THE WI NEWSLETTER 02/05

THE WI NEWSLETTER


Editor: Roleta Smith Meredith Issue 66 February 2005






WIN SCHOLARSHIPS TO BE AWARDED

On January 10, 2005, I sent a check to the R-W, WI, KM, RCB Alumni & Friends Foundation, Inc for $1,000.00 from the WIN Scholarship check book. This money is to be awarded as two scholarships to two different Clarksburg children who'll graduate from RC Byrd High School this year. The Alumni Association has a committee which will choose the recipient for the WIN Scholarships. I designated that criteria was to be: a child in need with at least a B average. This award will be given at the awards ceremony in April. I will keep you informed as more information becomes available. All of you who donated can feel proud that you are a part of this. YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

Next month I will list all of the names of those who have donated to the WIN Scholarship. Have you sent your donation? Do it for Clarksburg! Do it for EDUCATION! Do it for the FUTURE OF A CHILD! So you say you can’t afford a big gift? I will never publish the individual amounts given. You can send me $2.00, $25.00 or $50.00---heck, I will even take a once a year gift of $1,000.00. No gift is too small or too large. All the money goes into the bank account and we can make a difference.

Make the check to: Roleta Meredith/WIN Scholarship
And mail it to:
Roleta Meredith
3025 Switzer Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43219

Thank you for helping and thank you for making the WIN SCHOLARSHIP a reality.



CLARKSBURG REUNION PICNIC

This picnic is for anyone who ever considered Clarksburg their hometown…thus all from any surrounding areas are welcome. This is not a high school reunion, it is for all Clarksburg people. You will see old neighbors, old girlfriends or boyfriends, old bosses or co-workers and maybe a relative or two. Maybe a teacher will show up or a coach (Al Castellana has come the last couple of years). Sometimes there are sports discussions and games remembered between people who played on opposite teams. At this picnic we are all friends. We laugh and we shed tears….but mostly we talk and EAT.

Remember those WV hot dogs? The best ones were from Clarksburg. We people who don’t get to return to Clarksburg often and crave those delicacies get the pleasure of enjoying a dog or two at this picnic. Sue Ellen Stalnaker Crawford (our own “HOT DOG CHILI QUEEN”) will again provide the chili for the hot dogs. Betty Miller will help her this year. So if you are attending, please write and tell me, we DON’T WANT TO RUN OUT OF HOT DOGS OR CHILI! We will also have fried chicken. (Everyone should have the pleasure of eating but if the reservations are off, the food provided will not be enough!—Please help me!) Make your reservations by writing to Roleta1@aol.com. All you have to do is bring a covered dish, your own drink and some money to put in the hat when it is passed. Some bring plastic table cloths to cover the picnic table where they will be eating, and others bring folding chairs to gather together with friends. I have to rent the pavilion, buy the supplies and pay for the provided food so your generosity is greatly appreciated.

So far I have 61 reservations and expect another 200 to respond this month. Last year we had about 220 people at the picnic.

The picnic is on March 5, 2005 and we meet at 11:00 AM. Please check in at the registration table and get your name tag. There will be a table with some snacks set up so you starving individuals can munch while you visit with friends. We will not begin eating until after a small welcome program. After we eat, we will take group pictures and visit longer. The party does not break up until you want to leave.



Pictured above is the pavillion where the Clarksburg Picnic in Sarasota was held in 2004.
Picture submitted by Carol VanHorn Dean WI 1958

The location is Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota, Florida.
Directions to the park:
Take I-75, then Exit 205 (also called Clark Road). Go East about half a mile and on the right will be TWIN LAKES PARK, enter the drive way—as you drive in you will see a gathering of people from Clarksburg on the left. Find a parking space, unload your goodies and come join the fun!

We will have a raffle this year. The gifts will be a hanging blue and gold WV stained glass (Tiffany style) light and a WV clock. These gifts were donated. If you have a gift to donate for the raffle, please contact me Roleta1@aol.com. All proceeds from the raffle go to the WIN SCHOLARSHIP.

Those who have volunteered to help: Check and see what job you have been assigned:

Registration Desk—
from 11:00 to 12:00 Barbara Warren Williams
         12:00 to 12:30 Bill Scholl
         12:30 to   1:30 Carol and Roger Dean

Cover picnic food tables—Sherry Greitzner Dial, Betty Miller and Virginia Scholl (be there around 10:30)

Tell people where to put their food--Sharon Wendler Jacobson

Take digital pictures, label them and share them with me—Charlie Means

Call groups of people who are to be photographed—Jim Alvaro

Help unload my cars—Carolyn Marano Shields

Sell raffle tickets—Bud Collins

Pass the hat and collect money for me to cover the expenses—Harriett Murphy Pansing

If you wish to volunteer to help me, please write to me and name the job.

Jobs still open are:

Help me unload my cars—I need a couple more volunteers.
(must be there about 10:30)

Help clean up food areas after the picnic…this is not the picnic area—each person cleans up their own things.

Help me load the cars

Any volunteers? Any questions? RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE—

Write to me at ROLETA1@AOL.COM



WI CLASS OF 1959 AT 2004 CLARKSBURG REUNION PICNIC





GLASS PLANTS



Picture above contributed by Fran Tate Barrett. One of the little houses in the foreground is where my mother and dad lived after they were married.

submitted by: Fran Tate Barrett (WI ’50)
flmom1cat4@juno.com

You asked about glass factories. Here's what I remember. The first glass plant in Clarksburg was Republic Glass, started by W. S. Brady and I think it was started on Pike St. Later moved to where the Hazel Atlas plant was for many years. Hazel Atlas was formed by Charles Brady & C. H Tallman. By 1930 Hazel Atlas was the largest glass plant in the world. They also had two other plants that made glassware, one was in Grafton. In 1956 Continental Can Company bought Hazel Atlas as a division of Continental Can Company and their glassware was called Hazelware. 1972 Brockway Glass bought the plant in Clarksburg because Continental Can Company had to break up it's holdings. 1977 Anchor Hocking bought the plant which later became Anchor Glass 1987 the plant closed for good. As I remember there were 4 glass plants in Clarksburg. Hazel Atlas Rolland Flat Glass Pittsburgh Plate Glass Akro Agate which made marbles and later some decorative dishes. As for the state of WV, I only know of two glass plants still in operation.

I also think the little glass plant in Ellenboro, WV is still in operation. They make candy dishes, vases, glass flowers, etc. I think it is just called Ellenboro Glass Co. It is just off I-79 at the Ellenboro Exit.  



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

The glass factories that I can remember are Eagle Convex, Clearlite Glass, Roland Glass, Pittsburg Plate Glass, Hazel Atlas, Adamston Flat, Fourco Glass, Glass and Paint Shop (I think they were small manufacturing plant).  Some of the names are probably the same company which changed their names through the years.

My memories are few but when I think of glass plants I think of my father coming out of PPG in Stonewood.  He never drove a car in his life and he would sometimes walk from Stonewood to Broad Oaks or catch a ride sometime. I would surprise him when I was in town and pick him up and look at the smile on his face when he saw me parked in front of the gate coming out from the plant.



submitted by: Wayne Winters (WI '66)
wwinters@ix.netcom.com

Glass factories that I remember are Adamston Flat, Hazel-Atlas, Roland Glass--McNichol Pottery in Stonewood. I went thru Alta Vista and Central Jr with Stephanie McNichol.

I was in the same home room at Central Junior HS with Eugene Roland. A cousin --she was like a sister to my mother-- worked at Hazel-Atlas. I remember my dad bringing home cat's eye and other marbles from the glass plants where he delivered bread.

I remember a neighbor who moved in next door to our family in Broad Oaks when he retired from a glass factory. We heard that he never owned a car and walked to his job. He walked to church most Sunday's too. Remember us picking him up on several Sundays.  After spotting him along the way to church after he and his wife moved in next door to us.



submitted by: Frank Bush (WI '59)
frankbsh@sbcglobal.net

My father was a tank foreman at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant. He didn't have a lot of formal education as he had to quit school to help support his family after the death of his father during the depression. I remember he always told my brother and me that we didn't even need to think about quitting school before graduation because he wouldn't let it happen. Anyway, a job opportunity became available within the PPG plant to become an electrician. It would be a promotion in that it wasn't shift work and there was a salary increase. He and one other man were the only ones to pass the entrance exam. However to get the promotion they had to take a class and pass it. Part of the class dealt with math and my father would sometimes ask for my help even though I was just a freshman in high school. I remember how pleased he was when he asked me about a math problem which I couldn't help him and he was able to find the solution on his own. He did get the job and became a plant electrician. One of the benefits of being an electrician was he would get side jobs paying time and a half doing electrical work on coal tipples. One time he came home from one of these jobs and showed us a $100 bill. None of us had ever seen one or even thought about them in those days. He died before my brother or I finished high school but we never forgot that we couldn't quit and we had to graduate. He set high standards for us to follow and I know for myself I have tried to fill his shoes.



submitted by: Bill Strickler (WI '53)
StricklerB@aol.com

I think there were six glass plants:
Hazel-Atlas
Rolland
Adamston Flat
Pittsburgh Plate
White-Bailey
Acro Agate Marble
and then there was McNickle Pottery


That is all I can remember. I lived on Broaddus Avenue and many of the residents on Broaddus and College Streets as well as many women who lived in Broaddus Apartments at the top of the hill worked there.

The shifts at Hazel-Atlas were six hours long and they had a loud whistle that they blew at the end or beginning of each shift (noon, six, Midnight and six). That whistle meant a lot to we neighborhood kids. Nobody had a watch anyway, so you knew what time it was at least four times a day.

I worked two summers at Hazel-Atlas. After graduation from WI, Tom Garrett and I worked there the summer of '53. Tom Myers' dad helped us get the jobs. We were floor sweepers. The six hour shifts were great, because it gave us time to go to the lakes or whatever, but when we were offered overtime or called out we gladly worked. The money was really good for high school and college kids. During my second summer there, I was offered a job in management if, when I returned to college I took a lot of chemistry and physics classes. The academic aspects did not appeal to me, so I graciously turned them down. For the wrong reasons, it was the best career decision I ever made. 



submitted by: Mary K. (McDaniel) (Lynch) Bellisario (WI ’65)
bayouduo_1@charter.net

Thanks for discovering the problem with my e-mail address; hopefully I'll get your excellent newsletter directly in the future.

As to the subject of glass factories in the Clarksburg area, to the best of my memory there were:
--  Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (PPG), the largest;
--  [McNichol Pottery right beside PPG (not exactly glass)];
--  Adamston Flat Glass Company;
--  Hazel Atlas Glass Company;
--  later, Anchor Hocking Glass Manufacturers;
-- Akro Agate Glass Works (they made marbles); and
-- Master Bridge (or Bridgeport) Glass Works (also made marbles).

I think I'm still leaving out one or two major glass companies. Did you know that in the 1930's to 1950's the Clarksburg/Bridgeport area was called the "Marble Capital of the World," making more marbles than anywhere else? My father remembers walking to WI, and picking up pieces of the agate from another marble manufacturer near Hite Field.



submitted by: Jim Pulice (WI '62)
jpulice@msn.com

PPG....Adamston Flat...Hazel Atlas...Roland Glass. All were large employers of Clarksburg......so sad they are all gone...



submitted by: Sherry Hutchison Keith (WI '64)
SKeith1514@aol.com

I can only think of Adamston Flat, Hazel Atlas and a pottery maker in Hartland.

My family moved to Locust Court in Clarksburg in 1956-57 from Charleston. I was to be in the sixth grade at Pierpont Elementary.

We had never lived in an apartment before, every room was pale green! The kitchen was a high gloss green..ha ha. Very strong memories stick out in my mind about my first days there. The constant drone of the mighty glass plant across the West Fork from where we lived was like giant bumble bees that never slept! It was the Hazel Atlas later Continental Can Co. There were shift whistles which blew shrill, loud and long. I had to ask what that was! I read The Diary of Anne Frank while living there, and somehow that noise was the perfect atmosphere for that book. From my bedroom window, if you leaned out, you could even catch a glimpse of the huge structure of steel and glass squares and smoke stacks.

Everyone has a wonderful piece of green glass on their front stoop, huge chunks some... All were from the rejected glass that laid in a vast heap outside the plant.

I still have a piece of milky glass (though not green) in the rough stage, not formed but it has ripples and sharp edges, no particular shape and it is my link with Clarksburg and the wonderful traditions and culture I experienced there.
Later, as an adult, I had friends who worked there and were there until it closed. What fun and varied drinking glasses came from there, many sneaked out in lunch pails one at a time until they completed a set...
It is sad that the glass plants are gone.



submitted by: Gloria Caruso Shaffer (WI '58)
mshaffer@ma.rr.com

The glass plants I remember in Clarksburg are Rolland Glass, Adamston Flat Glass, Pittsburgh Plate, Master Glass and Hazel Atlas.

I am sure there were more, but I can't remember any more.

I am familiar with Adamston Flat because I worked there for about 6 years. Joff Rolland was plant manager and hired me when I graduated from high school. I started out working the switchboard and doing all of the typing.

I don't remember how long I worked the switchboard, but I went from there to payroll. Me, who still has trouble adding 2 and 2. I warned them, but they put me in there anyway, but it was really nice to get away from the switchboard.  I worked on the cutters pay, figuring how much they cut of what weight, and then I cut all of the checks for the CIO and the AFof L. That was a job that was done every Friday morning.

It wasn't all smooth sailing though. At times I had problems--like the time I got on the wrong page in the tax book. But, I fixed it the next week. That was one of the times Joff glared at me, but still was nice about it.

Joff was a great boss. I was 17 when I started working there and he was very understanding and helped me a lot. Of course he would also lose his temper and when he did--look out.

It was always interesting going down into the plant and seeing the huge furnaces and the molten glass. It is unbelievable how hot those furnaces got. I don't know how the men worked around them.

Watching the "cutters" and the way they flipped those big sheets of glass around was something to see.

When I got married they had a shower for me at the office and then Joff let all of the women come to my wedding and reception. Since I was married on a weekday (I wanted the first day of the month so Mike would not forget the date), I thought that was really great that he would do that even though they had to leave the reception early to go back to work.

I worked at Adamston Flat until 1964 when my daughter was born.

It's sad to think that Clarksburg was the glass capital of the world and now it is all gone.   PS: I just remembered about all of the tractor trailers that were in and out of the lot every day and the one that sticks in my mind is one that was driven by a woman. She was good at maneuvering that big thing around and she knew it. The men would stop to watch her and she put on a show for all of us. That was a long time ago to think of a woman driving a big rig.



submitted by: Patty Terrill Stealey (WI '59)
PStealey@shepherd.edu

My memories of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass begin when my father was employed there in 1952. He was an assistant tank superintendent. That means that you work in the hot end of the plant where the batch is mixed. He always thought it was unusual that the younger men who were hired never wanted to leave the air conditioned office to check the tanks.

Another memory I have is the day my father came home with our car which a large tractor trailer truck had run over while it was parked in the space near the gate.

There are many memories of the workers at PPG who remained friends of our family for many years.

Of course PPG closed when my father was 60 years old. He was offered a job in a plant out of state, but chose to take early retirement instead.



submitted by: Frank Martino (WI '32) (91 years of age)
JGRAY128@aol.com address of his daughter Judy Martino Gray (WI '65)

Harrison County Glass Factories
1.  Roland Glass
2.  Adamston Flat Glass
3.  Pittsburgh Plate
4.  McNicol Pottery
5.  Another Glass Factory next to McNicol
6.  Arko Agate Marble
7.  Hazel Atlas
8.  Salem Glass Factory



submitted by: Jack Emerick (WI ’54)
CadilacJak54@aol.com

There were the four major plants: Hazel-Atlas; Pittsburgh Plate; Adamston Flat; Rolland Flat.  Additionally there were also ;Harvey Glass, Akro-Agate, the little plant located on the site of the parking lot for the Bridgeport pool ( I'm thinking Master Glass?), and the plant in Salem(Salem Glass?). I'm sure there were others in the county. Some were day tanks with only a handful of employees, but I am not sure that any of those were running in the fifties



submitted by: Freddie Layman (VHS '46)
FGL@VHS@aol.com

Below is a list of the local glass factories that one time or another was located in Harrison County and the year each was started. Those that were in business in 1950 are indicated by an *.

1. 1899 Lafayette Cooperative Glass Co.
2. Hargo Glass (Salem) was not in business very long.
3. 1900 Liberty Glass Co.
4. * 1900 Hazel Atlas Glass Co.
5. 1905 West Fork Glass Co.
6. 1906 Republic Glass Co.
7. 1907 Tuna Glass Co.
8. 1908 Salem Cooperative Window Glass Co.
9. 1910 Modern Window Glass Co. (Salem)
10. 1914 Peerless Glass Co.
11. * 1915 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.
12. * 1915 Rolland Glass Co.
13. 1915 Travis Glass Co.
14. 1915 Alliance Window Glass Co. (Salem)
15. 1920 Paramount Glass Co. (Salem)
16. * 1921 Eagle Convex Glass Co.
17. * 1926 Adamston Flat Glass Co.
18. * McBride Glass Co. (Salem)
Please note: The following glass plants were noted for other type products.

1915 Akro Agate Glass Co. specialized in 90% marble manufacturing. They made a few smaller items such as toy items and some misc. items.

1914 D.E McNicol Co. specialized in pottery products such as china ware for the White House and state parks, etc.

1930 Master Marble Plant was located in Bridgeport. They manufactured marbles and also glass chimney globes such as used in kerosene lamps. 90% of the business was marbles.

The Hazel Atlas Glass Company sold out to Continental Glass Co. They were sold later to Brockway Glass Co. then they were bought by Anchor Hocking Glass Co. Some years after the plant closed it was set on fire by unknown persons. The plant site is now being cleared away.



HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

submitted by: Bob Davis (WI '59)
RAD29063@aol.com



Above is a picture taken 9/30/1950 at Bob Davis’s 9th birthday party at his home in Broad Oaks. There are eight from the class of ’59 including two from Hartland.  

Front row: Eddie White, Kenny Lake, Johnny Ferree, Tommy Steck, me, Gene Compton
Back row: Jack Grimm, Mickey McGowan, David Hornor, Jerry Paugh, Jim Dumire, David Felton, Bruce Harper, Jimmy White, Fred Alvaro
Bob’s cousin Susie Lynch (age 4) here to see all the boys.
David Hornor later took over from Fred (watching) to become class president.
Fred is all dressed up as a class secretary and quarterback should be.
Jerry never got to be quarterback anymore when Fred was around.
Two moved and went to RW (Jim Dumire and David Felton).
Johnny Ferree, Tommy Steck, Gene Compton, Bruce Harper, Jimmy White and Susie Lynch all moved and did not graduate from WI.



WHAT WAS WI FORMERLY NAMED?

submitted by: Freddie Layman (VHS ’46)
Fgl46vhs@aol.com

The first graduating class of Clarksburg High School was held in 1888 in a building called Northwestern Virginia Academy bldg. Have no idea when this bldg. was built. Mr. McConkey became principal in 1896 and then later WI principal in 1915 when the name was changed to Washington Irving. He retired in 1946 from WI with a total of fifty years service.



submitted by: Anne Harter Corbett (WI '57)
rcorbett@tampabay.rr.com

In answer to your question about how long WI has been there.
My grandfather, Alfred Nutter graduated in 1915, and I believe I remember him talking about being the first graduating class, so I would say good old WI has been there since 1914, although they probably took a year or so to build it.

It has always been Washington Irving that I remember, but if the building were used before it was a high school, it was probably some sort of institution, health or otherwise. ( you said to keep it clean), so I won’t speculate on the otherwise.

See you at the Sarasota reunion.




SCHOLARSHIP DONORS IN JANUARY

Following is a list of those who gave generously to the WIN Scholarship in January. Next month I will print the list of all who have been so kind to Clarksburg by giving to this scholarship fund.

SANDRA ZICKEFOOSE LINDKE    WI 1956    (IN MEMORY OF HER FRIEND CAROL SUE COSTLOW - WI 1955)
MARTHA SUE ROBINSON PIERSON    WI 1965
DOTTIE SPEARS RINEHART    WI 1960
JEANNE COLASNATE THOMAS    ND 1961
and JOHN “COTTON" THOMAS    ND 1961

Is you name on the list? Won’t you join us by sending your check to me today?

Write the check to:
Roleta Meredith/WIN Scholarship

and mail to:
Roleta Meredith/WIN Scholarship
3025 Switzer Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43210



SLED RIDING

submitted by: Gladys Williams (WI '71)
GWill1004@aol.com

I grew up in Chestnut Hills. We would either go to the Park down on Roosevelt Rd and sled ride (the Water Board is located there now) or start at the top of VanBuren St, go down the hill, make a sharp left onto Monroe St., down Monroe, across Taylor St., through Bob Thorn's driveway and back yard, and finally down the hill behind his house hoping to stop before crossing the creek on the other side of the bottom of the hill.  We would make ice jumps on Monroe or on Thorn's hill too. This would make the ride a little more exciting. Depending on the depth of the snow, we would either use sleds or saucers. We always had lots of fun with all our friends.   



submitted by: Jim Hovey (WI ’62)
jimparsons2@hotmail.com

I do have many great sledding memories. One of my favorites was the night the road crews never made it to the Chestnut Hills area. We were able to start at the top of Van Buren Street (at Sandy Drummond's house), ride down to Roosevelt Road where we made a right turn at Mike (Frankhouser) Patrick's house. Here we had to use our hands to shove ourselves a bit until the hill started again in front of the Bedell's house. Then we would ride down Roosevelt to the stoplight at South Chestnut where we would make a left and continue on down to the Box Factory (Water Board). I don't know the exact distance but we were only able to walk back up the hill twice that night. Speaking of Mike Patrick, He sat behind me in one of my Monticello/Chestnut Hills Elementary classes. I would hear little noises followed by short yelps almost every day.  During basketball season, Mike would have two cutout pieces of paper with numbers written on them. He would do "play-by-play" of a basketball game between these two pieces of paper while hiding behind my back. During football season, the pieces of paper became football players but the little noises and yelps never changed. I don't know if any of the teachers ever caught on to what he was doing even though they did occasionally inquire about the racket, but his distractions certainly contributed to my inability to get into MIT or Harvard.



submitted by: Dale Palmer (WI '59)
Dpbp2020@iolinc.net

Grew up in East View but attended WI. My brother Lou and I used to gather with the neighborhood kids and sled ride from above the East View EUB CHURCH down to Philippi Pike via stop ten or stop nine hills. (The numbers refer to the old streetcar stopping places). We would stay out almost all night, burn tires and wood to keep warm and have maybe 15-20 people including adults. Once in awhile we would hook on to the city bus, hook our feet on the back of the sled and ride to Anmoore if we didn’t get caught doing it.

I graduated in 1959 and Lou in 1957. Our father taught chemistry for years at WI and we moved to M-town in 1958 and actually finished at MHS in 1959.

Hopefully will finish up my career in optometry this year at the VA Hospital and will be spending the winters in Arizona.

Really enjoy the news letter and you and Judy are to be commended for your efforts.




JACK FREDERICK

submitted by: Bob “Meatball” Trent (WI '55)
meatball@iolinc.net

If you know that George Washington had wooden dentures and James Buchanan was the only bachelor elected to the office of President, there's a darn good chance you  learned those facts in E.J. "Jack" Frederick's American History class.

You can wish him well by writing to:
Edwin J. Frederick
Wishing Well Manor
1543 Country Club Rd.
Fairmont, WV 26554

or by calling (304) 366-4839



HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS TRIVIA

A few years ago, we asked this question and got almost no response. Since we have added so many new readers, perhaps this time we will have more guesses. See if you can come up with a few correct answers … maybe all of them! Write your guesses to Roleta1@aol.com.

THE QUESTION IS:

In the late fifties WI belonged to the Big Ten Conference in sports. Name the teams in the conference, their nickname (ie WI was the Hilltoppers) and their team colors. I will publish any correct guesses.

Remember to sign your name, school and year.  



TRIVIA PICTURE IN JANUARY NEWSLETTER

submitted by: Anne Harter Corbett (WI ’57)
rcorbett@tampabay.rr.com

The picture for February is the court house, in beautiful downtown Clarksburg. I walked from Towers to home everyday and crossed the front of it , to the side street.

There was a stand on the corner of the court house that was operated by a blind man. He sold candy, gum etc. and no matter what you gave him he would always get your change right. That always fascinated me.

I remember there were always people milling around the front of the court house steps, just sitting and people watching. I believe the bus stopped in front, so people would sit around waiting on the bus as well.

If I’m not mistaken the steps and front area were marble, which as a child of 11 or 12, looked very rich and spacious. When I would cross over that area, I would look in the doors sometimes and wonder what went on in there.

I commend you on a great job in keeping us all together and the memories flowing. Thank you.




submitted by: Charles M. Ferrell (WI '46)
Who’s Who in America, 2005
eagle1928@starpower.net

This location was the starting point for a number of WI graduates on a long train ride to Fort Knox, KY on December 4th, 1950 following a terrible snow storm in WV. The WI graduates who were drafted at this time for the Korean Conflict included: Patsy Bart, Gerrard Berman, Charles M. Ferrell, and Joe and William (Tony) Pinion. We all ended up in  Company C, 29th Armored Infantry Battalion of the Third Armored Division. We had 16 weeks of hard training as infantry and in M-4 and M-24 tank crew operation. Al Gensel, another 1946 WI graduate was located in Company A of our battalion in a nearby location. Al and I had gone through Morgan School, Central Junior High School and WI together. We both belonged to the Stealey Heights Methodist Church's rifle team.




submitted by: Gladys Williams (WI '71)
GWills1004@aol.com

This is the Harrison Co. Court House. My sister-in-law, Polly Williams Tenda, Victory 1965, works there. 




submitted by: Randy Moodispaugh (WI/Bridgeport '59)
moodispaugh@copper.net

There is little doubt as to the identification of the January 2005 trivia picture. It is the Harrison County Court House. Built in the 1930's I believe. I worked in this building for the Harrison-Clarksburg Board of Health through the 1960's and 1970's at which time the Sheriff's residence and Jail were torn down to build an annex to the Court House that was designed to accommodate the Harrison-Clarksburg Health Department as well as a new Harrison County Jail and various law enforcement administrative offices. I spent a total of about 33 years in those facilities until the Harrison County Commission decided that the Health Department could not be housed there any longer after almost 70 years we were given a deadline to move.




submitted by: John Teter (WI '61)
jteter@balmar.com

The TRIVIA PICTURE is the Court House located on Main Street in downtown Clarksburg. I can remember going up town and sitting on the wall in front of the plaza, and in front of the statue of Stonewall Jackson, and just watching the people of the REALLY BUSY downtown section of Clarksburg.

In recent years, I have had occasion to enter the building in helping my mother take care of some of her tax and tag related issues. I find it very interesting that the plaza is probably the busiest portion of downtown Clarksburg these days, as any event that is going on around Clarksburg still seems to be focused on DOWNTOWN CLARKSBURG; like the Italian Festival in September. I have stood in the streets in front of the court house over the past years enjoying Frankie Avalon perform and Fabian. I have noticed other events being set up on the plaza, but the Italian Festival is one that I always try to attend.

I have been able to see several of my classmates during the Italian Festival (Steve Toryak and Louis Martino, for two) as well as other people that I had known in my younger days (Barbara Zabeau and her sister Judy, for two).

It is such a shame that the downtown area (especially PIKE STREET) have not maintained their earlier day appearances, as it seemed like most of our shopping was done in downtown Clarksburg. AND, we always met in front of the court house if we ever separated.

ANOTHER good newsletter.




submitted by: Sherry Greitzner Dial (WI '56)
Luman4804@aol.com

This is the Courthouse! My humblest memory of being there for any length of time was being on my hands and knees on the Courthouse Steps for a whole week - on my lunch hour, after school and on Saturdays, the very busiest times for Courthouse hours. You see, I was a mere Freshman and was obeying the Sorority Pledge of using my toothbrush and a cup of water to clean the very front Courthouse steps where everyone was coming and going and watching me and making fun and giggling and wondering what this poor soul was doing in diapers with mustard on her butt sticking up in the air! This was not too funny then, by any stretch of the imagination! Looking back, I can't believe we did this!!! It's no wonder we're what we are today!!!! Half craaazzzzeeeee






THIRD HARRISON COUNTY COURT HOUSE

picture provided by Freddie Layman (VHS '46)
FGL46VHS@aol.com




submitted by: Jane Stout (WI '59)
jognjsg@aol.com

January's trivia picture is definitely the Harrison County Courthouse. I spent a great deal of time in that building visiting my father, Ben Stout, who was a county commissioner and had his office there for many, many years. I always thought that it was a great looking building, one which Clarksburg to this day can be proud.




submitted by: Bernice King McHenry (WI '52)
BerniceMcHenry@aol.com

Another great newsletter!

The Mystery picture appears to be the Harrison County Court House. I have a couple of memories....

After teaching one year in Parkersburg, I decided to return to Clarksburg and try for a teaching position. My interview with the Board of Education was in a conference room in the Bd of Ed Offices on an upper floor of the Court House. Founty Williams was the Supt of Schools, and a member of the interview team. I can't remember the others. Anyway, I was hired, and taught fourth grade at Norwood School for a couple of years, a 4-5 combination class one year, and a sixth grade class one year.

At that point I had married, and my husband was transferred to Fostoria Ohio. Thus ended my Harrison County teaching career.

A couple good memories of that time. Orland Fowler was a very supportive and helpful principal, and Ulena Michaux, who had been my own fifth grade teacher was a frequent classroom visitor.




submitted by: Alex Sandonas Thwaites (WI ’65)
ATHWAIT1@FAIRVIEW.ORG

Well, this is an easy one . . . it's the Harrison County Court House. A statue of Stonewall Jackson is left of the photo. I attended required health classes here as my family owned a restaurant and acquired my marriage license here.  

The interior was at the time very 'art deco' with marble floors, granite tiles and brass hand rails and light fixtures. I'm sure it's changed over the years. The plaza in front always had a very large decorated Christmas tree for the season and when John F. Kennedy died, a memorial with guardsman was placed there.  At one time there were many trees which concealed the front to some extent. It appears from this photo, those trees have been removed.  

I enjoy the trivia photos. Keep up the good work.




submitted by: Mary Sue Clark Spahr (WI '56)
msspahr@aol.com

This, of course, is the Harrison County Court House at 3rd and Main in Clarksburg. Memories?  (My marriage license came from inside that building.) How about freezing my rear end off waiting in front of it for a bus to take me home to Broad Oaks after stopping to shop after school? It was the coldest and windiest place in Clarksburg. I also remember there was a jail or temporary detention center in the back and any group of young girls or women got whistled at or cat-called if they dared to walk that way on a warm summer evening when the barred windows were open. It was a place you would not walk alone. I remember this is the place where the County Health Department dispensed polio vaccine when it was first invented and cleared for mass inoculation by the FDA. People waited in long lines with their children to get the vaccine. Or you could get DPT's or other services at the Health Department within. Polio was very, very frightening. It was never highly contagious in the sense that a common cold is, but the consequences were so terrible if you did get it. It could cause death, severe disability and in some cases total recovery.  You just never knew.

Even after Dr. Jonas Salk created the vaccine in about 1954, there were lots of unvaccinated people. After I graduated from nursing school in Baltimore, MD in 1959, there was an epidemic in that city. It was a particularly virulent strain. A call went out to nurses in every hospital to volunteer their free time at Baltimore City Hospital. I did my duty to humanity and spent my two days off for a couple of weeks taking care of those people. They were all in one huge ward in this enormous city hospital. Nineteen people were on respirators and required total care. It was a nightmare to see that many people in that condition.

The tragedy was that the vaccine was available FREE and these people, mostly young adults, had not received it. Thank goodness it is now a requirement to enter public schools.




submitted by: Fran Tate Barrett (WI '50)
flmom1cat4@juno.com

You don't have to apologize for being late. What would we do, cut your pay? HA! I was just glad to get the newsletter no matter how late. Of course the picture is of the Harrison County Court House. What do I remember about it, not much as I was only in it one time? It was a very important day for us. Jim & I went in for a marriage license to get married in 1952 at the Reynoldsville Baptist Church. We then had to return to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland two days after the wedding.




submitted by: Bob Dennison (WI '57)
rdenniso@ma.rr.com

Appears to be "The Court  House" of Harrison County-located in the middle of downtown. I had a 'Great Time' in front of this building during "The Stonewall Jackson Days" dancing with a young lady-Bobbie Carter. My wife was employed there for 24 years [now retired as I am]. 






FIRST HARRISON COUNTY COURT HOUSE

picture provided by Freddie Layman (VHS '46)
FGL46VHS@aol.com




submitted by: Cindy Este Loy (RW '78)
Loyclan@aol.com

My father, Jim Este (VHS Class of 1955), just goes on and on about your newsletter. He loves looking at it every month, it brings back a lot of good memories. Will you please add me to the email list?   

Also, the picture for January is the Court House on Main Street. One memory I have of this building is the news stand that was at the right front of the Court House (if you are looking at it) when I was growing up. It was run by Harry Jenkins, a good friend of mine & my husband's father. I would always stop to see him when I "went to town" on the Norwood/Stealey bus. What memories! Standing on the corner of Maryland Ave. & Washington St. in Nutter Fort waiting on the bus. Sometimes coming home we would go ahead and stay on the bus through Nutter Fort to Stonewood and back just to ride, and arguing over who would ring the bell. Kids can't do that now. Boy, what they are missing out on!




submitted by: Wayne Winters (WI '66)
wwinters@ix.netcom.com

Most vivid memory of the courthouse was attending School Boy Patrol meetings there on Friday nights. Sgt Muscatelle was in charge at that time. Can recall walking down the stairs to the exit without continuing down to the courthouse basement which was designated an emergency fallout/bomb shelter. Anyone remember the radios of the era with the conelrad emergency symbols on the radio dial? I was always hoping the meeting would be over so I could watch Rawhide--with Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates--on TV. Whatever became of him--heard he went into politics in California and was elected mayor in Carmel?

Hey lady--want to buy a tag so I can go on a train to see the sights in Washington, DC?




submitted by: Gary Weiner (WI '60)
cias22000@yahoo.com

The building is the 1931 Art Deco Courthouse. You have to go through the front and be checked by metal detectors. When people grumble, those guarding the entrance go, "We know. We know. The crooks are inside." They are. The building replaced the red brick courthouse from 1888.




submitted by: Bob Teter (WI '60)
bteter@chartertn.net

Think this to be the Harrison County courthouse. Statue of Stonewall Jackson on his horse, "Little Sorrel", is to the left of the picture. I do remember the 'Wall Sitters', who hung out here to watch, among other things, all the girls go by. They were replaced at some point by the town drunks, if memory serves me right. Another good job with the best newsletter around!




submitted by: Sandy Iaquinta (WI '59)
12csi09@iolinc.net

Hi Roleta--needless to say another great newsletter. Hope you had a great holiday and was in great health to enjoy it. That building of course is the Harrison County Court House which I frequent quite often on business. However my fondest memory of that place is when my mother Flora entered the Italian Festival cook off which was held on the sidewalk/patio outside the court house. She thought she brought everything she needed to make her delicious Pasta Roma dish, an original recipe by the way, but she practically forgot everything. She was just so excited about getting down there and getting started cooking. She made me drive up over Lowndes Hill at least five times to get all the things she said she just had to have. By the way she won first place and a beautiful silver, round tray. She also got to ride on the back of a convertible in the parade and she thought she was the star of the whole festival. Of course in her children's eyes, Sammy, Debora and Sondra, she was a star already. And that is my fondest memory of the Court House.




submitted by: Carolyn Burnside (WI ’52)
crburnside842@verizon.net

The trivia picture is, of course, the Harrison County Court House. My best memories are about the League for Service Spring Festival on the plaza where I have sold all sorts of things, especially food at the Sidewalk Cafe. The Health Department would check us out before we could open --- and of course we had attended their required class in food preparation.

I know the answers to your questions about early WI --- all of that is in "Hail, Washington Irving: Eighty-nine Years on the Hill", so I won't compete. And the lyrics to all the songs are there. I have had many good reviews and comments about my history of our school on the hill. It's a pretty good read for a WI grad. Since 1998, I have used all proceeds for an annual $500 scholarship for an RCB graduate. And I don't require that they be related to a WI graduate. I am out of "proceeds" but continue the scholarship. If anyone wants to buy a copy, he/she should contact me at 32 Garden Circle, Bridgeport, WV  26330, or contact The James and Law Company. The book is also on Amazon.com and at Tamarack. The price is $12 plus tax and postage: $16.22. 




submitted by: Freddie Layman (VHS '46)
FGL46VHS@aol.com

The trivia photo is of the Harrison County’s Fifth Courthouse which opened in November 1932. This building at one time or another could have affected many of the newsletter readers, such as obtaining a birth certificate, vaccinations at the health department, belonging to a 4-H Club, marriage, hunting or fishing license, paying taxes at the tax office, attending court hearings maybe as a class project and a few having a divorce hearing in circuit court. Also, some may have applied to work there in various offices such as board of education, assessor, county clerk, circuit clerk, tax office, prosecuting attorney, red cross, health department as a clerk or nurse, farm bureau, (later changed to county extension office) DPA, (Department of Public Assistance), or secretary to one of the judges.

Having worked there for over 40 years I have seen it all. I had seen happiness, heartaches and humiliation. Also saw sickness, sinning, sorrow and singing. I had been cussed and discussed, saw many girls come to work with a smile on their faces but go home with pain in their hearts. Had the pleasure of meeting big shots, little shots and hot shots. I met the rich, the poor and those in between. There had been feuding, fussing, kicking and cussing. I had seen death and destruction, laughter and tears, angels, devils, murderers, rapist, thieves and crooks. There are broken bones, broken hearts, jerks, jokers, liars, and lovers.

I can remember two occasions that involved former WI female students. Several of them on their lunch break would come to the courthouse to use the ladies restroom which was located on the third floor. In the fall of 1958 two students boarded my elevator and we got stuck between the first and second floor. After the first half hour they became very nervous and wanted to know how much longer they had to wait. It took another half hour before help arrived. I was afraid they were going to “break water”. When we finally got out they quickly raced up the steps to the third floor. On another occasion in May 1962 a lone WI student was in the third floor restroom when a lady shot herself to death. This girl came running out pulling up her skirt and raced over to the circuit clerk’s office to report it. She was detained for a while as she was the only person in the room.

Where else could a person have worked, seen so much and get paid for it?



BANK ACCOUNT

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

Just in case you have wondered---there is a bank account for the WIN Scholarship. It is Roleta Meredith/WIN Scholarship. I am sure you have asked why my name has to be on the check. Well, I checked with my accountant and the bank advisor to find out how to set up this account. I was told that I would either have to set WIN Scholarship up as a foundation, a corporation, or have an individual name on the account with a Social Security number…..all this since September 11, 2001. Establishing a foundation or a corporation would cost us a lot of money. Call me cheap if you wish, but I was not willing to take donated money and spend it on such things. I want all money donated to be given to the students. So I had the account made up with my name and my social security number and the name of the scholarship. Thus, it only costs us $6.00 for 100 checks with no monthly fees. I hope that this answers any questions you may have. If not, please contact me personally and I will be happy to discuss it with you.




WI FIGHT SONG

submitted by: Mary Bellisario (WI '65)
bayouduo_1@charter.net

If you're referring to the "High above the West Fork River...", the music is taken from Cornell University. Theirs even begins much the same way... You might check with Marcia Lynne Fox Schatz, now in Chicago; she attended Cornell.

By the way, one of the DJ's for Sky Castle was Richard "Dick" Nuzum, W.I. Class of 1963. His theme song was "Meditations."



submitted by: Dave Bates (WI '51)
Bates8806@aol.com

The Girls had their ever popular, "We Are The Hilltop Girls" :
This was a song that was mainly sung, as best I remember, at football games at least during the years I was in WI. Words follow:
We are the Hilltop Girls.
We wear our hair in curls.
We wear our dungarees
Rolled up above our knees.

And when we want A MAN,
We don't want any man,
We want the BEST OF MEN,
WE WANT A HILLTOP MAN!!!


I have no idea who wrote it or when. It was a real boost to the atmosphere in the stands. I hope you can find someone to sing it for you. It's a really familiar tune and fits the words and the emotions of the moment.

While the guys, possibly making fun of the song, sang:

We are the Hilltop Boys.
We play with tinker toys.
We wear our BVD's,
Rolled down below our knees...

At Victory games, much to the chagrin of the cheerleaders (ever searching for the "Good Sportsman Award") the guys, and, dare I say it, a few of the girls would cheer:

Hey, Victory! Say Victory!
We're with you!
To HELL with you!

and,

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
All good children go to heaven.
When they get there they will yell,
Victory, Victory, go to HELL!

Other subjects - Name the English teacher who never spoke again to Hank Mayer, after the completion of the band room because it "...ruined the beautiful symmetry of the building." Answer - Maud Yoak.

In the mid '30s a small caravan of cars were driving the basketball team to an out of town game. Coach Hite, driving one of the cars with part of the team on board, was stopped in some small wide spot in the road for speeding (he did have a lead foot). After paying the fine they proceeded on. The next year, at the same spot Coach stopped the car and had the players push the car through town. The results? He got another ticket...for impeding traffic.

Note: My father was the chemistry teacher at WI from 1921 thru 1937 and stayed in close contact with the school and the faculty until his death in 1966. The two tales above, and probably a hundred more are ricocheting around in my head from those associations.



WHO PICKED THE NAME WASHINGTON IRVING

submitted by: Dave Bates (WI '51)
bates8806@sbcglobal.net

Who picked the name "Washington Irving"?

Answer - Miss Anna Mae/May (?) Dunn, English teacher from before it opened until mid to late '30s.




TRIVIA PICTURE FOR FEBRUARY



PICTURE SUBMITTED BY MELINDA MAZZA SUTTER (WI '64)


Write to me and guess the identity of this place. Include your name, school and year….also include a memory. Due to space I will not print any incorrect guesses or guesses without a memory or story included. Write Roleta1@aol.com.



FAVORITE CHRISTMAS GIFT

submitted by: Johnna Chapman Stutler (WI '67)
JWStutler@yahoo.com

I was Johnna Chapman, and graduated in the '67 class. I was married to Kenny Swiger, who was also a '67 graduate, but he passed away in 1992. I married Tim Stutler in 1996, who is a '76 graduate, and we moved to North Carolina 8 years ago.

The most favorite thing I received this year was the snow that fell during our trip to WV to visit family and friends at Christmas! We do have snow occasionally here in Rocky Mount, but not nearly as much as the Carolina Mountains receive. We live 40 minutes east of Raleigh, and 2 hours east of Nags Head. So our climate is a little milder.

I thoroughly enjoy your newsletter; you do such a fine job with it, and are so dedicated. Thanks and have a great year!! 



submitted by: Wayne Winters (WI '66)
wwinters@ix.netcom.com

Best Christmas gift of 2004. One of my daughters accompanying me to a Christmas eve church service.--2nd best gift was a gift pack of Oliverio peppers.

EDITOR’S NOTE: (Roleta) I love Oliverio’s Peppers! Got milk—need peppers!



submitted by: Karen Griffith Askins (WI ’60)
angelid@msn.com

My son and daughter-in- law, are adopting a little Chinese Baby girl, She has already been born but they don’t get her until March. They gave me a present addressed to Grandma Karen from Emma Grace and inside was a ornament of a stork with a Chinese hat, holding a little Chinese Baby, wrapped in a little red Blanket. Needless to say I couldn't help but start crying, but happy tears




NOTE FROM DECEMBER’S PRECIOUS CHILD

submitted by: Mary Sue Clark Spahr (WI '57)
msspahr@aol.com

To: Steve Limbers, Don Sager, Jim Alvaro! Shame on you for not recognizing me as last month's "precious child." Heck, we all played together in the same neighborhood.  I'd have known you guys.

EDITOR”S NOTE: I must apologize, Steve Limbers notified me that he did write to me and identified Mary Sue. I didn’t print the note—I don’t remember why. Remember always include a memory of the child when you guess the identity.



JANUARY’S PRECIOUS CHILD



The PRECIOUS CHILD for January was Joanne Westfall Simpson-Tetrick WI '52.




PRECIOUS CHILD FOR FEBRUARY



Can you identify this child? Won’t you write and guess who is in the picture and tell a little memory. Write Roleta1@aol.com.




LET’S PLAY BASKETBALL!

We will have basketball as a feature article next month also. So, all of you people who played basketball, write us some of your memories. I regret that there were no organized girl’s basketball teams when I was in school. I know I would have tried to be on the team. Girl’s basketball rules never made sense to me. Wonder who made up those stupid rules? The girls only played half court! Some old school teacher probably made them up so the girls wouldn’t get all overcome with perspiration or some foolish thing. Anyway, write your basketball memories to: Roleta1@aol.com. I am sure some of the memories below will jump start a few brain cells for you!

REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
BASKETBALL

COMPLIMENTS OF KIWANIS CLUB
FRIDAY MARCH 17, 1950
CARMICHAEL AUDITORIUM
7:30 PM
CLARKSBURG, WV

WASHINGTON IRVING
GOLD-BLUE OR WHITE


LARIMER, CAPT. 14
CORSINI 16
WETZEL 07
RUSH 15
SWISHER 12
MILLER 13
LYNCH 08
GODWIN 05
GOODWIN 10
FARSON 11
UPDIKE 03
WHITE 06


COACHES: Clay B. Hite and Earl Orme.
Manager—Sam Oliverio
Cheerleaders: Janet Fletcher, Ann Wilson,
Julia Jackson and Barbara Sue Dodds.

Other teams in the tournament were St. Mary’s, Spencer and Shinnston.

THANKS TO Freddie Layman (VHS 46) for the program.




submitted by: Jody Buffington Aud (WI ‘77)
jbuffaud@comcast.net

You asked about basketball teams. I played for the WI Girls Sports Team (okay, I warmed the bench) in 1976-77, when we went all the way to finals of the very first WV Girls State Tournament. Unfortunately, we lost, but it was a great experience! Of course, we teased the guys on the boy’s team that they probably couldn’t top that. They didn’t top that, but they did go all the way to the finals just like we did. I’m not sure that was ever done again in the same school year.




submitted by: Gladys Williams (WI ‘67)
GWill1004@aol.com

My sister Anna and I were selected to be on the Girls' Sports Team in the fall of our Freshman Year (1967). We were the only two freshman picked that fall. We played basketball, volleyball and ran track for WI. We only participated against other county teams that had Girls' Sports Teams.  The coaches weren't paid,  it was all voluntary. Mrs. Clevenger was our coach. My number was 44 and I played guard. Anna's number was 24. She always thought I got some of her points that she scored during the games so she switched her number to 00.

We always attended the basketball games. Home games were played at the Armory. My neighbor, Tom Allen, was on the team, and we usually rode to games with his parents. We didn't have a car to drive like teens do today. I wasn't a cheerleader, but never had a voice the day after a game.  We would cheer the entire game. Always liked WI's fight song- especially Seniors Never Fall!

Wish there would have been more organized sports for girls then. I did play 3 years on the FSC girls' basketball team when I went to Fairmont in 1971, but sat on the bench most of the time. But we got to travel with the team. It was fun.




submitted by: Mary Beth Jeranko Hilburn (WI '55)
hilfarm@hawaii.rr.com

My dad was the Mad Russian, Stanley Jeranko, so when he refereed I tried to be inconspicuous. One time he came off the court after a game (in the interest of fairness, I will say he was far sighted) and put on a pair of glasses. Needless to say the crowd thought he was blind. I think WI lost that night. 




submitted by: John Teter (WI ‘61)
jteter@balmar.com

Most of my basketball memories come from the era of my brother (Bob), Bob Secret and John McFarland playing in 1958 - 1960, as those were the best years of WI basketball during my tenure at WI. I played Junior Varsity basketball, but due to an operation during my junior year, I was not able to play basketball and/or football during my last two years at WI. I can remember going to the Carmichael Auditorium to watch WI against Victory (BIG rivalry) and RW (another BIG rivalry). I can remember that most of the fans at these games always had to stand the entire game, as the games were just that exciting - no matter who won.

And my last basketball memory comes from my being a member of the HI-Y club during my senior year, and the HI-Y club members that were not on the WI basketball team, played the Junior Varsity team before one of the home games and I played in that game. Unfortunately for me, I did something during the early part of the game to upset the referee (whose name escapes me, but I can remember his face to this day) and I fouled out EARLY in the second half - thanks to the referee calling fouls on me for looking at him crooked; or saying something to him.

During my time of playing some of the Junior Varsity games before my surgery, I can remember us playing a game in Morgantown and after the game some of us went walking around Morgantown. We were confronted by some home-town folks that did not appreciate our beating their JV team and a SLIGHT SCUFFLE occurred.



COACH AL CASTALLANA AND HIS WIFE JEANNE
TAKEN AT CLARKSBURG REUNION PICNIC IN FLORIDA


submitted by: Bill Pinella (WI ’65)
pinellab@sonic.net

It was almost startling, but the words were there almost jumping out of the Associated Press report a couple of weeks ago. They said: The win gave West Virginia a 10-0 record, its best start in 45 years since the Jerry West Mountaineers opened up 10-0.

I don’t know which fascinated me more – that it had taken WVU 45 years to do it again, or that it had been that long ago - 45 years.

It was a snowy winter night in Clarksburg those 45 years ago that my uncle – Alex “Pistol” Pinello – drove me and my cousin John Tiano to Morgantown to see the Mountaineers play George Washington University. As we approached the old Fieldhouse amid the flurries we asked him where we were sitting. “Oh, we don’t have tickets for you guys,” he said. “What?” we asked. “No, no tickets,” he said. “But here is what we are going to do. You two go ahead of us (we had met Robert “Timbuck” Shields in Morgantown) and tell the guy at the turnstile that your uncle back there has your tickets. Then run like hell.”

At this point, we figured why not. Fortunately, it worked to perfection as the huge crowd was pouring in and the ticket-taker had no energy to grab either one of us as we sped into the Fieldhouse and disappeared among the crowd. And Pistol, when he arrived at the turnstile himself, completed the charade by disavowing any knowledge of even knowing two young teenagers.

And I still vividly recall sitting on the floor, legs dangling over the edge of the balcony watching Jerry West hit jumper after jumper. Little did I know then how great he was and how legendary he would become in the NBA...

But West and the Mountaineers weren’t the only basketball memory West Virginia gave me. It started with the Carmichael Auditorium. There wasn’t anything that wasn’t perfect about the place – it was downtown, you walked up a dark, gloomy ramp to enter a brightly lit arena, no seat was a bad seat, it smelled of popcorn and sweat, the noise was tremendous. In every aspect it just about begged you to enter. I even remember watching the Harlem Globetrotters and the Ringling Brothers Circus there. But being privileged to witness the Bobby Secret-led Hilltoppers battle Victory High at Carmichael.... Could a WVU-Kentucky game have been any better? Not a chance.

Personally, though, my fondest basketball memory came about three years later in 1963 when as a WI sophomore I was on the junior varsity team. First, you must understand that I peaked athletically at about age 13 so I was on the downhill side at this point in my career. And the Nathan Goff Armory was now the site of WI games. Unfortunately, I never got to play in the Carmichael. So, this particular evening – and I can’t even recall who we were playing – we were losing rather handily with about five minutes left in the contest. And the crowd was starting to build for the ensuing varsity game.

The visitors were shooting a foul shot at the end of the court where the crowd entered. The shot missed and I grabbed the rebound. Somehow, some way, in a fit of juxtaposition I turned and drove between two defenders and laid the ball in.

It was a beautiful move, I thought, as I sped down court. It was only then that I heard the laughter start and watched as all the players went in the opposite direction. To my horror, I had scored for the opposition,

Jayvee coach Al Castellana called a timeout and calmly approached me as I came to the bench. He could only say, “Billy, we weren’t getting beat bad enough the way it was. You didn’t have to score for them too.” Then he patted me on the back and sent me back on to the court for the final moments of the game.




submitted by: Herb Cottrill (WI ’52)
herbc@usba.org

Yes I did play basketball (48-52). My job was to feed Bob McCarty. That is why he was recognized as a standout. I loved playing against Fairmont East and hated to play against Elkins. My most memorable game(s) were when Carty was ill and could not play. I got a chance to shoot and feed Joe Malone. I loved the crowds and the band.



submitted by: Joe Malone (WI ’53)
Jmalone934@aol.com

Asking me for basketball stories is like asking Bill Clinton about his (former?) sex life. The difference is, I'll tell you and Bill won't. I could start with the WI class of 1943 led by Bill (Fuzzy) Moore (later a head coach at WI) and go on up through Don Siechrist, Johnny Smallwood, Earl (Doc) Flowers, Bobby Danley, Dave Larimer, Bud Morris, Dave Corsini et al. These guys were "Studs" as I approached high school. I once had a scrapbook full of yellowed new clippings of All-City, All-Big 10 and All-State teams. I knew the names of the Victory, RW and St. Mary's guys as well. Unfortunately, that piece of memorabilia is now gone and I am left with the very imperfect memory of a 70 year-old.

It is interesting to note that I remember the names of the "stars" that's the way the system was set up. The "supporting cast" (of which I was one) fades into black. There was usually a "high-point" man (today called "go-to" guy) who somehow was also the "Captain" surrounded by a bunch of "wanabes" and "slugs" (of which I was one). The guys mentioned above were followed by Chauncey Rush (51), John Lynch (51) and Bob McCarty (52), who went on to captain the University of Virginia's team in 1956.

The best overall "team" that I recall was at St. Marys. Someone will have to help me here, but they had five guys sometime during the late 40's or early fifties that were superb as a unit. Buddy Philbin, 6' 1" played center along with two Wanstreet and two Romano brothers. (?) I'm sure they had a bench, but, again, the memory fails. My recollection is that these guys would take you on in their house, your house or on a playground and basically just whup your ass. Hopefully, one of your readers will validate my memory and correct any errors I've made.

Perhaps the best high school team in Harrison County in 1952 was....Salem High School. Led by the Gibson Twins (Byron & David) along with Fred Post at center they dominated their opposition. WI never played them (officially) until in the post-season of 1956. Homer (Hoagy) Carmichael Jr. who lived at Lake Floyd opened up his auditorium for a three game (unofficial) tournament between the 1956 WI and Salem squads. Actually, the third game was played at Salem, the Gibson twins swept out the room. In the interest of brevity and truth, we split the first two games and the Gibson twins took us to school in the third one. (I didn't play the third game - smile) Byron and Dave Gibson went on to Salem College and, along with Dave Corsini (WI 50) who returned from the service, excelled in the old WVIAC made up of like-sized schools. In fact, they (literally) beat up on Bevo Francis (remember him?) and Rio Grande College at the Carmichael when Bevo was the leading scorer in the COUNTRY! All this is current as I saw Dave at his home in Newport Bech, CA last month and we reminisced. He is still in terrific shape and plays competitive tennis in a Masters League weekly.


TOPICS WE WILL DISCUSS IN UPCOMING NEWSLETTERS

CANDYLAND- Tell us about your memories when it was a candy store and later when Mr. Murphy owned it and it was “the place” to be after school and before we caught the bus home from school.

BASKETBALL—I am sure that now that you have read a few memories from some “stars” from the past that your memories have been jogged and you have a few you can share. I remember sitting in the Carmichael and cheering on the WI team as the score went over 100 points……do you remember this? What year was it? It happened a couple of times that year! Who played on that team?

NEWSPAPER ROUTES—So many of you were newspaper carriers. Some have shared their memories in the past but we love hearing from others.

BEING IN THE BAND----Were you a majorette, play the drums, wind instrument or brass? Send me your memories and share what it was like to be in competition, to march in a parade downtown Clarksburg, travel on the band bus to a game, sit at the game in the rain or cold, march at a home or away game…..select a memory and share for the March newsletter.

CHESTNUT HILLS SCHOOL—Honor your school and write about your memories.

Pick a subject and write to me: Roleta1@aol.com.




CLARKSBURG TODAY

submitted by: Pat Elder (NDHS "57)
St1Pat@aol.com

No one seems to comment much, that I can remember, about some of the exciting things that are going on these days in Clarksburg & North Central West Virginia. I live in Dayton, Ohio & I read an article in the Dayton Daily News this morning on the business page about homeland security & it's widespread reaches around the country.

A former Dayton police officer just landed a $75 million dollar contract for his new young company, Integrated Biometrics Technology, enabling him to hire 60 people immediately for jobs paying  $35000 to $50,000 per year. The Patriot Act says all states must have a fingerprinting program in place by Jan. 31. Working with the Transportation Security Administration, 34 states & Washington, D.C. have asked his new company to start it's programs to simplify organizing fingerprints into a nationwide FBI-linked database.

The Patriot Act requires truck drivers who carry hazardous materials to undergo an extensive background check, requiring drivers to send their fingerprints to the FBI database in CLARKSBURG, W.Va. to check for any criminal records/history. Seven of the 19 terrorists responsible for 9/11 attacks were certified to haul hazardous materials.

It made me feel real proud of my hometown to see such an article on the front page!  Another exciting thing going on in Fairmont is the West Virginia High Technology Foundation. My brother Jon Elder is CFO there & they are bringing in a lot of new hi-tech companies into a 600 acre (I think) Business Park along the Interstate, a super modern facility. I know that our own Jim Brown, W.I. '57 has been doing his share building the buildings as general contractor.

It's fun to reminisce about our ole' hometown, but it is also good to see some of the healthy progress that is taking place there, too. Let us hear some more on this from those of you who are currently in tune with the local scene. 




TOWERS GRADE SCHOOL




EDITOR’S NOTE: Even if you didn’t attend Towers Grade School, you should read some of the letters below. I am sure you can relate to stories no matter where or when you went to grade school. Many new names appear and their stories are great.

submitted by: Leslie Moran Moore (WI '79)
LMoore761@aol.com

My mom, Billie Anne Cork Clevenger, forwarded to me the request for memories from Towers.  

I'm Leslie (Moran) Moore, and I completed all my elementary schooling there, went on to Central, and then completed two years at WI before being uprooted and moved to Bridgeport (boo!  the worst semester of my LIFE!). I would have graduated from WI in 1979, but due to family moves, ended up graduating from Liberty. My lifelong friends continued at WI. They still invite me to reunions.  

When bricks began tumbling on Hewes Avenue, the memories certainly rose to the surface.  Mostly I recalled the smell. I believe it was the stuff they used to clean the dark, oily floors.....or maybe it was the janitor's cologne (the two may have been one in the same).......but it was very distinct and remains with me. It was always stronger when the janitor, Mr. Fry, made a mid-day visit to the classroom to clean up vomit, which I recall was fairly often.   

I also have incredibly fond memories of the first principal I knew, Mr. Landacre. He was a tall, skinny old man who played rousing marches during recess (which, since there wasn't a playground, entailed a trip to the loo and stop by the water fountain). To this day, whenever I hear John Phillip Sousa, I have to pee. He also loved it when I wore my hair in a bun.....called it a "bird nest" and stuck his finger in it to look for eggs. His son, Tim, was in high school or college at the time and the little girls would get so excited when he visited the school because he was so cute.  "Timmy Landacre is here, Timmy Landacre is here!" Later in life, he worked in the same building as I did and then married a dear friend of mine. Tragically, he died young of a heart attack while performing at a Civil War Reenactment.

I also remember the hot lunch -- the best school food in the history of school food. The hot rolls, in particular, but everything was wonderful. Because of crummy insulation, whatever was cooking could be smelled clear upstairs so that we were all drooling by 10 am. Lucky for us, it usually overpowered the floor stuff!

Mrs. Garcia was my first grade teacher - a very passionate little woman who jumped up and down, yelled, sat people in the garbage can and used a ping-pong paddle to maintain discipline. I loved her. That year, a classmate shoved a big pencil up his nose and squirted blood all over the place -- a truly vivid recollection. Many years later, when my daughter's first grade assignment was to have her parents draw their brightest memory from their own first grades, I created a stick drawing of George with the pencil up his nose and blood all over the place.  It was her class's favorite. And hey - what ever happened to number builders?

Mrs. McClung was second grade. My favorite teacher ever. A classmate lost her dad in a car accident that year and I will never forget her discussions with us about death and compassion for our friend.

Mrs. Bode in third grade not only taught us urinary functions by referring to our bladder as our "jugs" (I can still re-create her chalkboard drawing) but led us in a moment of silent prayer any time we heard a siren outside, which was daily. I still do that. We also had an outbreak of lice that year, resulting in segregation of our class. Two little boys returned with shaved heads and that was the end of that. 

In fourth grade, Mrs. Kniceley made it to the top of my "doo doo" list by not allowing me to go to the restroom when I needed to , resulting in my peeing on the floor in front of the whole class.  A humiliation I never quite rose above! However, a few days later a classmate threw up on other classmates, which made my incident fade away a bit. 

In fifth, Miss McCoy and Miss Miller were young and single which made class interesting. I had my first little boyfriend that year and we passed notes in the hall, horrified of being discovered.

In sixth, I had the invincible Kathryn Mayle, who made us all stars. We sang and danced and put on pageants and were even on Channel 12. Mrs. Mayle still clogs with the YWCA, I believe, which I find incredibly impressive. 

Several years ago Jamie Logue (formerly WBOY, now Exponent-Telegram) wrote a hysterical article on Towers. I was working for the newspaper at that time and had to tell him how I almost split a gut laughing at it (he had gotten in trouble for using the word "urinal" in his column). He looked at me curiously and said, "Did YOU go to Towers?" -- when I confirmed, he expressed shock, because he felt I didn't look old enough to have gone there. This made Jamie my best friend forever. Maybe he still has a copy of that.  He truly captured the essence. 

In re-reading what I've written, my memories (and Jamie's) seem to be centered on bodily functions. I guess that's what's most fascinating to little kids!
In any event, Towers was a great old place and I hated to see it go. Thanks for asking!




submitted by: Ted Wolfe (WI '74)
Wolfetm95@aol.com

Even though Towers has been tore down for I few years I still remember it.  I went there from 1962 to 1968.

While I was there I thought it was a very large place with its big central stairway that divided in two half way up. I was in it once in the eighties, though, and everything looked much smaller. They had put up some sort of fire wall around the stairwell. It really ruined the look inside. It was fire damage that gave the school board the excuse to close it down. I was working at the Industrial Home in Salem and we had the boy there they had charged with the fire for a thirty day evaluation.  I didn't ask him if he was an alumnus.

My teachers were 1st -  Miss Oliver (she was Mrs. Garcia before I had left Towers, and after a later marriage after Mr. Garcia died, she passed away in the past month or two.) 2nd- Mrs. McClung (for some of you older than me, she had earlier taught at Morgan and was originally Miss Young.)  3rd Mrs. Bode, 4th Mrs. Kniceley (her son was a guidance counselor at WI while I was there), 5th Mrs. Ash and 6th Mrs. Jones. There were two classes for each grade, so I never had Mrs. Kishbaugh (1st), Mrs. Davis (2nd), or Mrs. Freeman (3rd)  but I did have Mrs. Swisher (4th), Mrs. Thurber (5th) and Mrs. Richardson (6th). She kept the dreaded Maypole that we had to dance around occasionally. Around the time I was in the fourth grade they went from a bookcase in every class to a library for the whole school. Since I liked to read I spent a what time I could there. Mrs. Glenn was the librarian.

Mr. Landacre was the principal the whole time I was there. I had been warned by my cousins before I even started school that he had an electric paddle in his office, but now that I think back, I don't remember him paddling anyone. The teachers did that and even though I guess I would have been considered a well behaved kid I got a few of them.

Miss Benincosa was the secretary for at least some of the years I was there and the janitors were Mr. Norman and then Mr. Weekley. I rode the school bus so I at hot lunch in the cafeteria. I was a picky eater and wasted a lot of the food served to me, but the cooks always made very good rolls, the best I have ever eaten. But why they ever thought kids wanted to eat kale, stewed tomatoes, or sweet potatoes rolled in Wheaties that looked like you can guess what, I'll never know.

We didn't have patrol boys at Towers, I guess because the roads around it were too busy, we had women crossing guards. Since I rode the school bus I didn't really know them except one of them was Mrs. Reese.

We also didn't have a gym or playground so recess consisted of lining up going to the bathroom and getting a drink at the water fountain. And one of the classes had a chinning bar that they put up in the doorway sometimes.

When the kids that lived in town left all of us that lived on Davisson Run, like me, and Country Club went to one the classrooms downstairs and waited for the busses to pick us up. We never had any class pictures taken of us, just individual ones, so I don't really have any pictures of the good old days at Towers except in my mind.

I remember on Halloween's we had a party in the afternoon and got to wear our Halloween costumes and parade around the block in front of the school.

When I was in the first and second grade they let us bring a toy we got for Christmas to school on day. When I was in the second grade one of the boys brought some sort of pellet gun and shot another boy in the head with it. (I think it barely broke the skin.) This concerned me because I knew President Kennedy had just a month earlier died from a head wound and I didn't really understand things like that then.

Can you imagine what kind of fuss would be raised now about something like that? I can also remember making my father an ashtray out of modeling clay in art class one time. I wasn't the only one either.

Well, I've run on too long now, cut and paste as you see fit.




submitted by: Dave Bates (WI '51)
Bates8806@aol.com

Hitler invaded Poland to launch WWII on Friday, Sept.1, 1939. We launched our educational careers at Towers Grade School on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1939. Miss Lucy Abigail Robinson, the principal welcomed us and took us to meet Miss Blanche Hogan, our teacher, a Georgia Peach and the finest person I have ever known. She taught us to sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and The Pledge of Allegiance the first week and we went out to the corner of 2nd and Pike by the Methodist Church where we were each introduced to "Policeman Joe" who guarded us when we crossed that intersection. We sang him a song that Miss Hogan had taught us, "A policeman dressed in blue is a friend to me and you..." The first class type song was "A Little Ducky Duddle Went Wading In A Puddle". It quickly became an article of faith that Jill Garvin and James Goots were the two most brilliant students the world had ever seen, why James even knew the do...re...me...fa...stuff.I think he was the only one. Some of the rest of us, knowing of James' Italian background assumed he was singing in Italian. Johnny Lynch got scarlet fever terrifying teachers, parents and students alike.Teddy Moore (I think) was made to stand in the corner one day for some minor offense. Out of boredom, I guess, he rubbed his head again and again against the blackboard, depositing vast quantities of hair oil into the slate. Chalk wouldn't touch the spot. (Note - In the summer of 1950 I worked for the school maintenance department. I checked. The spot was still there!) That fall elementary grades were changed from the traditional A, B, C format to O = outstanding, S = satisfactory, I = improving and U = unsatisfactory. At the end of the first six weeks I was wildly running home with my report card, bursting with pride. Mother was waiting for me on the front porch. As I started up the steps a passing high school girl asked to see my card. Mother tells me she looked at it and declared loudly, "Boy you must be a bright one...all zeroes!"

Second Grade with Miss Ruth Bracy doesn't stir up any particular memories good or bad.

Third Grade with Mrs. Burke. (Confidentially, she was the model for the "Wicked Witch of the West in the movie "The Wizard of Oz")  Pearl Harbor is bombed and the boys stop playing Cops 'n Robbers and Cowboys 'n Indians. Now we're killing Japs and Germans.

Fourth Grade with Mrs. Lockery. All text books were furnished by the state. The most heinous of crimes was to mark in the books. One day in English class Bill Stout was drawing a picture in his book.Mrs. Lockery was on top of Bill shouting and waling the daylights out of him. Bill wasn't crying as he filled with indignation and shouted "THE BOOK IS MINE, GOD DAMMIT! !!" One could hear a pin drop. We'd never heard anyone talk to a teacher that way. Sure enough, his parents had bought him his own book. Now she starts hugging, kissing and generally loving on him as she apologized. This only made Bill more angry. Some weeks later while sitting down to lunch Daddy asked about the morning's activities. I told him it was cold at the North pole and hot at the South pole. When I assured him this was true because Mrs. Lockery had said so using the logic that "everyone knows it's hot down south." He countered with some unkind remarks regarding her work in his chemistry class some years earlier. He went back to school with me that afternoon and asked Mrs., Lockery to speak privately with him in the hall. After a few minutes she came in and presented a modified lesson.

Fifth Grade with Miss Harris. A calming year, as I remember, with a strong introduction to the joys of poetry.

Sixth Grade with Mrs., Stella Heater, a minor witch. Elmer Mitchell joined our class. He was laid back and didn't seem to take things too seriously. One day this attitude really got to Mrs. Heater, and as she was wont to do, she started hitting Elmer with the book she had in her hand at the time. Elmer caught the blow on his elbow and grinned at her. His elbow caught every blow, and, as the book completely disintegrated he started to laugh out loud, then joined in laughter by the now emboldened rest of the class. Elmer and Mrs. Heater wound up in Miss Robinson's office, No report came out of that meeting.The highlight of the year, possibly of the entire century, was V E Day on May 8th when Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces.

As students, we collected paper, rubber and scrap metal by the ton for the war effort. There was competition between the schools to see who could collect the most. We also collected milk weed pod, dried it, and sent it off for the same reason. (Question: Why milk weed pod?)

Addendum - The first train to Clarksburg (July, 1856) unloaded the school bell for Towers. More on the bell at a later time. Towers served a POW camp for Johnny Rebs, and later as a military hospital for federal wounded during the Civil War.




submitted by: Jerry Winerman (WI '57)
jerjerry@earthlink.net

The big memory of Towers, as I've mentioned in the past, was  the recreational daily marching to march music in the halls to the W.C. The principal, Miss Robinson, was a very stern person. I do remember fondly several teachers, Mrs. Richardson, my favorite, Mrs. Wheeler, Miss Hogan, and Mrs. Bracey.

Towers was located next to the dairy, and often we'd be fortunate to be the one selected to distribute the milk for those who paid for it. The huge Methodist church which burned down was just down the street.

I was sad to see Towers being torn down when we went to Clarksburg for our class of '57 40th reunion in 1997. It was a very old and historic building which should have been preserved somehow.




submitted by: Judy Daugherty Kimler (WI ’59)
jkimler@verizon.net

I only went to Towers for one year, the sixth grade. I was originally in a mixed class, fifth and sixth grades in one room.  After a few days I was moved to Ms Heater's room, 6th grade only. I never did know why I was moved. I really liked Towers. It was so much bigger than Pierpont and I got to meet a whole new group of kids. There are too many to name all of them but a few are Sue Smith, Carolynn Harbert, Jeannie Wells, Patty Hendrickson, John Iaconis, Gerard Folio, Vince Fragomene, Martha Frey and Ruth Ann Grimes. Some of these kids became lifelong friends.

Ms Heater was notorious for her antics. She would run around the room and hit guys who were misbehaving on the back with a book. She would also put them under her desk for punishment.  I sat right beside her desk and these guys, especially one named Charles, were really too big to fit under the desk. He would be jammed in there and his feet were sticking out so far they would be almost under my desk.

We would march around the halls for one reason or another to the "Washington Post March" played on an old Victrola. Sometimes, when the other girls were in Chorus practice (I can't sing), there would only be two girls left in the room...me and Wanda, Charles' girlfriend. I hated that part.

My memories of my one year at Towers are much more vivid than my five years at Pierpont. Maybe it's because it was a new adventure or because I was older. 




submitted by: Penny Christie Johnson (WI '60)
Penem329@optonline.net

NO playground! NO lunch program! And to top it off I had to walk past the county jail to get there. Guess what? I loved it. Towers remains a vivid memory of a place where I learned to write, to read and to respect others. I can still smell the oiled floors of what was once a private school named Northwest Academy. The Civil War came along and the Confederates used it as a hospital.

Next it became Clarksburg High School and then when Washington Irving was built it became Towers School…I lived up on Wilson Street and walked to and from school twice a day. We came home for lunch in those days…Great exercise…the kids who lived in the Clarksburg Country Club area were the only ones who rode the bus…They brought their lunches and I wanted so desperately to stay one day and eat with them. Stephanie Wilson and Ann Eason were two of the kids who rode that bus. Walking through the downtown held lots of excitement for me….I would first go down the bricked Preston Street and then out Hickman to Holden and then over to Court Street. That is where the jail was and I would always hurry so the guys looking out the window wouldn’t yell at me….LOL. Then I would round the corner to walk past the newspaper stand that the blind man operated sometimes I would buy gum or a jaw breaker but that was always on the way home No gum in school remember? Then it would be across the Court House Plaza past the guys who hung out on the wall there….I loved it at Christmas when the very tall tree was decorated with huge balls and lots of colored lights…then down Main passed Parsons, and “James and Law” to Second Street…Remember lining up in Sept at James and Law to purchase your pencils and Golden Rod tablets? Then it was out Second Street to Towers.No super highway was there then…Just Central Junior High next door.

Then on to the steps up to the school. I had to pass the principal’s office on the way to class and I always moved a little faster…I think Miss Lucy Robinson was in charge when I first started school and then Mr. Landacre came along. Miss Robinson scared me to death but Mr. Landacre was really very kind…I remember all of my teachers. They were: First a different Miss Robinson; Second, Mrs. Elizabeth McGee; Third, Mrs. Dulcie Freeman; Fourth, Mrs. Coffindaffer; Fifth I am having trouble with..Ruth Jackley taught that grade but I am not sure I had her. For sixth I had Mrs. Pauline Richardson…..

Because we had no playground recess consisted of going down to the basement of the school where the walls were thick and cold to “potty” and then back upstairs to march up and down the halls to a Sousa March….sixth graders got to turn the handle of the Victrola and that was a very big deal…..I remember taking tap dance lessons from Louie B…

Miss Hogan who was a first grade teacher also taught elocution after school..Phyliss Scalise was her prize pupil. I think Phyllis went to Notre Dame in High School…..I yearned to be able to take lessons from her.

I joined the band in the 4th grade. I have included a picture of the band with some of the kids I remember…Walking home from school was pretty rough if it was raining or snowing but sometimes Mrs.Van Gilst, Nancy’s mom would give us a ride.

I would sometimes stop in Nusebaums on Main Street to see what great new toy had come in that week. I especially remember the rubber balloons they sold. If I had an extra dime I would stop in Murphy’s Five and Dime for a Cinnamon Candied Apple. Those were the days, a special time of life when my mom was not fearful of me walking all the way to school alone. A time when moms were always home waiting to hear about your day. If it was a Tuesday she was probably finishing the ironing…and sometimes while I had milk and a cookie she finished listening to her soap opera, Stella Dallas….Great days …Wonderful days…..Super memories.



Will give a few of the names.......so long ago that it is hard to remember
First row:l-r band teacher, Naomi Callas, Penny Christie, Bobby Hamstead, (girl?) and Mr. Landacre our principal.
Second row: 5th one over is Raymond Oliverio
Third row: 3rd one over is Dave Hamstead
Fourth row: 4th one over is Wayne Satterfield, Tommy Tricot
Fifth row: 4th one over is Marcia Gaidos and then Marie Donnellon
Sixth row: Louis (Tykie)Oliverio, girl, Barbara Davis, Sally Parsons, boy, Bernadette Marino
Seventh row: Third one over is Gary Frost I think

Some of these kids went on to Notre Dame.....




submitted by: Melissa Morris Phillips (Towers '65--WI '71)
melissamphillips@earthlink.net

My aunt Penny (Christie Johnson WI '60) shared with you her memories of Towers Grade School. While I was about 10 years later attending Towers, many of my recollections of Towers are similar to hers.

We, too, lived on Wilson Street so I walked to school. The route I took was down Preston, right on Hickman, left on Holden, right on Lee (across  the raised sidewalk in front of the former John W. Davis house), left on Third, right on Washington, left on Second on to Towers. Mrs. Propst was the crossing guard at the corner of Main and Second and Jeannie was the guard at Pike and Second. At least, that was the route I was supposed to take.  In actuality, I cut across the city parking lots between Lee and Washington and down Court Street. Unlike Penny, I didn't scurry past the jail. I was more likely to stop and yell, "What kind of birds don't fly? Jailbirds!!" or "What do you call an old penny? Dirty copper!!!"  (My mother -- Barbara Christie Morris WI '50 -- is shuddering as she reads this.) I wasn't alone. Someone from the hill was usually with me be it TIna Shahan, Maureen McClain, Gary Orr (who usually wanted to drive us in his invisible car and many times we acquiesced), Donette Cunningham, or Pam Waugaman. Sometimes along the way we'd hook up with Jimmy Garrett who was coming from Hickman Street.  I walked once with Janet Ross but she told me that the bogeyman hid in the garages on Holden Street and was waiting just for me. Even as an adult walking to work at CNG from my apartment on Third Street, I picked up the pace as I passed those garages. Whereas Penny got a ride periodically from Mrs. VanGilst, I sometimes would ride with Betty Skinner who was there every day to pick up Jackie. They lived near the top of Seventh Street so it would have been a real hike for her to go home for lunch.

Mr. Landacre was the principal. Mr. Malling, who lived at the corner of Preston and Wilson Streets, was the custodian. He played violin and trombone and was in the Johnstown Community Band. My home room teachers were Miss Blanche Hogan, Mrs. Elizabeth McGee, Mrs. Dulcie Freeman. Miss Frankie D. Williams (who insisted on calling me Lissy), Mrs. Ruth Jackley and Mrs. Pauline Richardson. During the fifth and sixth grades, we changed classes so I also had Mrs. Juanita Jones (later Rohrbough) and Mrs. Patsy Ash.  Mrs. Ash gave me a great foundation in spelling and grammar which I am sure started me on the path to a degree in Journalism from WVU. It was in Mrs. Jones' social studies class that I participated in my first mock convention and presidential election and I loved it. Political Science was my minor at WVU.

I, too, was in the band. I, too, played the flute --  the same flute that Penny played and the same flute that was first played by my Unkie (Cleve Christie WI '51). Henry Mayer was the band director at the time. I continued with band throughout junior high and high school and, in fact, just played at a concert, albeit on a different flute, at my church this December. I also sang in the choir at Towers. Mrs. Richardson directed and Mrs. Freeman played the piano. We sang songs like "Camptown Ladies", "Sleep Kentucky Babe", and "The Happy Wanderer."

We marched to recess to Sousa as well, processing down the hall toward the front door in a double line, separating at the steps and returning down either side of the hallway according to gender, down the steps and into the restrooms. We'd reverse the process when we returned to our classes. The Victrola didn't need wound by that point but a sixth grader got to stop and start the record.  I don't remember being much interested in doing that job. I was always vying with Jackie Skinner and Terry Ann Childs to take the attendance slips to the office.  By the time of my later years at Towers, a cafeteria had been installed in the basement. Hot lunches were available for purchase either by the week or by the day. I never bought lunches by the week because Friday's lunch was always soup beans and cornbread. Yikes!!!!  I preferred going home for lunch. There was always the possibility that my mother had just taken a pan of rice pudding out of the oven.

It was great living that close to the school. One Easter, my entire class walked to my house for an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Everybody had a great time except David Byard, my first love, who had broken his arm and was relegated to sitting on the back porch. I loved walking to school in my Halloween costume each year -- except when Pam Waugaman and I were a horse. I'm sure she liked it less; she was the back. What can I say -- my grandmother made the costume!

I was sad when Towers was demolished. However, I do have two bricks from the building, one of which I purchased from the City. That brick has a commemorative seal on it. The other was procured in the dead of the night from the demolition site by fellow Towers alum and friend Jamie Logue. I was going to use those bricks in a walkway at our house in Clarksburg. Since we've moved to Virginia, I'm glad I didn't although I'm sure the movers were scratching their heads!

I am grateful for the foundation I received at Towers Elementary School, both academically because of the great faculty and socially because of the demographics of the student population. We had white classmates and black classmates, rich classmates and middle class classmates and poor classmates, bright classmates and less academically gifted classmates, classmates with huge families, classmates with single mothers and classmates from the Sacred Heart Children's Home.  And we were all one big happy family, looking forward to the next fire drill when we got to watch Mr. Landacre run!!!




submitted by: Jim Pulice (WI '62)
jpulice@msn.com

In 1950 I entered Towers- 1st grade teacher was Mrs. Hogan. She also taught expression.. My older sister Mary Jo would bring me to school her girl friends since Mary Jo was in the second grade.. that only lasted a week or so.. then I met Anthony Tiano, Judy Peoria, Frank Fragameno...with Alex Love and Teresa Romano we had our gang...Second grade was Mrs. McGee... I had the hots for Sherry Romsburg which I carried with me to the 6 grade...( she moved to Bridgeport).. the third grade was Mrs. Freeman.. who lived in North View next to the fire station where my Pap was a fireman and she always gave him the juice on me...not good !!...the 4th grade was Mrs. Williams...if you were bad she would stick you under her desk.. I never got that opportunity....whew !! 5th grade was Mrs. Jackley... I brought a Praying Mantis cocoon to class and when it opened up we had a mess on our hands...6 th grade was Mrs. Richardson...she looked like Pop Eyes girl friend Olive Oil....Principal was Mr. Landacre,,,,,,,, Janitor was Mr. Robertson....we never had hot lunches...we went home at noon to eat...at recess we all marched to the bathroom.....Mr. Robinson let me ring the school bell one day ..I grabbed a hold of the rope and it pulled me clear off the floor...he had to pull me down....Wonderful memories and friends for me...Thanks Roleta for giving me the opportunity to share these times gone by.




submitted by: Chuck Thomas (WI ‘56)
DrCRThomas@lcsys.net

Towers Grade School—an old, disintegrating school reportedly used as a hospital in the Civil War. On my first day at Towers, my neighbor had walked me the 11 blocks to Towers and delivered me and my Pennsylvania school records to Miss Lucy Robinson, the principal. After my neighbor left, the principal walked me down the dark, dingy hall towards my new classroom to officially turn me over to my docile first grade teacher. I soon earned that Mrs. Miller had divided the first grade Munchkins in her class into three learning groups—Blue Birds, Red Birds, and Belligerent Buzzards. The small students—sitting properly like regimented eggs in a crate—watched quietly as Mrs. Miller took me to my seat on the far side of the room—the dreaded section for the Belligerent Buzzards.

For some reason, I wasn’t put in the worst row in the class but into the next-to-the worst row, the third seat back. After I sat down, Mrs. Miller returned to the best side of the room to listen to the Blue Birds take turns reading. Next, she moved to the center of the room and gave the Red Birds a pep talk and then had them read aloud. I don’t remember her having the Buzzards read that day, but I do remember her telling the entire class: “Okay, children, get out your number boxes. Let’s see who will be able to count the highest today. Place your numbers in order on your desk tops.”

Two brothers sat in front of me: Flem and Freddie. (Not their real names) Flem, the scowling older brother, who had failed first grade once, sat in the first seat like an angry gorilla guarding his truck tire at the zoo; I could tell right away from his snorting and scowling that Flem was definitely mean spirited. Freddie—his friendly, more good natured younger brother—sat in the second seat. Freddie was kind and tried to be helpful to me. I loved numbers and had worked a lot with them in school in PA. Enthusiastically, I opened my numbers box and was up to about 93 in just a couple of minutes.

What I hadn’t realized was that Flem—though not a mental giant nor a gifted mathematician—held the record in numbers—3 in the Buzzard group. Freddie, easily distracted and apparently completely confused by numbers, was turned in his seat and applauding my rapid progress at assembling my numbers. Flem, who heard his brother reacting to my speed and success, turned around in his seat to check on me—his upstart competition. Mrs. Miller, completely absorbed in the activities on the good side of the room, was busy praising the Blue Birds—and she couldn’t see what Flem did next. And unfortunately, I didn’t pick up on his maneuver either. Knowing Mrs. Miller was otherwise distracted and couldn’t hear all that well anyway, Flem, pointing over my head, exclaimed in an exaggerated, startled manner. “HEY, LOOK WHAT THEY’RE DOING IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM!!!”

Completely drawn in, I turned around in my seat to see what was going on behind me. Flem then turned in his seat, held a large writing paper tablet over his head, and waved it frantically towards my record-breaking numbers display. The increased air pressure from his tablet waving caused my numbers to fly on to the floor and onto me. In that one instant, I realized that Flem had regained his title as the numbers champion on the Belligerent Buzzards’ side of the room. After Freddie and I had picked up my numbers and put them back into my numbers box, I resumed placing my numbers on my desk, but this time I only put two numbers on my desk top—Number 1 and Number 2—staying safely behind Flem. The way I figured it, Number 1 and Number 2 were rather important functional numbers for first graders anyway, and I decided to put my interest in mathematics on hold. Hey! I still had plenty of time in my life if I wanted to become an accountant later.




submitted by: Fred G. Layman (VHS '46)
FGL46VHS@aol.com

Towers Grade School was built in 1895 at a cost of $25,000. It was named after Rev. George Towers who was the first principal of the former Randolph Academy. The “vocational school” for manual training was built on the East corner of the school lot in 1917. Five years later Central Jr. High School was built. An arsonist set Towers School on fire in late September 1987.

The first principal of Towers was Orie McConkey. Others were:
Lucy Robinson (for 37 years)
N.V. Landacre
Raymond Moore
Lloyd Securo
James Eakle
Barry Buffington

Picture below sent in by Freddie Layman (VHS 1946)





CHESTNUT HILLS SCHOOL

Next month the featured school will be Chestnut Hill Grade School.

Write to me about your memories of your grade school. Even though I attended Morgan Grade School, I really enjoy reading all the memories about other schools. You are doing honor to the school, classmates, principals and the teachers when you share your memories. Write to Roleta1@aol.com.




NEW READERS

Chuck Wilson (WI '67) CWILSON@AVIALL.COM
Sam Scolapio (VHS '49)
principal of WI 1972-1989 		JkScolapio@aol.com
Clyde Douglas (Lost Creek HS '60) clyded9465@carolina.rr.com
Garry King (WI '65) bfgking@citynet.net
Cindy Este Loy (RW '78) Loyclan@aol.com
Jim Martin (WI '43) SODAJERK112@AOL.COM
Frank Muscari (WI '57) FMuscari@nablc.navy.mil
Leslie Moran Moore (WI '79) LMoore761@aol.com
Agnes Swiger Layfield (WI '80) jImN2dreamin@wmconnect.com
Carolyn Marano Shields (WI '61) carolynmaranoshields@yahoo.com
Tom Wolfe (WI '74) Wolfetm95@aol.com
David Lee Campbell (Unidis HS '65) jcjccampbell@aol.com
Bob Campbell (Unidis '57) umbobc@aol.com
Mary Ellen Campbell Mathers (Unidis HS '61) bichon@alltel.net
Nancy VanGilst Rice (WI '60) nvrice@adelphia.net

ADDRESS CHANGES

Terry Snider Fazio (WI '67) terrymomma@msn.com
Rosanne Malfregot Oliverio (ND ’58) lao2@verizon.net
Louis “Tyke” Oliverio (ND ’58) lao2@verizon.net
Shari A. Josephs (WI ’65) bcollins@uswa.org
Bob Dennison (WI '57) rdenniso@ma.rr.com
Ken Nesselrotte (RW '57) KenNan38@comcast.net
Jane Davis Weida (WI '62) b.weida@att.net
Barbara Sutton Elder (WI '57) BarbaraSutton6@aol.com
Mary Harbert Nophsker (WI ’58) from rell904@bellsouth.net
to mnophsker@sc.rr.com
Helen House Fleming (WI '59) from jfleming@citynet.net
to jhfleming59@frontiernet.net




A VALENTINE GIFT

You can buy a perfect Valentine gift for a friend, relative, yourself or old classmate. Nothing to install on your computer….just a disc to put in the CD holder of your computer and follow the directions included with the CD. It is very simple. Everyone who has bought one has been able to use it. Remember you can read all of the past newsletters and contribute to the WIN SCHOLARSHIP fund at the same time.

Buy a CD for $10.00, all proceeds over the cost of the production and the mailing go to the scholarship fund. So far we have $450.00 in the scholarship account earned from the CD sales. To buy a CD contact Judy Daugherty Kimler (WI 1959) at jkimler@verizon.net




submitted by: John Cooper (WI ‘51)
Mysto99@aol.com

BUZZ:---Be careful and take it easy...!...Your contributions to the WI-Newsletter are always wonderful reading..!-----Your WI-Newsletter information of the Ellis  FAMILY , etc..very interesting to me. I graduated from WI '51 with Dave Adams , ..he and I were good friends and his big brother ran Adams Cleaners beside the Robinson Grand. I happened to see Dave on the street in Clarksburg and mentioned I was going to Las Vegas for a few days vacation. He said to look up his relative who was helping run a Las Vegas Casino to get good seats at the shows, and If I wanted a "GIRL" while I was there to let him know. I told him I was taking my wife, and he said," Well, if you want a friend for her  too, let me know!'-- hahaha----("We" turned  him down)...but did contact his brother I think ---and got ring-side seats at a couple bi-ticket shows..YEP--"Always good to know someone that knows someone!"---I believe it was a Ellis-Adams relative that also went to Las Vegas and worked for a TV station, and they producing a "kid" live TV show as I did for WBOY-TV and WJPB-TV here the host of the show was "Wild Bill Elliott--the movie cowboy--that made the fun westerns as Red Ryder we went to see at the Moore's Opera House on Saturday afternoons..(Elliott's kid co-star as Little Beaver--was Bobby Blake now facing a murder trail of his wife in California)--..Understand by the newsletter you are having a little trouble with your heart---be careful and  take care of yourself...the newsletter and readers need you.



submitted by: Rick Waldemar Ardsley (NY) High School, '69
rjw1@digitalusa.net

Happy New Year!  Hope all is well! This non-Clarksburg fan of your WI newsletter has a new EMail address, after about 6 months of no computer at all.  Please send newsletter to: rjw1@digitalusa.net

Thanks,
Rick Waldemar
Ardsley (NY) High School, '69

(Still chowing down on West Virginia Hot Dogs when I get the chance.)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Rick found the newsletter 2 or 3 years ago while searching the internet for hot dogs! It was about the same time we were discussing hot dogs and chili recipes. Rick has never even been to WV but has been learning about Clarksburg by reading the WI Newsletter.



submitted by: Mary Ellen Campbell Mathers (Unidis HS 1961)
bichon@alltel.net

Please add my brother to your mailing list, I forward the letters to him and he enjoys it so much. His name is Bob Campbell, graduated from Unidis 1957. his email address is umbobc@aol.com.  You do such a wonderful job, we miss Clarksburg so much, as they say you can take me out of West Virginia, but you can't take West Virginia out of me

I have another brother that wants to receive the newsletter. We love this. My 2 brothers and I have moved from the Clarksburg area, actually we lived in West Milford and attended Unidis high school. All 3 of us are homesick for the hills of West Virginia but are situated in different states, one in Virginia, one in Tennessee and there is me in Newark, Ohio. Please add David Lee Campbell jcjccampbell@aol.com  Unidis High School class of 1965.



submitted by: Augie Malfregot (WI '55)
admasa@onearrow.net

Don Cinci WI-56, A.D. Malfregeot WI-56, Alberta Malfregeot Allen WI-53 and Dale Allen Victory -? are coming to the Sarasota picnic on March 5, 2005. 

The five year disc of WI Newsletters had many of the answers about the existence of WI. June 2000 issue has it opening in 1914. June 2001 has the cornerstone being laid in November 1913. March 2002 has info on additions in 1928 of the library and gym. June 2000 had possibility that the name was Clarksburg HS for a short time less than a year before Washington Irving was adopted formally.

Glass factories: flat or window glass - Pittsburg Plate Glass, Rolland Glass, Adamston Flat Glass.
Tumblers, jars etc.: Hazel Atlas
Marbles: Arko Agate, Masters
Glass finishers: White And Bailey, Eagle Convex.


Groundhog Day  in February 1955 a close by locker mate and me decided that Groundhog Day was an official school holiday. We left school to go hunting for groundhogs. We got a couple of guns and went to Brushy Fork Road in Buckhannon where I had a aunt that had a farm. We spent all day looking for groundhogs and fortunately did not find any nor did we shoot each other which is an accomplishment in itself.  The next day, back in school we were called to Mr. Cubbons office and questioned about our leaving school. We told him about the holiday "Groundhog Day". He thought it was a great use of our imagination . However. he did not want to see us again about such a digression. He always finished his dressing downs with that statement. Then he would send you on your way. Do not let it happen again. I do not know what would happen if you did the same thing again.   



submitted by: Rosanne Malfregot Oliverio (ND ’58)
and Louis “Tyke” Oliverio (ND ’58)
lao2@verizon.net

I enjoy the newsletter each month. We still live in Clarksburg. We are both retired teachers. Tyke from Lincoln High School as band director and myself from St. Mary's Grade School. Thanks for all your hard work.



submitted by: Jeanne Thomas (ND '61)
Thomas4two@aol.com

I have a Clarksburg memory for all the girls. Remember when we used to be able to walk into Friedlander’s, Parsons, Peggy Shoppe and all the other stores and take clothes home on “approval”. Can you even imagine doing something like that today? My mom worked at Friedlander’s after we were all gone from Clarksburg and like Tomaro’s Bakery, you could always return there and see someone you knew. That was what was so great about Clarksburg friendships.

I am so glad you put Angelo Basile’s obit in the newsletter. He was a dear friend of ours. John and I flew down to Clarksburg in late October to visit with him in the hospital. He looked fairly well at that time and we prayed he got well enough to get the bone marrow transplant. When we spoke to him just a few weeks before he passed away, he asked John if he thought he was going to get well. It was so heart wrenching. He was truly a great guy with a big heart. He will be missed by many in Clarksburg.

Thanks again for yet another great newsletter. You both do such a great job. I don’t know a lot of the people who contribute, but I can relate to a lot of their stories. I remember vividly the times Larry and Louis Martino, their cousin Diane Patsy, my sister and who knows who else used to all jam into one car and go to “BUCK A CAR” night at the Ellis Drive-In.



submitted by: Ken Nesselrotte (RW '57)
KenNan38@comcast.net

Please note new e-mail address. The address listed in Dec. is our OLD address. Please use our NEW address as we don't want to miss this NEWSLETTER. We got the Dec. newsletter forwarded from Mickey Drummond in Fla. We did not want to miss any of your Clarksburg info.

I really enjoyed the pictures of Clarksburg memories. The Ellis Drive-In brought back many memories. I believe Dick Hustead was in the Sky Tower from 1957-1960. I used to request that he play the song "Joanne." I spent many nights drag racing up the hill in a white 38 Ford with an Olds engine. It was nicknamed "White Lightning." I used to run with Don Mick from WI. He had a black 40 Ford Coupe with an Olds engine. I also had a 57 Chevy...turquoise and white. Those cars generated a lot of tickets when we didn't see those cops in the Used Car lot across the street. It would be fun to have those days back. We burned up a lot of rubber on that road.

The Sarasota motel info. is super. It will help us choose a place to stay and know in what area of Sarasota you are congregating for the picnic. We are looking forward to seeing some "Clarksburg faces" in March, 2005.



submitted by: Chuck Wilson (WI '67)
CWILSON@AVIALL.COM

I really enjoyed seeing the old pics of C-Burg, and seeing the letters from people I remember my cousin Sach Wilson talking about. I graduated in 67, played all three sports while on the hill. I left C-Burg about 13 yrs ago, many fond memories. I attended Towers, Central Jr High then onto Lee Ave. I just returned from Ft. Lauderdale Fl, my son plays for OU, while there I visited with Vicki Limbers Moore, class of 67, and Bob Humphries class of 66.

I grew up in Glen Elk, we rode our sleds down Clark St to 8th, hung out at Citche Tiano's pool room, best hot dogs in town. We played ball in the bakery alley, and in the B & O's Depot yard, being chased by the B&O Bull, the good old days.



submitted by: Clyde Douglas (Lost Creek HS '60)
clyded9465@carolina.rr.com

Hello, I was given your name as you might be able to help me. My name is Clyde Douglas, graduated Lost Creek High School. Trying to find my old buddy Porter Rogers lll Class of 1960 WI. Married a gal 1960 also from WI. He would have gone by the name of Bud Rogers. I lost contact and last contact he was in MD. Last contact I had was over 30 yrs ago.

Do not receive your newsletter, but would like to. Thanks



submitted by: Jill Garvin Modlin (WI '51)
robertmodlin@hotmail.com

You are not the only one running behind. I have meant to let you know how much Bob ('50) and I enjoy the newsletter and how amazed we are at it. I was touched to see the picture of my long-ago December birthday party submitted by Deedee Swisher and thank her and you. Happy New Year to you all!!!!!!



submitted by: Greg Jaranko (WI '60)
JPAdomitis@aol.com

Money and access to it has changed. It will continue to change along with it's availability. As long as it changes, views about it will change.

My Dad used to say his father could have bought all of Bridgeport Hill for a penny an acre, he just didn't have any money.

My grandfather was an injured coal miner who turned to growing and delivering crops and milking his cows. I think barter was the main way he got "paid". My grandmother was a mid-wife who was paid with chickens, etc. Some life!

Kudos to you and your newsletter.



submitted by: Carolyn Marano Shields (WI '61)
carolynmaranoshields@yahoo.com

I was at the Clarksburg picnic last year for the first time and had a great time. I will be attending this year again with my 87 year old mother who lives here now, but lived in Clarksburg all her life until my father passed away about 15 years ago. I have lived in Sarasota for about 32 years. My husband and I live in Whitfield Estates which is located just north of University Parkway as it crosses 41 right across the Manatee Co. line. I am a retired Sarasota Co. elementary school counselor and now am a full time grandmother to my granddaughter.

I am just now getting into the 21st. century with an in-home computer. You received my very first e-mail message sent out and I was so excited to see that you did get it. I am still very much a beginner!

I did see some of the picnic jobs on the web site. I probably best do something before the picnic such as set up the tables, register, or unload cars as my mom will probably be exhausted in a couple of hours and I will need to leave before the end of the picnic.



submitted by: Jean Colasante Thomas (ND '61)
Thomas4Two@aol.com

I remember in last month’s newsletter one of gal wrote in about the year she and her family had the aluminum Christmas tree. Well, both John and my families had one. They couldn’t have paid more than $10.00 for them. Well, those trees (of course we threw ours away) were the rage this Christmas. My daughter paid a ridiculous price for one on E-Bay. Guess we weren’t so wrong in our tastes in those days after all!

HAVE A GOOD ONE AND THANKS AGAIN,



submitted by: Sam Scolapio (VHS 1949-principal of WI 1972-1989)
JkScolapio@aol.com

Roleta, My son Dr. James Scolapio from Ponta Vedra Beach Florida, sent us the news letter he thought we would be interested since his father Sam Scolapio Jr. had been principal at Washington Irving High School from 1972 until 1989. Sam retired in 1989 after 17 years; he of course has many fond memories of the school, and remembers many of the students. He has not taken on the challenge of using the computer so I thought I would write.

He has some of the answers to you challenging questions for January. WI, was first called Clarksburg High School and was completed in 1914 the first classes were held in the building on Lee Ave. in September 1914. The name was changed after the first year because Miss Mildred Ann F. Dunn who taught history and civics at the school admired the author Washington Irving because he had been "courteous, scholarly, and intelligent she hoped the students would follow his example Her suggestion was accepted.

Football games were, played at Hite Field. Liberty High School and Notre Dame High now use the field, it continues to be called Hite Field. The picture of the month is The Clarksburg Court House. Sam and I plan to spend February and March in Florida and hope to get to Sarasota for the picnic March 5th. WE would also like to have the news letter sent to us each month. Its was great reading things written by a few old friends.

If you would please send us the News Letter at
JkScolapio@aol.com

Thank you, Juliana & Sam Scolapio



submitted by: George (Bill) Scholl (WI '52) and
Virginia Godfrey Scholl (Weston '53)
georgegin@juno.com

I just finished reading the January newsletter. As usual, another fantastic job by you and Judy. I am surprised that you felt you needed to apologize for the letter being late. I see no reason for apologies. You and Judy do all the work and most of the rest of us do very little if anything for the letter. We certainly should be able to wait a few days for you two to get that job done. THANKS AGAIN!!!.

Now that that is of my chest, my wife Virginia says she will be glad to help with the table set up at the picnic and I will help on the registration desk. This year we are camped at LAKE BONNET VILLAGE in Avon Park. It will be no trouble to arrive early to help.

Yes, I recognized the Ellis drive in and Sky Castle. After I got out of service, I spent a lot of time there while I waited for my wife to be to get off work at St. Mary's Hospital. I even helped out at the ticket booth some.

The January mystery picture is none other than the Harrison County Court House. One of the local radio stations used to do a noon time broadcast from out front interviewing anyone they could get to talk to them. Now I will go back and review the news letter and I may have more comments later.



MIKE PATRICK

EDITOR’S NOTE: I wonder if Mike Patrick ever knew he would be the subject of a section of a WI newsletter. By the way he is not related to the other announcer Dan Patrick. Also, in answer to another question I ask last month, he has no siblings.

submitted by: Jim Ashley (WI '62)
jashley4@cox.net

Mike lived in Chestnut Hills with his grandparents, Mr and Mrs Freeman. His mom was active in the performing arts in Washington, DC, and Mike and his grandparents moved to join her in Vienna, VA, after Mike graduated from high school. Mike had no siblings. He and I were supposed to be roommates in college, but it was probably a saving moment in both his academic and professional careers when he decided to attend George Washington University instead.

I was just telling my kids at Christmas time about a trip I made from Morgantown to visit Mike for a WVU - George Washington football game played at what is now RFK stadium. He told me to meet him at Tyson’s Corners near Vienna. At the time (1963), there was a lonely filling station at the intersection of Route 7 and Route 123, both small roads. Today, I am the one living in Vienna about a mile from this intersection and it is bounded by Tyson’s Corner Shopping Center, Tyson’s Galleria Shopping Center, about 10 car dealerships, and more office buildings, fast food restaurants, and strip malls than you can count.

Mike hasn't changed much over the years, but this area certainly has.



submitted by: Linda Holden Suter (WI '65)
lsuter@bellsouth.net

Mike Patrick lived in Chestnuts Hills on Van Buren Dr. To my knowledge, he lived with his grandmother and was an only child.



submitted by: Marilyn Hurst Lee (WI '62)
Tel3@aol.com

Michael Patrick Frankhouser grew up, I'm pretty sure, in the Broad Oaks section of town, although I really don't know exactly where. I grew up in Stealey, however, and I'm sure that he did not reside there.

As to the name of WI before it became that, it was CLARKSBURG HIGH SCHOOL. My dad, Kenny Hurst, went there a year or so before Victory was built. He was born in 1904. So, I presume he entered CLARKSBURG HIGH SCHOOL around 1917 or 1918. I'm not sure, because he skipped a grade somewhere.

On another subject, I think that Dick Hustead was the D.J. who played the songs at Skycastle, the little radio booth at the Ellis. He moved back to Clarksburg 15 or so years ago (just a guess) and died just a couple of years ago, I believe.

I haven't read the entire newsletter yet, but I'm wondering when the picnic is this year. We're back in FL now (Oldsmar) for a few months and enjoying this great weather! Bet you're in FL now also.

Take care, and hats off to your incredible continuance of the fantastic job you do with the Newsletter.



submitted by: Fred Alvaro (WI '59)
Falvaro33@aol.com

Mike Patrick's correct last name is Frankhouser so I am almost positive that he is not related to Dan Patrick. Just a change for TV, etc. He was a freshman when we were seniors at W.I.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information on Mike Patrick, check out this column by Chuck Finder in the January 18, 2005 Post Gazette.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20010326thebig.asp




OBITUARIES

I do not have the time to look for obituaries. I only publish those sent to me as I figure if you care enough for the deceased person to send me the obit, I will print it. I do edit the obits due to space.


WILLIAM EDWARD "BILL" REYNOLDS

William Edward "Bill" Reynolds, 76, passed away peacefully on Jan. 20, 2005. Mr. Reynolds was a retired Insurance Agent with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, having retired in 1987 with 35 years of service. He was born in Clarksburg, Nov. 20, 1928, a son of the late Seymour L. and Leota M. Axton Reynolds. He is survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Juanita Cutright Reynolds. Also surviving are two sons, Robert L. Reynolds and his wife Laura, Concord, Mass., and William Edward "Eddie" Reynolds, II, Clarksburg; two daughters, Pamela Kamlowsky and her husband John, Leawood, Kansas, and Deborah Craig and her husband Kim, Johnstown, Pennsylvania; and 8 grandchildren. He was also preceded in death by one brother, Seymour L. Reynolds, Jr.



ELVIRA A. 'IRENE' ALI

Mrs. Elvira A. "Irene" Ali, age 74, of Bridgeport, a longtime and well known educator in the Harrison County and Dade County, FL, areas, passed away January 22, 2005. Irene is survived by her husband of more than 46 years, Don Vincent Ali Jr., whom she married May 29, 1958; one brother, Ray Alvino of Shinnston and an abundance of nieces, nephews and cousins in this area as well as in Australia and Italy.

She began her education career immediately after her graduation from Fairmont State College, teaching second grade at Broadway Elementary School in Clarksburg. In 1958, she and her husband moved to Florida where she became employed with the Dade County School System, and she helped to set-up several reading labs. She retired from there in June of 1979. After her retirement in 1979, she and her husband moved back to West Virginia. She came out of retirement once again to teach at Pierpont Elementary School in Clarksburg, Roosevelt-Wilson Senior High School and finally at Washington Irving High School, until it’s closing in 1995, when she retired from teaching for the final time



SUSAN ANN HOLT BARR

Susan Ann Holt Barr, 67, of Bridgeport passed away January 9, 2005. She is survived by her husband, Taylor "Dave" Barr, whom she married July 2, 1960. In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, Douglas D. Barr of Morgantown and Brian T. Barr of Oldsmar, FL; one daughter, Julie A. Hudson of Martinsburg and three grandchildren. She was a member of various bridge clubs in Bridgeport and a member of the reunion committee for Washington Irving Class of 1955.



ANITA 'LYNN' CUSTER MCBEE

CONWAY, S.C. -- Anita "Lynn" Custer McBee, 68, wife of Charles T. "Jack" McBee, died January 26, 2005, in the Conway Hospital after a sudden illness. She was a graduate of WI in 1954.

She retired from the Wood County Board of Education in 1992 after many years of service in the Insurance Department. She was also the owner of Clarksburg Auction and Antique Gallery since 1991, specializing in the buying and trading of antiques and collectibles.

Mrs. McBee is predeceased by one sister, Helen Nestor of Clarksburg, WV.

Surviving, in addition to her husband in Conway, are three children, Charles R. Perry of Orlando, FL, Taia P. Kretz and her husband Robert K. Kretz of Burbank, CA, Russell L. Perry and his wife Melissa of Hurricane, WV; two stepchildren, Michael E. McBee of Clarksburg, WV, and Kellie M. McBee of Greenville, SC.





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