzinno in the WI class of 1938 was killed as a prisoner of the Japanese. The three Spangler brothers all survived the war. They were my first cousins. Burt Spangler also in 1938 was a regular contributor to the newsletter until he died a couple years ago. I think Roleta mentioned that she had become fond of Burt and cried when he died. I helped Burt compile a write up of his military service for a Signal Corps reunion publication. It mostly dealt with his training sessions some of which were here in Mississippi. Burt told my father (his uncle) about being present when a death camp was liberated. I asked him about it when I was helping him with his memories. He said that he did not remember it. I think he had blocked it out since it was such a painful memory to him. Later an e-mail went around about how politicians would say that the death camps and the holocaust never happened. Then Burt sent an e-mail remembering that he had been present when Patton’s third army liberated a death camp. I saved all of his e-mails. They will make a good read some day.

The WV Div of Culture site from Charleston lists 68 who died in WW I and 385 from WW II all from Harrison County. Tommy Abruzinno has a nice write up compiled by his niece and a distant cousin of mine name Proudfoot.

I want to make a project of determining which ones went to WI and to make sure that there is a good write up on them on the veterans’ memorial site.

That will be a lot of work and I want to recruit volunteers to help.

So far, I find no interest from anyone in doing that research. It is probably best to wait until after Tim gets the basic history compiled. For example, I got an old girlfriend to go to the Archive in Charleston to copy 1919. That was the last yearbook that we needed to complete segment one. Tim had not uploaded it the last time that I looked. This history is a big job and may take another six months to compile.

I also found out that there are some names and pictures at the Clarksburg library for 1913 and 1914 but none for 1915. They also do not have newspaper microfilm before 1967. The yearbooks start with 1916.

To get 1915 which would be important for identifying those who served in WW I, we will need newspaper microfilm. That means someone going to the WVU library or the Archives in Charleston.

Let me know what you think. These pieces of history, if they come together, will provide filler for the newsletter for years to come.

I live a thousand miles away and have a sick wife who requires my care 24/7. So, there is no way that I can go to these libraries. I have asked for volunteers to go to RCB and scan yearbooks. So, far no volunteers have contacted me. Dave Houchen at the Clarksburg library has a few yearbooks. He said that if he had two of any year that he would loan one to Tim to copy. A better solution would be a volunteer to go to the library, scan or photograph a copy and e-mail it to Tim.

Using a free cloud storage site called Drop Box, I have moved books as big as 125 MB between members of my local genealogy society. I also moved a video file which lasted an hour and 10 minutes and required 2.03 GB this way. Free is a whole lot cheaper than mailing yearbooks and there is zero risk of losing one. The tech aide at RCB said they have Drop Box capability. Tim said that his biggest yearbook so far was 120 MB.





THE WWII PLAQUES

submitted by: Bob Swiger (WI '61)

I remember the plaques, my cousin, he asked we call him Uncle since he would never be an uncle, Stanley Heavener’s name was on one of the plaques. He died at the Battle of the Bulge shortly after landing in Europe. He was a Second Lt. and a WI and WVU Grad. My father said that Uncle Stanley probably never saw the enemy since he was killed soon after he arrived overseas.

I’d touch the plaques when we entered the auditorium as sort of a greeting or “thank you”.



WIN SCHOLARSHIP

Even though it is July, we must still think about school and the WIN Scholarship.

If you wish to give this month to the scholarship fund, please write your check to:

WIN SCHOLARSHIP c/o Roleta Meredith

And Mail it to:

Roleta Meredith
3025 Switzer Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43219

I am so proud of what we have done….I will say it again. We have given $50,000.00 in scholarships to graduates of R.C. Byrd High School.

Thanks for your gift this month:

John C. Allen (WI 1957) Thank your for your continuing support of our project.



READERS LIST

Beverly Patrick (WI '68) beverly_patrick@hotmail.com
(note: there is an underline in the space
between the words beverly and patrick)
Beth Bennett Barger (WI '63) bethabarger@gmail.com
Mary Margaret Adams Hood (WI '42) mary.hood@frontier.com
Carolyn Jean Tustin Vitolo (WI '53) cjvitolo@gmail.com
Sue Day Plasky (WI '56) Sandrap0937@gmail.com
Janet Molle Morse (WI '54) jmorse@atlantic.net
Judy McIntire Jones (WI '64) judjns5@aol.com
Jackie Donnellon-Costello (WI '74) discomom56@roadrunner.com
Monica Parrill (WI '73) mparrill@humana.com




IMPERIAL DAIRY

submitted by: Ruby Mathews Casto (VHS '47)

In the May & June WI newsletters there was discussion about home milk delivery. I worked for Imperial Ice Cream, Div. of Fairmont Foods from January 1949 through October, 1954 and both Imperial Ice Cream and Clarksburg Dairy delivered milk to homes. Farmers would bring their raw milk in cans to be processed in the dairy department. We also made cottage cheese but the ice cream was brought in from Parkersburg, the home office. We also had a candy department and at Christmas time we had jewelry for sale. The milk was delivered in bottles with a cardboard cap on the top. Before I quit milk was coming out in cartons like they are today. At that time there were three nice hotels in the Clarksburg area, Waldo, Gore and Stonewall Jackson and we would rotate our Christmas parties so that we would patronize all of the hotels. We also had a lot of home delivery ice cream around Christmas. It was individually wrapped with a Christmas theme stamped on each slice. Guy Tredway was the manager at that time and Edgar Rice was the assistant manager. We were located at 525 Clark Street in Glen Elk, next to Jurick’s Garage and they did all of the repair to the trucks. Most every morning you could find several of us at Pep’s Drug store for doughnuts. We ate many a good meal at the Royal Café. Some of the persons I remember working in the office were; Laverne Hamrick, Mildred Huffman, Herbert Harris, Wilbur Harper, Rachel Hayes, Alice Sturm, Evelyn Cabo, Eva Newlon, Betty Marks, Rosella Beto, Mary Alice Miller, Mary Selario, Marlene Phillips and Martha Hansford.



THINGS ARE STILL BEING ADDED TO THE WI HISTORY PROJECT

submitted by: Tim Cork (WI '62)

Check the WI HISTORY ARCHIVE

https://wihs59.tripod.com/news/newsark.html

Come up to date with the newest additions:


Additions after April 1, 2014
Years in Bold after May 1, 2014

1919         Segment 1
 1920         Segment 1
1921         Segment 1
1922         Segment 1
1925         Segment 1
1929         Segment 2
1931         Segment 3
1933         Segment 3
1934         Segment 3
 1936         Segment 3
1937         Segment 3
1938         Segment 3
1939         Segment 3
1940         Segment 3
 1945         Segment 3
1946         Segment 3
1959         Segment 5
1960         Segment 5
1961         Segment 5
 1962         Segment 5
1968         Segment 6
1969         Segment 6
1970         Segment 6
1971         Segment 6
1972         Segment 7
1975         Segment 7
1981         Segment 7



VICTORY HISTORY

submitted by: Eugene Jaumot (VHS '54)
VictoryHi54@aol.com

The first graduating class at VICTORY attended Washington -Irving High School in their Freshman , Sophomore and Junior years. After completing their Junior year and a vacation of three months they entered their new school building which was named VICTORY. This name was chosen as it was built during World War 1 and completed after the war was over.

When the first senior class entered VICTORY in the fall of 1919 they were greeted by an unfinished building. In some places they had to walk on construction planks to reach their classrooms. The gymnasium was not completed until early January,1920. The manual training class, know as shop class today, didn't have any tools for the students to use for approximately six weeks into their school term.

Also, due to the incompleteness of the building the school was only able to have a small band consisting of a director and six members. There was a glee club organized but only a few songs were sung because being the first year music had not had a proper chance.

Two years of sewing was offered in the new school which at that time was known as domestic science. The domestic science class was considered the most useful subject taught at VICTORY. Years later the title was changed to home economics. VICTORY also had a cafeteria and the lunches were made by the girls in the domestic science class.

When Victory High School opened it's doors for the first time it was a four year high school. As the years went by the Freshman Class was discontinued because of the ever increasing number of upper classmen. Over 7,400 students graduated from Victory during it's survival.. Roughly 230 teachers served on the faculty along with seven permanent principles. There were two state basketball championships won. The first was the 1933 team coached by Farley Bell and the second team coached by Howard "Doc" Hutson, won in 1941. Seventeen students lost their lives in the armed services during World War II.

At the time VICTORY was closed as a high school, students were attending from the following communities: Ziesing, Erie, McIntyre, Hepzibah, Farrum Road, Reynolds Siding, Dawson Mine. Gore, Crooked Run, Edgewood. Perry Mine, Liberty Addition, Whiteman Addition, Wilsonburg, Chiefton, Reynoldsville, Katy Lick, Sardis, Catfish,Flag Run, Big Rock Camp, Little Rock Camp and Olive.

VICTORY TRIVIA: Can anyone tell us what year the picture below was taken? Can you tell us the name of any of the people shown?





MOUNTAIN WORDS

submitted by: Charles Ferrell (WI '46)

I sent the comment on Y'ourn after seeing Bill Meredith's list of mountain words. It popped into my head on remembering the greeting a hill type gave to his girl friend. Here is one that came from a greeting that a regular army nom-com gave to our detachment when he was first introduced to our soldier scientists (SPPPs) at Edgewood,. MD. "Youse Guys ain't going to pull the wool over mine eyes". He did not last too long in our detachment. During our armored infantry basic training at Fort Knox we had several GIs that could not read or write. One in our squad gave me his mother's letters to read to him and write replies. He said that he was never in school and went into the coal mines as a child. I do not know where they ended up after basic training. Most of our company had two weeks leave and were sent to Korea. I was sent to the army chemical corps since I had a degree in physics. One of my ancestors, James S Ferrell, who fought in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812 said he never received a discharge from the Virginia Militia because his officers could not write. He later got a Revolutionary War pension of $30.00 per year, became a minister and died in Tyler County, WV..



submitted by: Roleta Smith Meredith (WI '59)
Roleta1@aol.com

My father was from Braxton County. I was born there but we left when I was 4 years old. My Grandmother Smith was a fairly good example of a (Hill woman). She wore a housedress made out of feed sacks and always had an apron on over it. I remember the apron wasn’t exactly clean as it was used to carry vegetables from the garden, used to dry her hands, used to wipe the bottom of the bucket dry when she pumped the water to take in the house, and used to protect her dress from the splatter of grease when she cooked. And cook she did and with lots of grease. They slaughtered a pig every year around Thanksgiving and we always went there so my father could help. I was very young…I think this stopped before I was even 10 years old. We visited them a few times each summer. Believe it or not, it was quite a trip from Clarksburg to Burnsville back in the day.

Anyway, when we visited, I wouldn’t eat her cooking. Of course I didn’t tell her just my mother knew. I would go to the garden, pull a couple of green onions, a couple of leaves of lettuce and wash them off at the pump, cut a slice of their boxed “government issued” cheese (probably what we know today as Velveeta), grab either a home made biscuit or a slice of bread and I had my meal.

I couldn’t stand to look at her fried pork floating in grease, her fried potatoes floating in grease or her green beans with fat floating in them. They canned the pork from their pig and ate that for the year. No one seemed to mind that I ate my sandwich with real gusto! She had her own special diet. She ate the same thing every meal. She fried herself sausage patties and fried eggs. She died when I was about 9 or 10 years of age, I think she was 68. She died from heart failure. Well, now I wonder if all that fat had anything to do with that?

Anyway, a couple of things I remember my grandmother saying and I never have heard anyone else say them……She would say, “Heist the winder”…..meaning raise the window. And she would offer you Kool-age to drink. I don’t know if these were mountain terms or just my grandmother’s but I will never forget them.



FOOD WE ATE GROWING UP

submitted by: Bill Meredith (Monongah HS '57)

You requested that we write about the food we ate as young people in West Virginia. From birth until I was six years old, we lived on a small farm, so much of our food was homegrown. My Mother often told me that she was given $20.00 every two weeks to shop for groceries at the local A & P Store. She had to feed seven people on that amount, so there was nothing very fancy.

My Father passed away when I was six years old, so we left the farm and moved to town. Much of what you mentioned were mainstays in our diet. We ate lots of what we called "Soup Beans", corn beans (great northern), cooked with salt side. If we could get a ham bone to cook with the beans, it was a special treat. Fried corn meal mush was another special meal, usually served for breakfast, but once in awhile for supper, our evening meal. I still eat it about every time we stop at Bob Evans Restaurants. In the summer, we often had a salad of tomatoes, onions and cucumbers served in sweetened vinegar and water. I still love it to this day. Another meal would often be brown lima beans (butter beans) with bread and butter. Yes, we ate a lot of beans.

We always had a garden and enjoyed the fresh vegetables, especially tomatoes. I can still see my Mother going to the garden with a salt shaker and picking a tomato off the vine, wiping it on her apron and then enjoying eating it, while standing in the tomato patch.

We seldom had meat during the week, except lunch meat, such as spiced ham or Spam. Dinner was at midday and on Sundays we normally had some kind of meat, with mash potatoes and something like green beans. My Mother often served baked steak (round steak), baked in a gravy and I loved it. During the season when we could pick blackberries, we would have pies for dessert.

All of this is making me hungry, so I'd better go get some dried apricots and raw asparagus for a snack. This eating healthy is really a pain.



submitted by: Jim Alvaro (WI '56)
jalvaro@aol.com

I grew up in a family that my mom's side were coal miners and my father's side were glass factory workers. The coal miners were avid hunters and fishermen. So, we had plenty to eat such as squirrel, rabbit, deer, and fish. My mom would take squirrel and rabbit and fix them in different ways. I also like to hunt. I brought home plenty of squirrel and rabbit on top of what my uncles would bring her. Now, I did clean what I brought home. She would fix the rabbit and squirrel by either frying them or par-boiling parts, and after pulling the meat from the bone, she would cook them in her spaghetti sauce. Sometimes she would include home made Italian sausage and/or meatballs. Talk about some good eating. Now the deer meat. I didn't do too much deer hunting but I didn't need to because my uncles took care of that also. They would always bring us a hind quarter. The way that was fixed was to marinate the hind quarter in buttermilk over night. This takes the wild taste and removes a lot of the blood in the meat. I carried that on to Ga. where I was given a lot of deer meat by my students who were deer hunters. Deer meat is very good with very little fat.

Growing up we did not do any grilling out. Mom would get thin slices of steak and fried them very slowly. They were as tender as any steak we ever ate. Not till we got to Ga did we grill out, or as some people call it Bar-B-Q. Everything fixed on the grill was called Bar- B-Q. We do a lot of grilling out and Bar-B-Qing. Grilled steaks and barbecued ribs are favorite. Nothing better than some Brunswick Stew, which we go out to get, with some ribs. Of course, mom would make a variety of dishes with so little we had except what dad had in his little garden. All this was with mom's home made bread and dad's home made beer. Of course that was in later years. Some of the readers, if they want to be exposed, will testify of behalf of mom's bread and dad's home brew, how good they were. Mom and dad welcomed so many of my friends to eat with us. They enjoyed the company.

Although Sonja can cook some Italian, Polish and Hungarian dishes, there is nothing like some of mom's cooking which she couldn't give you a recipe if she had to because she went by taste. Now on my dad's side of the family, they were all great cooks of Italian food.

Of course I didn't know about grits until we got to Ga. Now mom mentioned hominy a lot but I don't remember having any. But, I do love my cheese grits that Sonja makes and I believe they are made from hominy.

There are a lot of dishes my mother made that have the Italian name but I wouldn't know any other pronunciation. There are still those of our generation who are fantastic Italian cooks and Betty Tiano Rossana is one of the few who carried on her mom's cooking.



submitted by: Mary Virginia (Duncan-Johnson) Wilke (WI '55)
mwdusty1@aol.com

Received your latest newsletter yesterday and wanted to address some of the topics before I forget them. Ha!

1. May I say to Hank Kiesel that I enjoyed his piece on getting old! So very true and sad but Happy!!!

2. May pole - We lived very near one of the Catholic churches in Clarksburg and could see the little girls in their white dresses dancing round the May pole on the first of May. So beautiful!! I seem to remember doing that when I was very young in Bridgeport.

3. My Mother baked bread every three days when we lived in Bridgeport. Loved the smell & taste of that bread very soon after it came out of the oven. My Mom used the same recipe as the rest of the family and it was good, but I must confess that when we went to Vandalia and G-Aunt Mary baked it in her old fashioned wood stove that it tasted better!! Of course, my favorite bread would be the Salt Rising Bread that my Mom and Grandma Duncan baked! It is still my favorite of all breads that I have tasted in my lifetime. I finally found a similar recipe for the bread last year. I collect recipe books and love the ones put out by private individuals. I actually did one for my Eastern Star Chapter a few years ago.

As for Corn Bread, my Mom always fixed hers in an iron skillet and I do the same through the years. I never learned to fix Soup Beans until I moved to OH and had some WV friends who taught me. We used Navy beans and later turned to dried Lima beans. I can't remember having them before OH, but they were a great meal with fresh beefsteak tomatoes on the side and corn bread.

4. We always had a garden out back, as all the neighbors did, in Bridgeport. So always plenty of vegetables. Then the ladies would go and pick Dandelions when in the spring and that would be the greens. You wouldn't dare do that today with all the terrible stuff in the air!! But back then, people relied on these things. Between the gardens, they planted Rhubarb and that was so delightful. As kids, we would have some raw but the best was when Moms made Rhubarb sauce and pies with it.

5. There was always meat on our table at Supper time during the week and on Sunday at Dinner. We were fortunate as my Dad went hunting during the seasons and at other times, we bought meat from the farm and Mom and Dad would cold pack some. I still remember them putting a big grinder on the back of a kitchen chair and grinding the meat! They canned all the vegetables from the garden and we were never without wonderful meals! World War II was going on so there were ration books, one of my Mom's friends would give her extra sugar coupons so that she could make jellies and jams. Breakfast, lunch and supper were always served at the dining room table and were always full meals. I never had a hamburger until I was a teenager, as Mom always made the best meatloaf from ground beef and spaghetti (my parents were friends of Minards who taught her how to make it). Remembering back, I guess we had a lot of casseroles because we were a family of seven and there was always an extra person welcome at our table! It was a great childhood!

6. I have learned through the years to enjoy all kinds of cooking. I grew up on mostly farm recipes handed down through the Duncan family, and Italian food. I spent my summers in MD and learned to love Seafood.. I mostly learned to use all those recipes through the year, but when we moved to OH., I learned some more Italian, Hungarian, Polish and WV dishes. Then I moved to AZ and leaned Mexican food and Chinese recipes! All are wonderful, I miss having the big gatherings at my house and cooking for all the families. But the memories are the best!!!

Well, Roleta, I guess I had better close for now. Hoping you are enjoying your summer. It has arrived in AZ. We're having 110 degrees out here! I love air conditioning but without it I would never survive these AZ summers, but I wouldn't trade our winters for anything!!



In case you missed it, below is part of an article by Mickey Furfari, which appeared in several West Virginia newspapers. In it, Mickey tells about a conversation he had with Jerry West about Bob Clousson. West "paid a tall tribute" to Bob.

By Mickey Furfari
MORGANTOWN

– Jerry West paid tall tribute to former West Virginia University basketball teammate, the late Bob Clousson, during a phone interview several days ago. A native of Clarksburg, W.Va., Clousson died unexpectedly on April 24, 2014 in Florida, where he and his wife resided since 1999. He had taught and coached high school basketball for 45 years, all but seven in Ohio.

As a much smaller than usual collegiate center, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound Clousson lettered at WVU in 1957-58-59. He was the starting center and helped the Mountaineers to a 29-5 record and the Southern Conference championship. That team of 1958-59 also lost by just 71-70 to California in the battle for the NCAA national championship. “I was traveling a lot when Bob Clousson died,” West recalled. “I was very saddened when I eventually heard the sad news “He was just a great person. He was just a wonderful teammate. He wasn’t nearly as big as most collegiate centers, but he was strong and very competitive. And he was able to do some things for us to be able to win.”

For the uninformed, let’s pause briefly to point out no one in WVU basketball history could do more than Jerry West from that three-year period of 1957-58, 1958-59 and 1959-60. He set 17 records, many of which still stand, and made by far more All-American first teams than any other Mountaineer cager in school history.

Now let’s get back to West’s recollections of the popular Bob Clousson. “I don’t really talk much about basketball players,” West said. “But Clousson knew he was going to have to play center at the collegiate level. “But I think the biggest thing about Bob Clousson was what an incredible person he was. He was as nice as he could be. “A great personality. Fun inside of a crowd. More importantly, Bob was someone who had a smile on his face when you saw him. “He was just a great, great guy.”

Clousson played in 88 games, including 29 starts when taking over in 1958-59 from All-American Lloyd Sharrar. He made 147 of 308 field goals, 141 of 218 free throws, for 435 points. He also grabbed 280 rebounds and had 43 assists.


To Bill:

I agree with John Teter’s list of the 1960 athletes as some of the best.

Bobby Secret was one of the best high school football players in the country. Gene Donaldson was not only a great high school football player but also a starting linebacker at Purdue. The hardest I was ever hit in football was from Gene Donaldson.

Although not from Clarksburg but a regular player against Clarksburg baseball players was Paul Popovich who played for the Chicago Cubs in the 1960’s. A fellow by the name of Gary Simmons played basketball and baseball at West Milford. I believe he set some records in the 1960’s.

In 1961 my teammate Phil Williams was outstanding in football, basketball and track. I agree that Bob Clousson (lived across from the WIHS on Lee Street) and Jim Warren were great former Hilltoppers and WVU basketball players. Bob Clousson would come out and shows us boys who lived on the Hill a thing or two about BB. The wooden backboard and basket were attached to a large tree on Lee Street and the street was our court.

We were all “heroes” in my mind, if we showed up, suited up and played regardless if we were stars.

Pasco Alivitto ( sp?) comes to mind as a dedicated member of our football teams from Central Jr. High thru High School. Brooks Gainer (now Dr. Brooks Gainer) was one of the first and few student trainers in West Virginia high sports history and Yes, he was “Trainer Gainer” to all us and is to this day.

Bob Swiger (WI 1961)

Reply To Bob:

Thanks for the nice list of former excellent athletes. You are the second person to mention that Bob Clousson helped other players improve their game. That, coupled with the nice things that Jerry West said about Bob proves that he was indeed a great guy.

I like your comment about all athletes being heroes. They certainly are to somebody. It takes a special kind of individual to go through the tough practices and workouts in order to play the game properly. We all hated the two-a days in August, but they were necessary to play well from September through November.

Again, thanks for writing. I hope to hear from you again soon.

Bill (billmere@aol.com)



FEARLESS FORECAST ????

It is that time of year when all of the magazines covering college football issue their predictions about how the various teams will do this season. We are not a magazine, but each year we ask our readers to predict the final record for the WVU Mountaineers.

Coach Holgorsen recently named Clint Trickett as his starting quarterback for the opener against Alabama. Is he the best we have? Can he lead this team to a better record than last year?

Remember, WVU has one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

So, put on your thinking caps and send me your guess on the final record. Please include the reason for your choice. Personally, I think a break even season is possible, but not probable. I'm worried most about the offensive line. As they go, so go the Mountaineers.

Finally, wouldn't it be sweet to see an upset in the first game? Stranger things have happened. I hope to hear from many of you soon.

Bill (billmere@aol.com)



BOY SCOUT TROOP 7 BASKETBALL TEAM----- 1942/1943
EPISCOPAL CHURCH, S. 6 TH STREET

submitted by: Hank Kiesel (WI '47)



BACK ROW----RALPH MORRIS, DEREK DENTZER, HANK KIESEL, MR. FRANCIS SHAFFER

MIDDLE ROW----JACK DUFOUR, TOM SECKMAN, DON HOYLMAN, CHARLES DEEM

FRONT ROW----ANDY RODGERS, JOHN TIMBERLAKE, BOB SHUTTLEWORTH

Roleta, Don was one of the scouts on our basketball team

Hank


LAST CHANCE

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR RESERVATIONS FOR DINNER

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE

WI CENTENNAIL CELEBRATION SCHEDULE:

The picnic will kick off at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 23. Meatballs in marinara and pepper sauce will be provided as well as tableware, ice and soft drinks. (No alcoholic beverages are permitted either in the park or at RCB where the evening’s activities will take place.) A free-will donation box will be at the registration table as attendees enter the shelter.

Background music for the picnic as well as the banquet will be provided by Jim Campbell, Class of 1960. “We will have music suitable for all generations,” said Campbell. “If anyone has anything special they want to hear, they should let me know.”

The picnic will adjourn at 2:30 p.m.

The doors will open for the banquet and theater performance at Robert C. Byrd High School at 5:45 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. Theater doors will open at 7:15 p.m. and performance will begin at 7:45 p.m.

Reservations are required for the banquet. Tickets are $15 per person or $25 per couple. Reservation forms can be accessed at http://www.wicentennial.com/reservations-lodging.html or by calling 304- 969-9179.

Preliminary deadline for reservations is June 15. Final deadline is July 15.



REUNION NEWS

CLASS OF 1959

OUR 55TH REUNION IS A CASUAL EVENING TOGETHER

submitted by: Roleta Smith Meredith (WI '59)
Roleta1@aol.com

Mike Fresa and Larry Martino have heard from a lot of our classmates concerning the get together on August 22nd at Larry's house. That date was chosen due to the fact many will be in town for the WI Centennial Celebrations on the 23rd.

The evening will be casual, just visiting. Mike has bocce balls for a game if you wish and Larry has a corn hole game, some may wish to play a game while they visit. Bring a folding chair if you can. Chatting, visiting and laughing are our main goals.

Mike and Larry will be selecting a caterer this month and will establish a price. They will contact you if you have responded that you are coming.....and they would like to have a payment before the party so it will all run smoothly. We will be getting back to you in the next few weeks but we need your yeah or nay by the fifteenth of July so further plans can be made.

So please contact Mike at mrf57@yahoo.com as soon as you can



CLASS OF 1974

submitted by: Jackie Donnellon-Costello (WI '74)
discomom56@roadrunner.com

I am in charge of the 40th Reunion for the WI Class of 1974. Our reunion will be held October 24- 25, 2014. . I am trying to find information on several of my classmates.

I have 2 lists. The first list has the names of those we are trying to find and we have no information about them. The second list is the names and the 10 year old information we have.

If you have any information on anyone listed or even someone related to them, please email me their address so we can get in touch with them. We want to be sure we invite everyone to join us for this event.

Write your information to: discomom56@roadrunner.com

This group we have never had an address for:

1. Joan Bland
2. John Boggs
3. Mary Butcher one in phonebook tried calling no answer or answering machine
4. Pam Chatt married name is Mayle supposedly in Clarksburg
5. Robert Crawford
6. Sabrina Davisson Knight (phone number disconnected in Clarksburg phonebook)
7. Vivian Evans
8. Debbie Gum
9. Greg Harrison
10. Bob Heckert
11. Linda Hill
12. John Hurst (left a message on a John Hurst in Clarksburg no call back)
13. Lydia Hurst 14. Melody Kirkpatrick (in Continuous Care)
15. Marian Linton
16. Bob Martin
17. Terri McCarthy or Terri McCarty (SP in yearbook)
18. Richard McElwain tried Mother's phone no answer
19. Bob Miller
20. Cathy Miller
21. Felicia Owens
22. Jeff Pletcher
23. Randy Queen
24. Debbie Ratcliff
25. Kevin Reid
26. Mary Jane Rhodes
27. Jay Smith
28. Paul Smith
29.Teri Robbins
30. Lois Taylor
31. David Thornhill
32. Carol Tibbs
33.Stefan Wilkinson (Have on facebook but have not received address yet)

This group we have an address 10 years or older:

1. Mike Barrick (sent an email still have not heard anything)
2. Sandy Copenhaver Wilson (last address was Mt. Clare)
3. Mike Fields (last address was Texas)
4. Shiela Gonsorchik (last address was Clarksburg)
5. Kirk Hill (last address was Georgia)
6. Charlotte Holyfield (last address was PA.)
7. Jean Holyfield (last address was Pa.)
8. Mike Kelley (last address was California)
9. Rusty Manley (last address was Morgantown)
10. John Martin (was told Morgantown but have no address)
11. Bill Messinger (last address Buckhannon)
12. Mary Oliveto (married Kenny Frazier)
13. Terry Robbins
14. Brian Wolf (last address in Parkersburg)

Thanks


CHESTNUT HILLS REUNION

submitted by: Gladys Williams (WI '71)

DATE: Saturday, August 23, 2014

TIME: 6:30 -10:00 pm

PLACE: The Bluebird Store - 342 W. Main St., Clarksburg

COST: $15.00 per person This will cover food and drinks.

RSVP: Gladys Williams - 304-623-9071 or 304-672-9071 by August 9

ADDRESS: Send check to 85 Barnett Acres Rd. Clarksburg, WV 26301




REMEMBERING
DICK PALMER (WI 1959)


RICHARD 'DICK' PALMER

submitted by: Wayne White (WI '60)

This is a reply on Dick Palmer:
He lived on McDowell Street Along with Habie Snyder...We all grew up in the Stealey section of Clarksburg. Dick Palmer and Habie had several times with Dicks condition...We had to watch he did not hurt him self when he had the seizures. Habie and Dick Palmer and I were building a tree house in front of my house on Duncan and Dick had a seizure, it took Habie and I to hold him down to keep him from hurting himself. Dick was a very nice person, sad he never could enjoy a full life as other people did.



submitted by: Roleta Meredith
Roleta1@aol.com

In October of my fifth year in school, we moved to Clarksburg and I started school in Morgan with Mrs. Micheaux as my teacher. This was my introduction to Dick (“We called him “Dickie” then). I can still remember my shock the first time Dick had one of his seizures. Mrs. Micheaux ran and picked him up and by the time she returned to her desk carrying him, the desk was cleared of everything she kept there. The classmates who sat near her desk, knew the routine and they removed everything in rapid time. She held him down and reached in her desk drawer for a tongue depressor and put it crossways in his mouth between his teeth so he wouldn’t bite his tongue. In the mean time, one of the classmates, who sat nearest the door, left the room and went to the principals office so Mr. Sheets could call Dick’s mother. She then came to get him. Everyone sat very quietly waiting. I didn’t understand what was happening as it was the first time I had ever experienced this. However, I could tell that the class was very prepared and it had happened before. It seemed to happen often. Poor Dick, these seizures were so hard on his small body. It went on for years. The last time I saw him was at one of our reunions, he came, he had on a protective helmet, a man from the home where he lived escorted him. I felt so sorry for him. He was a sweet boy.



REMEMBERING JERRY PAUGH (WI 1959)

submitted by: Bob Swiger (WI '61)

Jerry was a very nice person that I remember as being helpful and respectful to us lowly Freshmen. Nice Family!!!

Jerry and I played football together but at that time I was a lowly Freshman and he was an upperclassman. I remember he gave me a ride home from football practice one day. He was a tough lineman but with a good heart. His sister Barbara was in my class and she is a real “class act.



submitted by: Leslie (Babette) Holland-Sullivan (WI '59)

I have many early memories of Jerry. We went to Alta Vista grade school together. In fact it was at a birthday party at his house that I played spin the bottle the first time. If you were a friend of Jerry's you were a friend for life. Even after I moved to Calif. at the tender age of 22 he kept in touch through my mother when she was in from Florida. When my mother died he made sure he came to the funeral because he said he was a friend of my mothers. Jerry was a dear friend.



submitted by: Roleta Meredith
Roleta1@aol.com

Jerry Paugh was a very sweet guy. I always liked him as a friend and he always treated me as a friend. He was a lot of fun and always laughed a lot. I remember one time we were standing in the hall talking and he was saying something about cooking and said after high school he wanted to go to a school to become a chef. I am sure he never did. Jerry came to several of the WI Picnics held each August in Clarksburg, his health was failing, he told me it was due to Agent Orange from the Vietnam War. He suffered a lot. He was a good guy.



submitted by: Fred Alvaro (WI '59)
falvaro33@aol.com

Will miss Jerry Paugh. He lived one block from me on Haymond Highway in lower end of Broad Oaks. As young boys we and some other neighborhood boys would play softball in his small side yard. He was always in a happy mood. His family was on our telephone party-line back then and my mother would say to them "How long will you be on?" He was also a football teammate in middle and high school.




OBITUARIES

JERRY W. PAUGH
(WI 1959)



Jerry W. Paugh, 73, of Salem, WV passed away on Sunday, June 15, 2014 at the Meadowview Manor Nursing Home following an extended illness.

He was born in Clarksburg, WV on February 22, 2014 a son of the late James “Jimmy” Lee Paugh and Ruth Frye Keller. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Roberta F. Paugh on June 11, 2012.

He is survived by four children, Annette Rosa and husband Rick of Clarksburg, Robbie Joe Paugh and fiancé Stacie Miller of York, PA, Jerry Wayne Paugh of Clarksburg, WV and Shawna Paugh of FL; two step children, Robert Axton and Wife Annie of Bridgeport, WV and Katie Axton of West Union, WV; grandchildren, Jeremy, Justin, Shane, Kylar, Jerome, Zo, Brynn, Judd, Kayla, Kara, Gianna and Noah; great grandchildren, “Lil” Justin, Ruby, Jeffrey, Tristin, Nevaeh, and Maddie; siblings Barbara Patton and husband Vince of West Milford, WV, James “Chuck” Paugh and wife Mary Kay of Bridgeport, WV and William “Billy” Keller of Clarksburg, WV along with several nieces and nephews.

Jerry was a 1959 graduate of Washington Irving High School. He served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He was an electrician for Penn Line Construction having retired from there.

Jerry loved to watch horse racing, various sporting activities, along with gardening at his home.

The family would like to acknowledge special appreciation to Susan Wilmerink, his niece, who helped take care of Jerry throughout the last several months.



JOSEPHINE T. OLIVERIO

Miss Josephine T. Oliverio, 92 years of age of Parkview, passed away on Sunday, June 15, 2014 at the United Hospital Center, Bridgeport, West Virginia. She was born April, 9, 1922 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, the daughter of the late Anthony “Tony” and Theresa “Daisy” Oliverio.

She is survived by two brothers, John Oliverio and wife Mildred of Clarksburg, WV and Robert Oliverio of Garden City, MI and several nieces and nephews. She was also preceded in death by four brothers, Pete, Sam, Frank and Dominick Oliverio; and four sisters, Constance Carvelli, Rose Minard, Agnes Minard and Mary Hazey.

Josephine was a graduate of Roosevelt-Wilson High School. She was employed for many years as a hostess and server at Minard’s Spaghetti Inn in Clarksburg. She was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America, an honorary member of the GFWC Woman’s Club of Bridgeport and previously, a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church until she moved to Bridgeport and became a member of All Saints Catholic Church.



PRIVATE FIRST CLASS GARRETT CRAIG PARKER

Our beloved Private First Class Garrett Craig Parker, 21 years old, went home to be with his Lord on May 30, 2014.

He is the son of Master Sergeant Christopher and Christa Parker of Bridgeport, West Virginia.

Garrett graduated from Bridgeport High School, attended Fairmont State University and joined the military in February of 2013. He was a member of A Company, 1/15th Infantry Division, and stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia.

He is survived by sister, Jennifer Michelle Parker, and two brothers, Jacob Miles and Michael Christopher Parker. He is also survived by paternal grandparents, Diana Williams, Billy and Doris Parker, maternal grandparents, CW5 Ret. Victor Leland Rose Jr. and Patricia Rose; great grandparents, William and Doris Jeffreys; great-grandmother, Ann Marie Rose; Aunt Patty Stevens, Aunt Pamela Parker, Uncle and Aunt Lee and Jamie Smith, Uncle and Aunt Benjamin and Teresa Fletcher, Uncle and Aunt Kevin and Denise Parker, Uncle and Aunt Robert and Shannon Mottern, Uncle and Aunt Clifton and Lisa Rose; cousins, Patty Ann Runyon, Ashlee and Stephen Autry, Kellie White, Craig Tyndal, Cody Vandenbark, Justin and Morgan Vandenbark, Emmalee Smith, Hailee White, Mackinzee Autry, Mylee Autry, Craig Autry, Tyler Fletcher, Kristen Fletcher, Chloe Stringham, Ryan Bigelow, Emma Parker, Brandon Mooney, Tess Mooney, Vivian Mooney, Kerra Mooney, Austin Holthouser, Aaron Holthouser, Laurence Rose; and a multitude of family members and friends who will forever love and miss him.

He was preceded in death by grandfather, James Williams; great-grandfather, Victor Leland Rose Sr.; Uncle Craig Bentley White and Uncle Timothy Stevens.



DOUGLAS GRAY


Douglas Gray, 71 of Clarksburg, WV passed away June 29th, 2014 at the Meadow View Manor in Bridgeport, WV. He was born July 22nd, 1942 in Clarksburg, WV, a son of the late Paul and Paulene Gray.

Douglas is survived by his wife Sally Gray, and four children, Douglas Jr., David, Danny and Kathleen as well as eight grandchildren;a brother John Gray, and several nieces and nephews.

Doug was a graduate Washington Irving High School, class of 1960 as well as Fairmont State College.

Doug served his community with great passion and never said “No” to a challenge. He served as president of Clarksburg Life Underwrites; Clarksburg Lions Club; Central West Virginia Shrine Club; Mountaineer Touchdown Club and served 12 years on the Harrison County Board of Education and also served as vice president. Doug also served as a member of Herman Lodge Number 6; the 32nd Scottish Rite Clarksburg Valley and contributed to Governor's Safety Program where he gathered monetary contributions to buy hand-free devices for motorists.

This year, Doug celebrated 40 years of service with Nationwide Insurance as an agent in Clarksburg. In earlier years, Doug was involved with the Jaycees; served as a lobbyist for the insurance industry; and taught insurance courses at Fairmont State.

Doug was a life member of the First Presbyterian Church in Clarksburg and served as an elder and trustee. In his spare time, Doug loved to travel all over the world. His favorite locations were the Hawaiian Islands and Tarpon Springs, Florida.







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