THE WI NEWSLETTER 08/06

THE WI NEWSLETTER

Editor: Roleta Smith Meredith

Issue 84

August 2006

CAN YOU SEW?
It's time to get busy on another raffle quilt to raise funds for THE WIN Scholarship for a deserving RCBHS graduate. The 2006 quilt raised over $700.00 for the fund, that's close to a whole scholarship. Let's top that amount this year.

We need your help with the quilt. We're hoping that other people will join those who made and contributed quilt blocks for last year's quilt. We also need your suggestions on colors of fabrics to use. We would like to make blocks 12 1/2 inches square (finishing to 12") so that putting the quilt together will be easier.

Sue (Selby) Moats is willing to sew the blocks together and do the quilting again this year. If you are willing to make a block or two for this good cause, please contact Sue at moatsue@aol.com.

We all value our high school and college educations so much, let's help a deserving student continue with their education.

BROAD OAKS

BROAD OAKS DAIRY BAR
PICTURE SUBMITTED BY MELINDA MAZZA SUTTER (WI '64)
submitted by: Bob Davis (WI '59)
RAD29063@aol.com
Having the woods right behind my home was good, no houses were built there. We built tree houses, had B-B gun battles (not too smart) after the mines (owned by David Hornor's Dad) closed, ate blackberries and raspberries, played baseball and football there.

In the late 40's and early 50's, I remember the horse shoe courts behind my home. They were lighted and had benches for the men to sit and spit tobacco juice. Men came from all over Clarksburg to play horseshoes at our courts. There were 4 clay pits (not sure of name) and horse shoe tournaments were conducted there.

We had plenty of stores--Rossano's, Iaquinta's, Mazza’s, Broad Oaks Dairy Bar, Stalnakers, North Pole Ice Plant, Rollin's and there were others. You went to the store and they put your items on the bill. You were trusted.

I went to Alta Vista for six years and I remember all my teacher's names, the janitor's name and the two principal's names while I attended school there. Our lunch was 25 cents and was good and nourishing. Everyone walked to and from school and even when going to WI.

Our hill had many paths that we as kids almost risked our lives to walk. They were from the end of Kern Avenue along the hill above Water Street and also had a small creek (I will not give the name) about half way along the way--it was from a house that evidently did not use the city sewers. We could also walk the woods over to Lowndes Hill.

We had many good places to ride sleds. It even got better in high school when they put a path up to a new water tank on top of the hills. It probably took 15 minutes to climb back up the steep hill in the snow, then come riding down across an old corn field (bumps), then the slanted 30 degree part (hard to stay on your sled), finally down two large steep hills and stop at the bottom to warm up at the fire--then do it again.

Over the years, I delivered papers all over Broad Oaks--on 3 different Clarksburg Telegram routes and a few times delivering a Clarksburg News route. Never had any problems except a few dogs and once when a car load of RW boys wanted to beat me up--luckily I had a dog friend with me. I had mostly poor families on my route of 6 years, but they talked with you--invited you in for hot chocolate in the winter and a glass of water in the summer.

Broad Oaks Methodist Church had a great influence on many lives. We had several pastors and all contributed to the community as did the Sunday School teachers. The had revivals that usually lasted 2 weeks. The church had dinners often and the men and women of the church worked well together.

People didn't move often back then so you knew your neighbors and they knew you. No one had air conditioning and TV to keep us inside. Everyone fellowshipped together and helped each other. Yes, you may have known too much as the windows were open in the warm weather and doors were not locked. Each family had only one car and many families had a garden as part of their yard. People cared and watched over the neighborhood and each others children to protect them. Today, we would say these people were nosy and should mind their own business--but back then they were being good neighbors. We walked everywhere at all times of the day with no problems. I walked many times at 11:00 PM and never had to worry what would happen (unless I had been to the movies and seen a horror movie--then I was scared).

If I had to say one word about Broad Oaks--it would be "FAMILY"!

submitted by: Patty Terrill Stealey (WI '59)
PStealey@shepherd.edu
I did not live in Broad Oaks, but I had to walk though part of it to get to Alta Vista Grade School from where I lived in Nixon Plaza. My morning would begin by walking up Mandan Road past Skippy, a large dog. He never bothered me, but my mother was afraid he would. Then I would cut down into Arbutus Park to Becky Hollandsworth’s house. She and I were the 6th graders and we had the responsibility of looking out for several other children who varied in age down to the 1st grade.

We would walk down that street and up over the hill coming out on Route 20 where there is now a stop light. I remember Patrol boys guarded the crossing. As I look back on it, the hill side area was rather derelict then. On the way back home we would stop at a little store on Haymond Highway. My favorite purchase was a 5 cent Reese Cup. In the hot weather there was a woman who lay out in the sun every day. I often wonder if her skin turned to leather or if she got skin cancer since we know more about the bad effects of sun now than we did then. Since my family did not move to Clarksburg until 1952 I did not know a lot about the grade school. I do remember the ballroom dancing classes and making friends with some kids who went to Central Junior and to WI and graduated in the class of 1959.

submitted by: Jim Alvaro (WI '56)
JAlvaro@aol.com
How can I do this without taking up the whole Newsletter?

My friends in Broad Oaks are too numerous to mention without leaving some of them out. They were all very special to me. There was only one clique and we all belonged in it. Everyone hung out with everyone. We did not care where you lived Upper Broad Oaks or Lower Broad Oaks, where I lived. Broad Oaks was located in walking distance to town and also walking distance to Arbutus Park where there were some darn nice looking girls as was in Broad Oaks.

The Summers were great being out of school. We rode bikes, scooters, and wagons. When we got a little older we played basketball in the streets or in someone's back yard. We also played football up on Grow's Hill. The field was named after our ole buddy Ron Grow WI ' 55. Why we named the field after Ron is beyond me as his was not the only family who lived there. The field ran North/South and sloped from West to East at about a 45 degree angle. All our plays were run to the lower part of the field because the person carrying the ball would take off like a rocket and then stay on the lower part until some creamed him and knocked him into the tall grass. I think there is still a couple guys we still haven't found. In the evenings we played kick the can, hide and seek. I did a lot of running because someone very close to me had a thing for throwing rocks and knocking out street lights. Being the chubby one I was (am now also) I had to run twice as hard to keep from getting caught.

The Winters in Broad Oaks were awesome. Sled riding was the most fun of all. Everyone had sleds back then. Some of the streets were closed off so we could ride our sleds. We would climb up a steep hill while pulling our sleds near Grow's Hill. It would take us about an hour to climb the hill. We would build a fire and sit around it a while and then sled ride back down the hill that would take us about 30 seconds. That was it for the day but in the evenings we would hit the snow covered streets again.

Christmas in Broad Oaks were very special. Outside of shopping for gifts for our relatives, delivering them was where the excitement was. Dad would have 2 or 3 shopping bags full of gifts. We would take off walking or he would pull us on a sled and we would visit all our relatives. We had to walk as we had no car. My Dad never drove in his life and was not interested in driving. My Mom got her license when she was in her 50's. We gave every relative a gift. Socks, ties, gloves, a scarf, etc. We returned home with the same amount of gifts, probably the same as the gifts we gave them. I don't know why we just didn't call it even and just spend some time together but that would not have been the ole Christmas spirit. Of course the home made bread, pasta, and wine were worth spending time with them.

Growing up in Broad Oaks, I wouldn't trade for anything. We "Broadoaksians" are proud bunch of people. Thanks to the Newsletter I have kept up with about 75% of the gang who went to Alta Vista Grade school. If I gave Don Sager the names of the other 25% he would probably locate most of those.

I could go on more about all the hangouts and names of my friends I kept out of trouble, and the pranks we played during Halloween, but my friends from Stealey, North View, Adamston, Glen Elk, etc. would probably not read the rest of the Newsletter.

So maybe we can hear from them in future Newsletters about what they liked about their part of town and why they spent so much time in Broad Oaks.

submitted by: Wayne Winters (Would have been class of '66 at WI)
wwinters@ix.netcom.com
Did I grow up in Broad Oaks? My youth was spent or misspent in Broad Oaks!

Broad Oaks was best when you can say you remember --and they remembered you-- Jo and Vi at the Dairy Bar on Harrison Street .

Games of 'horse' on Rosemont Avenue

Frankie Loria taking the time to pass on some of his gifts to the younger ones, despite his already obvious superior talents in athletics and coaching.

Wiffle ball games in front of the Stemple's house on St. Clair Avenue

The Broad Oaks Brand!

submitted by: Mike Blackshire (Alta Vista, Central, Broadway, RW, WI, ND '63
married to the beautiful Betty Marino (ND '62)
Mshire1124@verizon.net
We, the Blackshire Family, grew up on the corner of Harrison & Haymond, 701 Harrison to be exact, and we can remember all that there is from North Pole Ice Plant to Main St (using Harrison) to Buckhannon Pike (using Haymond)-the ball field behind Louis B Johnson home, Joe's Dairy Bar, Stalnakers Confectionary, sitting on the Bridge, "finding" pop from the Coke trucks, "finding" loose doughnuts from Dutch Oven, playing wall ball at Wuchners, drinking soda on the steps of Rossano's Market (later it became Webb's Market), watching the big yellow Buick Convertible of Evelyn Folio speeding up Harrison, hide & seek using the telephone pole on the corner as base, Mrs. Powers store on Lynn, hanging with the older boys, (Frankie Bartlett, Ronnie Gainer, Bobby Westbrook, Clarence Grose, the Lohr boys, the Suttles, Stevie Seese, Kenny Mcie (his Dad had a Bike Shop in his basement on Bryan (?), Eddie White, Jimmy White, the Fulton's-Bobby, Parker, Charles, the Junkins Billy & Bobby, Bobby Childers, Bobby Joe Dennison, Jerry & Chuckie Paugh, and too many more to mention.

The Broad Oaks Brand was your initiation, haircuts at Doc Stalnakers was a must, we had our own Bakery, we had a Juke Box repair shop, we had TV at Stalnakers, we had a good clean simple life in Broad Oaks issues were few and far between. We had baseball in the Spring & Summer, Basketball at Neils on Rosemont, at Whites on Haymond, at Dennison's on Lynn(?), just anywhere you could hang a hoop, touch Football on Martin St, tackle Football on the lot above Bryan (I think it was close to Horner's Mines), this field was on a slant and you were constantly running up hill, I can remember the guys from Monticello and Water would come to this vacant lot and we all would play-David & Ike Jackson, Drady & Jeff Jefferson, Toke Jackson, the Hangers, the Gales, just to mention a few.

In my haste to brag about growing up in Broad Oaks, I failed to mention the Alvaros - Jimmy, Fred, Larry and cousin Nick, Yodi Johnson, Donnie Douglas, Bud Collins, Chuck Ryder, Charles Riley, Joe Berger, Ed Lemasters, Al Fleming and his brother (Jack??), Sonny Hurst, Jim Campbell, Wes Drake, Bill Suttle, Mark Inke, Cleo Griffith, the Judy brothers, the Bush brothers,-Lee and Bob, the Kellars, Les, & Tommy Moon, Jimmy Greathouse, Eddie Shillingburg, Bobby Felton, Chuckie Vickers, Johnny Coon, the Cain brothers, Jr. & David, Philip Rossano and Johnny Graham. The list could go on and on.

Broad Oaks was a very special place to grow up. I heard Rock & Roll for the first time in Sandra Squire's basement on Martin St. She had a green door to her basement. We played soakum on Martin St. and touch football there also. It seemed that Martin St. was our play ground. (less traffic and a wider street) The people on Martin allowed us to drink from their garden hoses. Bob Webb lived on Martin and we could always get socks and tape from him to make or repair our soakum ball. We repaid him by allowing him to play.

The friendships made growing up in Broad Oaks endure for a life time. Broad Oaks is a special place to be from--Some one coined the phrase "It was long ago and far away but so much better than it is today" they too must have grown up in Broad Oaks.

submitted by: Jim Potter (WI '65)
jpotter@deltagas.com
Keep up the good work, every month I look forward to seeing the newsletter and remembering the good times in Clarksburg.

You mentioned Broad Oaks in the last letter; I lived on Vermont Ave. there. It was super neighborhoods in the 60’s doors were not locked, people walked up and down the street each evening weather permitting and visited with each other. The teenagers hung out at Joe’s Dairy Bar. We would go to Jerry Mc Munn’s home and play pool he had the only table in the area. In the summer some of the older guys in the neighborhood (Nick Alvaro and his dad Tony) would drive their hot rods by the dairy bar and we would all want one and dream of what kind we would have when we had jobs. We were called the "Broad Oaks Gang" back then but we were just a bunch of guys that hung out at Joe’s they made the best milk shakes and got along well with all the teenagers. I don’t ever remember any trouble there. Dave White lived across the street from Joes, Dave McQue lived on Vermont, Janet La Masters lived next to Joe’s her mother was the 4H leader in the 60’s. Dr. Break lived on Point St., he was the County Health Dr. He lived to be over 100 and walked to the court house every day till in his 90’s. Then he had Stumpy Bice drive him in his 56 Buick, many rainy mornings he would pick me up and give me a ride to WI.

The Millers on Harrison St. had rummy card games on Saturday nights for the teenagers many nights were spent there. The unique thing about this neighborhood at this time was that everyone looked out for everyone else. On Friday nights Tony Alvaro & Nick would pick me up and we would go to the races at Eldora Race track half way between Clarksburg and Fairmont. I wonder how many out there remember the swinging bridge and the Broad Oaks Brand? There were a lot of teenagers in the area Debbie LaFever, John White, Susan Miller, Rick Bayne, Stephanie Mayer, Jane Andrews, Patty Adams, most went to WI, but we all got along together no matter what high school they attended.

Again it was the 60’s a great time to be alive and even better to live in Clarksburg and go to WI.

submitted by: John Timberlake (WI '48 )
JGTimberlake@aol.com
We moved to St. Clair St in 1937. Broad Oaks was a good mixture of ethnic and economic groups. St Clair ran from Buchannon Ave to Tyler St. On the Buchannon side you had wealthy lawyers from Steptoe and Johnson, Maxwell & Maxwell. Several bankers, doctors, insurance agency owners, building materials-construction owners lived there also. Mostly wealthy!

On the other side was a mixture of firemen, police, lawyers, doctors, blue collar workers, teachers, salesmen, barbers, jewelers, book store managers, bakery owners and many others. Most of the people knew each other and had been there for years. As kids we played together, fought together. We played football, baseball, softball on vacant lots. There were no organized sports, we did it ourselves mostly without adult supervision or interference. If there was a fight we settled it ourselves. There were always skinned knees, elbows, sprains and sometimes broken bones. No one went to the emergency room, (there was none), no one sued any one over any of these things. They were considered a part of growing up.

I don’t remember any major social activities or much socializing between families. We helped each other in times of illness or death in the family. My parents and several neighbors had a bridge club which met once a month. Some people were members of the Masonic groups, Elks, Lions, Rotary, etc. Generally Broad Oaks was just a nice quiet, peaceful place to raise a family.

For teenage boys there was the Broad Oaks Dairy Bar. It was owner by Mr. Flynn and was great place to get hand packed ice cream, cokes ,etc. he sold it in the mid '40s to Joe Bennet who still owned it in the fifties when I moved away.

submitted by: Mary Sue Clark Spahr (WI '56)
msspahr@aol.com
Ahh, here's a subject I know.........

I grew up on Point Street after moving from Harrison Street when I was 4 years old. What did I like about Broad Oaks? I liked the neighbors who were like family, I liked our little Methodist church on the corner, I liked Joe's Dairy Bar, I loved Alta Vista School, but mostly I liked the kids. The neighborhood was filled with wonderful kids (Janet Webb, Jim Alvaro, Don Sager, Harold Brewster, Ron Brown, Jack Borror, Sandra Squires, Delores Boone, Carolyn Crews and others too numerous to count), and we had a great time playing. It was so safe that our mothers could go to work "uptown" and not even have to worry about us after we were 9 or 10 years old. As long as we had food, we could take care of ourselves. Summers were special. Someone would organize a hike in the woods, and see how many kids they could round up to go. Everyone would take along a peanut butter sandwich, some cookies or a candy bar (we survived on this food) and fill their canteen with water. Everyone had a Boy Scout issue canteen (even the girls). We'd usually enter the woods from Buena Vista, the highest street in Broad Oaks, and hike around to Lowndes Hill. Oh, we felt like such explorers, such pioneers as we made our way through the brush and bramble. Usually we'd wait until we got to Lowndes Hill before we'd eat our lunch. After a brief rest, we'd head down the hill via Second Street, cut down to Water Street, cross the old swinging bridge and head home via Haymond Highway. It seemed like such a long way then. Everything was so big. Now, when I return to Clarksburg, nothing seems to be as big as it used to be. The streets are shorter, the hills are not as high and the houses appear to be tiny.

To me the best times were always in the summer when we were as free as birds and as safe as a baby in a crib. I can't think of a better place to have grown to adulthood. And fortunately for me, many of the friends I had then are still friends today. Life was good; wonderful home, wonderful friends, church, school, safety and fun. Broad Oaks was all of that and more.

submitted by: Mary K. McDaniel Bellisario (WI '65)
bayouduo_1@charter.net
I grew up in Broad Oaks. Best part of Clarksburg!

As a matter of fact, my mother still lives there in the same house, and just last week my husband and I visited her there, on our annual trip up from Slidell, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina changed everything here, especially the landscape. It is so nice to return to Clarksburg and to Broad Oaks in particular. Amazing how little it has changed--the homes, trees, lawns and most of all, the friendly people. Nice to see that some things don't change.

What was so special? I loved the friendly people and the whole neighborhood, which we felt extended on the east over near Main Street, Buckhannon Ave., and Marshall St., all the way up Buena Vista on top of The Hill, down steep Ross St. to Alta Vista Grade School, and down into lower Broad Oaks, around Harrison St. and beyond. [The smell of salt-rising bread on Monticello Ave. is etched into my memory!]

Neighbors KNEW neighbors. During my childhood, wherever children played, neighbors were watching out for them. Large groups of us played all summer day, then played hide-and-seek after dark throughout the streets around Haymond Hwy. and Tyler Ave., and were totally safe back then (as long as we watched out for cars). We didn't have a playground, like the Stealey kids had, but that was O.K. We had lots of great kids, and we had Alta Vista -- the best school, despite what the Morgan kids said!

In summer we played baseball in the only vacant lot, and rode our bikes everywhere. We took picnic lunches up by "Devil's Kitchen" on The Hill.(up Buena Vista Avenue.) We held marathon monopoly games on rainy days, one game lasting for days at a time. We walked to the library downtown and then came home and read book after book. Sometimes up in a favorite tree. During the school year we walked to grade school, often joined by friends. We walked home for lunch and back to class by 1:00 p.m.!

In winter when it snowed, everyone went sled-riding in everyone else's yard. My parents and I could sled-ride from our house at the top of Haymond Hwy. all the way through Broad Oaks to my grandmother's house on Harrison St., without stopping. Then Daddy had to pull us all the way back!

Broad Oaks was famous for a place where a lot of kids hung out -- Joe's Dairy Bar; but that was too far from my house to be part of my memories.

Alta Vista was the center of the community, along with the Broad Oaks Methodist Church a block away. School and church activities, fairs, plays, and parties etc. were events which so many neighbors were involved with. Sad that Alta Vista is no more. At least three generations of my family had gone through Alta Vista, Central and W.I.

That kind of continuity is hard to find anymore. It's certainly one of the reasons Broad Oaks was so special.

FAMILY
submitted by: Roleta Smith Meredith
Roleta1@aol.com
This newsletter is about memories and our feelings about Clarksburg and the people. Many of you have written that the people in Clarksburg cared for one another. They were a FAMILY. I am sure the people there haven’t changed. My parents, sister and I left there in 1960 but when I return the people in Clarksburg are friendly. Have you noticed when you see an old friend from West Virginia or meet a new friend from WV that there is special warmth between you? You feel comfortable—the same as you feel with family members. It is warmth from the heart. That is exactly the way this newsletter should be, a feeling of warmth when you read it, a cozy feeling of being with family. So many people say they enjoy this newsletter. Some say they look forward to reading it each month. If the newsletter is late, I receive letters from people, not pressuring me but concerned that all is well with me and my family, that I am not ill and that I haven’t forgotten them. That is warmth from the heart. People caring for one another, this is a FAMILY.

NEW READERS

Frank J Torchia (WI '47)	torchiaco@earthlink.net
Bill Snyder (WI '47)	wbs111@aol.com
Douglas Sinsel (WI '56)	DPSinsel@aol.com
Anthony J. Selario (WI '56)	aselario3257@charter.net
Ed Christie (WI '56)	echristie38@yahoo.com
Barbara Allen Gordon (WI '56)	BBarbago@aol.com
Lee DeValliere (WI '47)	BLDeValliere@webtv.net
Sandra Shreves Davis (WI '56)	sandyjdavis@charter.net
Jeff George (WI '64)	jeff.george@verizon.net
Steve Forsythe (WI '70)	SForsythe@wvadmin.gov
Herb Skidmore (WI '59)	ab5c@sbcglobal.net
John Allen (WI '57)	jallenco1@aol.com
Mary Jane Laurent Post (WI '47)	emjay1929@hotmail.com
Charley Wilson Ellison (WI '46)	Matthellis.aol.com

CHANGE OF EMAIL ADDRESS

Pat Fiorenza De Lille (WI '56)	pfd4289@msn.com
JoAnne Drummond Marlette (WI '58)	was: Cricketmarie@aol.com is now: cricketmarie@verizon.net
Bill White (WI '56)	was: whitecw@sbcglobal.net is now: williamwhite8881@sbcglobal.net

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that you can go to the bottom of any WI newsletter you have up on your screen, click on the words NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE…from there you may read one year of the most recent “old” issues of the newsletter. Due to the size of our free web space that Judy uses for the newsletter, we are unable to store more of the past newsletters. I recommend if you are a new reader to the newsletter that you take some time and check out the Veteran’s Day 2005 issue as it was an exceptional issue. Oh, there is a way you can read all 7 and ½ years of the past WI newsletters that Judy and I have done, and you can help with the WIN Scholarship at the same time. You see, Judy and her “computer savvy” husband have made a CD of all of the newsletters. The CD even has the program installed which enables your computer to read the CD. You just put it in that little CD drawer (the one that looks like the cup holder) and follow the directions. It is so simple—if you can turn on your computer and read this newsletter, you can run that CD. That way you can read any past newsletter at your own convenience without being on line. Remember these newsletters are about current affairs---they are about old memories…Clarksburg as it was and as it is, our lives when we were young and as we are today, our relationship to one another….so they really never get old!!!! These also make great gifts. All profit above the cost of the CD and the mailing go to the WIN Scholarship. Judy has contributed over $700.00 to the scholarship fund through this project. Thanks JUDY!

Now, are you interested? Just write jkimler@verizon.net for instructions on how to purchase the WI Newsletter CD. The cost is only $10.00.

submitted by: Mary Jane Laurent Post (WI '47)
Emjay1929@hotmail.com

Just received my first issue of the WI Monthly and had a very pleasant stroll down memory lane. The 'five and dime' memories made me laugh till the tears flowed. Just last night I received two photos of the house where I lived from 1939 until 1966. Hank Kiesel (class of '47) had gone with his brother-in-law, Ray Schaffer (class of '46) (my second cousin!) to Clarksburg to attend Ray's 60th reunion. They stopped in my old neighborhood and took 2 pics of the house that I had not seen since about 1972!!! I had thought little of those years at WI until I heard from Hank on April 1st of this year. Then I ordered and read 'Hail, Washington Irving'....... Please put me on the Newsletter list. AND 'Thank You'...(for all the hours you put into this 'labor of love')

submitted by: Tom Everett (WI '47)
clayfordtom@verizon.net

Please add me to your newsletter. I am a graduate Of WI Class of 47. Still have property at Maple Lake and go there often. I will go there this Thursday thru 6th of July.

My Mother was Laura Everett Lupold who owned and operated The Stonewall Jackson Beauty Salon in that Hotel. Later she opened a shop on Second Street as well as a Bridal Shop. Later she bought her own building for the Beauty Shop just around the corner which is now a restaurant and bar.

I will provide you with more in the future because in my mind - THERE WAS NO TOWN LIKE CLARKSBURG AND NEVER WILL BE!!

submitted by: Buzzy Floyd (VHS '56)
Floyds4@cox.net

Hi Francine,
Thanks for your kind words in the newsletter. I had Coach for World History also. He spent a lot of time just talking to us kids and he treated us like adults. We learned a lot of good moral lessons from him. I remember that he used to talk highly of his wife and her family all the time. I remember that they sold really good hotdogs and offered the best deal in town too. Is that restaurant still there by any chance?

I still can’t call him Neill; he’ll always be Coach Sappington or Sapp to us Victory “kids”

This is the last notice, so make your plans now to attend the Sixth Annual WI Reunion Picnic to be held on Saturday, August 26, 2006, in the Osborne Shelter at Veterans (River Bend) Park off Milford St. There will be signs, balloons for all to see. You can also get to the park via the Nutter Fort area by going over Rt 98. The time is 11AM until the last one goes home...whenever that is. This is for anyone who ever attended WI (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A GRADUATE).

LET'S MAKE THIS A BIG WI REUNION DAY!
Sharyn Cottrill McGahan (WI 1959) is in charge of this picnic. She provides the table settings for you. You will need to bring a covered dish, your own drink, and money to put in the pot to help Sharyn cover her expenses. Some people bring a folding lawn chair. Don't forget your cameras!!!

You do not have to make a reservation but she will need to know about how many to expect. It is nice to be surprised but it isn’t nice to be overcome with a large group of people and not have enough supplies. If you are going to attend please write Sharyn and tell her - mtmama41@msn.com. Also, let her know if you are willing to help with the picnic --- cover tables, registration, tell people where to put their food, clean up, etc.

If anyone needs directions to Veterans Park they can e-mail Sharyn or Judy Daugherty Kimler at jkimler@verizon.net.

If you live out of the area, you might want to make this picnic part of a week long vacation that would include the Italian Heritage Festival in Clarksburg on Labor Day weekend. If you don't have family in the area with whom you can stay, you should make motel reservations now. There was a list of motels in June's newsletter.

BAND MUSIC

Are you a fan of good marching band music? One of the best marching bands in the land is at West Virginia University.

To see and hear them in action at the Sugar Bowl 2006 just click on the hyperlink below. Make your screen in the full screen position so you get a better view. When through viewing Country Roads, view more songs by the band by going to the lower right hand side of the screen and clicking on some of the other selections. This will put you in the mood for college football!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTFM4jb-MdU

PRECIOUS CHILD FOR AUGUST

Do you recognize the above child? Do her a favor, write to the newsletter with your guess as to her identity and include a little memory of her. Write to Roleta1@aol.com. Only correct guesses with a memory will be included in the newsletter due to space. I am sure she would love to know someone remembers her.

WHO?
submitted by: Roleta Meredith (WI '59)
Roleta1@aol.com
Her daddy, Francis, graduated from Notre Dame High School in Clarksburg, WV. Her uncle is Sarg McQuillan who graduated from WI in 1957. She would have attended Morgan Elementary School but there is no longer a Morgan School in Clarksburg, WV. She would have attended Central Junior High but now there is no longer a Central Junior High School there either. She would have attended and graduated from Washington Irving High School but now it is a middle school. Brianna McQuillan attended Nutter Fort Elementary School because that is the only Elementary School in Clarksburg. Kids from all over Clarksburg are bussed to that one elementary school. She did go to WI but as a middle school student. Brianna graduated from the consolidated Robert C. Byrd High School. She will be attending and graduating from West Virginia Wesleyan in Buchannon, WV. Her first year there will be a little less of a strain on her family because of those who gave to the WIN Scholarship. This year that scholarship was worth $1,000.00 to Brianna.

Thank you for being a part of this scholarship. If you would like to send a letter of encouragement to Brianna…email it to me at Roleta1@aol.com. I will forward all letters on to Brianna.

THE BLIND MAN
submitted by: Raymond E. Cox (RW '63)
Buttonpuller@aol.com
The blind gentleman that sat in front of the plaque between the dime stores lived in East View on Nutter Street. His first name was George. He rode the City Lines bus every day. I rode the same bus everyday while attending Broadway Junior High. He was a very nice man. He carried a stool made out of pipe and rope that folded up and was easy to carry. He had made it himself. Amazingly, you couldn't buy something like that in the fifties. He also had a metal sign that told you he was blind and that he needed financial assistance. He wore it around his neck with its attached chain. After attending the Saturday morning movies at the Ritz or Robinson Grand, if I had any money left over, which I seldom did, I would put it in George's tin cup. This was probably my first act of charity.

WE LOVED THE 50’S
Here is a web site sent to me by a friend. This is great if you enjoyed life in the 50’s. This site was not created by a person from Clarksburg—but a person from eastern Washington. But apparently life there in the 50’s was the same as life in Clarksburg, WV. So turn up your sound and listen and watch this great hyperlink.

http://oldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheFifties.htm

Thanks for sharing.

TWO GAVE
This month I received a letter from Sherry Greitzner Dial (WI 1956). She wrote:
“The write up about Brianna was so super special. So happy for her!”

Sherry included a check for the WIN Scholarship. We also received a check from Don Sager (WI 1956). He said that he encouraged everyone at the Washington Irving Class of 1956 Reunion to send in their contributions. Thanks Don I hope everyone was listening to you.

Won’t you join Sherry and Don and be a part of the WI Newsletter project? There is nothing on God’s green earth more valuable than education.

If you wish to give to the WIN Scholarship, please send a check or money order to:
Roleta Meredith/WIN Scholarship

Mail it to:
Roleta Meredith
3201 Charles MacDonald Drive
Sarasota, Florida 34240

Your money goes directly into a money market account set up at the bank for the WIN Scholarship.

You read the newsletter---now become part of the FAMILY that cares---this one project is so important to me. I wish we could earn enough money to give more and more each year to a deserving young person in CLARKSBURG.

Please join us in our support of the WIN Scholarship. Thanks

JULY TRIVIA PICTURE

MOOSE LODGE AS IT LOOKS TODAY
picture contributed by: Sharyn Cottrill McGahan (WI '59)
submitted by: Phyllis Alton Nichols (WI '57)
Nmimiphyllis@aol.com
I believe the picture is of the Moose Lodge on Main Street. It has changed a lot since that picture, but in the middle fifties when I was in high school at WI, there were teen hops every Thursday night in the Moose auditorium connected to the lodge building. My group and I went every Thursday and had some really good times there. If you had a card, the teens from all the area high schools could attend the dances. Dick Hustead from Sky Castle was the DJ who played the records. What fun!! I had my first dance with my husband (Tom Nichols from Victory class of 55) there.

submitted by: Mike Shaffer (WI '58)
mshaffer@ma.rr.com
The trivia picture is of the original Moose Lodge #52 building on West Main Street. The picture was taken in the mid to later 40's by the look of the cars. If you look real close the Moose statue is located on the left side of the front door. During the 50's dances were held for the kids of Clarksburg. If I remember correctly there were more outside than inside the night of the dance. During the 70's a group of us use to walk down from the CNG building for lunch. That was our exercise for the day, but didn't help much after the heavy lunches we ate.

The trivia picture from the June newsletter is of the CNG Annex on West Main Street. I was the project manager assigned to renovate the old Penney's building to a usable office building for the CNG expanding work force. We signed a long term lease with Clarksburg Iron and Steel that was renewed three times. In 1997 when I retired, CNG still occupied the Annex, but gave it up shortly after Dominion purchased CNG. Currently the outside of the building looks the same as when CNG finished construction.

submitted by: Mike Blackshire (ND '63---married to the beautiful Betty Marino, ND '62)
Mshire1124@verizon.net
That is the Moose Lodge on Main St.--this was the sight of Teen Dances emceed by Dick Hustead in the late 50s and early 60s. We would meet at the Villa and walk to the Moose- Do you remember the Villa?

submitted by: Jeanne Walters Webster (WI '59)
jeanneis@peoplepc.com
I think that is the old Moose Lodge on Main Street. The old Eagles Club was located on the top floor of a building across the street and down a few yards. My Dad was a member of both.

submitted by: Marlene Parsons Andre (RW '53)
rw53@verizon.net
It is going down the hill on East Main St., on the left, I used to know whom the home belonged too, but can't remember now. Anyhow the Moose lodge bought the home and used it till they built the lodge they have now, and I believe the old home was demolished. Seems like every beautiful old home in Clarksburg they want to demolish at one time or another.

submitted by: Steve Forsythe (WI '70)
SForsythe@wvadmin.gov
I kind of thought that looked like a moose in front of the window, and I remember where the lodge was located. I guess the street was widened considerably after the picture was taken.

I was in the class of 1970, and enjoy your site very much. Recent articles about the Stealey Playground and Stealey Heights United Methodist Church brought back a lot of memories. In the early 1960's, I lived on Euclid Avenue, across from the Wagner Brothers' Little Giant store, spent a lot of time at the playground, and attended the church.

Keep up the good work.

submitted by: Mary Jane Laurent Post (WI '47)
emjay1929@hotmail.com
If I am correct that was the home of a friend of mine who left Clarksburg when we were in Junior High. Her name was Diana Despard Goff (married name Cather, I believe) She later came back to Clarksburg. She had a sister named Laura Ellen Goff (a couple of years younger). Diana left Clarksburg about 1942 and went to live with her father in Baltimore. He was in the Navy. Later this house was (perhaps) the Moose Club ....

submitted by: Jim Timberlake (WI '48)
JGTimberlake@aol.com
I think its one of the old houses on Main St. below the Palace Furniture Co. In the '40s it was bought by the Moose or some fraternal organization.

submitted by: Wayne White (WI '60)
WaynePawco@aol.com
This is the building which is the Moose Lodge of Clarksburg. It has been upgraded and has parking and all new inside. Most of the other buildings around have been replaced and house new businesses.....The building is located on Main Street...Thanks

submitted by: Ernie Bastin (WI '57)
bastin@ohio.edu
I grew up next to this house. It was the Golf house to us kids. Mrs. Golf was the only person that we ever saw, as in she was the one who came out to chase us out of her backyard. I grew up at No. 6 Timberlake Court. Her backyard was irresistible to someone without any grass to play on.

After she died, the house became the Moose Club before the new one was built on the property. During the 1950¹s, Clarksburg had a Civic Symphony Orchestra which rehearsed upstairs. After rehearsal was over on Thursday evening, I would put my horn away and go next door to the new Moose Club and the sockhop. Thursdays for me musically went from Bach to Rock.

submitted by: Raymond E. Cox (RW '63)
buttonpuller@aol.com
I believe the house is the Moose Lodge home. It was on the north side of West Main Street across the street from the old Kroger's store. This picture must have been taken in the early fifties because it appears the addition to the Moose Lodge had not been built yet.

The addition was the large auditorium that was built behind this house. If my memory serves me right, every Thursday evening, the Moose Teen Hop was held in that auditorium. There would be a Disc Jockey from one of the local radio stations. WHAR I think. Admission was free, but you had to have your Moose Card which was issued by your school. I think you had to be in the ninth grade to receive one. Of course, if you got into any kind of trouble, (which I never did, well almost) your Moose Card was the first thing you lost.

Although it was open seating around the dance floor, each school kind of had it's own area to sit in. Rivalries I guess. No one would fight inside because they did not want to lose their Moose Card, but without fail there would be a fight outside every night. One fellow from R-W was responsible for a lot of those fights, but I am not going to name him because he might come to Florida to find me. How you doing Brownie?

Sometime around 1962, the Sea Explorers Scouts Ship 45 moved our meeting room (or mock ship deck) to the second floor of the old Moose Home. We had been in the basement of The Gore Hotel. Howard Hall was our adult Scoutmaster. I believe his son Bruce probably graduated from W-I around 67 or 68. The assistant Scoutmaster was Milliard Cobb. He lived on Washington Avenue and had several children that attended W-I. I remember David Cobb and he would have graduated 64 or 65. We had Sea Scouts from practically every school in the Clarksburg area.

We built a boat complete with cabins, head, galley and wheelhouse out of an open motor launch that we bought off of the U.S. Navy for one dollar. The boat was built behind Howard Moffet's Air Brakes Inc. building on the old Bridgeport hill across from Simpson's GMC garage. We constantly were either working on the boat or raising money for the boat. We bummed equipment, materials, help and assistance from almost everyone in Clarksburg.

Finally in the late fall of 1963, we launched the "Minnie-wanca-zuya" in the Tygart Valley River at Paul Wood's Boat House and Docks. The name was Indian for something but I do not remember what and I am not positive of the spelling either, but it sounded like that.

As Scout leader of the group, I spent quite a bit of time in this building. I had a key to it and on occasion would take my friends inside. We had a television and some wrestling mats. This was a neat place to hang out. I remember the windows had wooden louvered shutters on the inside. I can tell from your picture that some of those shutters were closed. Well, I could go on and on but I probably am boring you to death now.

By the way, the building beside of it in the picture was an apartment building with a furniture store in the front at ground level. The apartment building and store caught fire and had to be torn down. The Old Moose Home was torn down because of it's condition and they didn't use it any more. Of course the old Kroger's store was razed to make room for the Uptowner Inn which later became the Sheraton Inn and now is used by the State of W.Va.

THE REST OF THE STORY
After reading the above story from Ray Cox about the boat! I was curious about the boat and wondered if they used it and if it did float…..I even wondered what happened to it. (Yes, I am a gal with a lot of questions---but I do get answers!!)

Ray was kind enough to write a story. He mentioned at the end of this tale that he has had that story inside for many years but I brought it out of him! YEAH! Thanks, Ray.

submitted by: Raymond E. Cox (RW '63)
Buttonpuller@aol.com
So you are curious about the boat. Well, it is a long story, but it might be interesting.

We acquired the boat in the spring of 1960 from the United States Navy at Little Creek Amphibious Navel Base, Virginia near Norfolk. It was a WWII Liberty launch which looked like a forty foot open rowboat with a six cylinder diesel engine in it. The boat had been out of the water for several years and we had to pay the Navy one dollar for it. I believe it cost us two or three hundred dollars to have it brought to Clarksburg. As reported before, we put the boat behind Howard Moffett's Air Brakes Inc. on the Bridgeport Hill beside of Broughton's Dairy across the old route fifty from the Simpson's GMC garage and we started working on it.

It was a labor of love from the beginning. Can you imagine young boys (14 to 18) today, spending all of their spare time working on an old boat? That is exactly what a lot of us did. I remember being in trouble with my father all of the time because I would neglect my chores at home to go and work on the boat. Many times I would have to walk or hitchhike to and from the boat as I did not have any other means of transportation. I lived between East View and Anmoore.

It seemed as if the boat had a dark cloud hanging over it from the beginning. Several times we would go to work on the boat only to have that well known West Virginia weather change and we would be caught in the rain or snow and have to walk back home. We finally decided that the only way we would ever be able to work on the boat was to build a roof over it first. This meant we had to move the boat approximately 30 feet and turn it 90 degrees. This was accomplished with a block and tackle, a hand operated comealong and a lot of boy power with a few fathers supervising. Well, of course it rained, and I was underneath this several ton vessel when something slipped in the mud and the boat started to fall. Had it not been for Mr. Lou Cavallaro grabbing me by the ankles and pulling me to safety, I guess I would not be telling this story now. But the good Lord willing, we got it moved and with some help from the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company and Hartland Planing Mill, we built a pole building with a roof over our beloved boat.

Work continued at a better pace now that we did not have to be too concerned about the weather. The cold of winter was something else though. But that worked out alright because during the winter when it was too cold to work on the boat, we would do projects to earn money for the boat. Each year we would sell Christmas trees at the corner of Oak and Pike Streets where one of the Clarksburg Fire Stations now stands. Our mothers were constantly having bake sales which were held in front of J.C.Penneys on Main Street. The entrance sat back in from the sidewalk so there was an area there where they could have their table set up and have some protection from the weather. We also sold raffle tickets for any thing that somebody would donate to us.

John Groover's (R-W class of 1964) father, Ernie, was the lead carpenter on the project. Things started progressing pretty well now. It actually started to look like a cabin cruiser! During the summer of 1962, Mr. Groover had taken his family on a well deserved vacation out west. They were involved in a terrible head on collision. The whole family was in critical condition and Mr. Groover was killed outright. I remember all of we Sea Scouts meeting the rest of the family several weeks later at the Benedum Airport where a special flight had been arranged to fly them all back home. I guess this was our first real tragedy connected to the boat.

Sam Maxson's (Victory class of 1964) father Denzil kind of took Mr. Groover's place and some of the other fathers pitched in also. By fall of 1963, we were ready to launch the boat. After all the work and problems we had, we decided that the boat would have to be christened and we would have to have a christening Queen to do the job right. A contest was held at the Robinson Grand Theater one Saturday afternoon and Melinda Davis (R-W class of 1964) was selected to be the Christening Queen of The Sea Explorer's Ship 45, Minnie-wanca-zuya, Boy Scouts of America, Clarksburg, West Virginia.

Late September, we launched the boat in the Tygart Valley River at Paul Wood's Boat House and Docks. She started to sink immediately. The semi truck that had hauled it from Clarksburg to Fairmont got stuck in the muddy bottom of the Tygart Valley River. We could not pull the boat out of the water, so we had to go borrow some pumps from the City of Fairmont. We had to pump water out of the boat for a couple of days until the wooden hull swelled up because it had been out of the water for so long that all the boards had shrunk up. Of course several of us boys had to skip school and stay there to man or boy the pumps. After a few days, she stopped leaking mostly. Mr. Maxson wired up a small bilge pump that took care of it automatically and we were ready for the christening.

On a beautiful late fall Sunday afternoon; our boat was christened at Mr. Wood's Boat House by our lovely Queen Melinda Davis. A perfectly good bottle of champagne was broken across her bow. I am not sure who purchased the bottle, but if they didn't keep it under constant surveillance, chances are one of the boys switched the contents. Not that we were bad boys, we had just seen so many hard times, we didn't want to waste anything. Right! A week or so later, we took her on her maiden voyage. Down the Tygart Valley River on a brisk fall day, Saturday if my memory serves me correctly. Our leaders and fathers were all working men and the weekends were the only time they had to go with us. The boys were not allowed to take her out by themselves. We went through the first lock at Rivesville and on down the river. What a day! How proud we all felt. Our leader Howard Hall, father of Bruce Hall (W-I class of 67 or 68), decided it was getting late and we had better take her home. We were coming about when the engine started to make strange noises. Fortunately we were near a docking place where they had coal barges tied up. We had to tie her up and abandon ship, more or less. We started walking up this dirt road not knowing where we were or where we were headed. It started snowing. After 30 or 40 minutes of walking, we found a house and they told us where we were and let us use their telephone. We were able to get a few disgruntled parents to drive from Clarksburg to our location.

Several days later, a coal company tow boat, towed the Minnie back to Fairmont for us free of charge. Further up the river a wealthy man had a facility to take large boats out of the river on steel rails with cradles. I forget his name now but he was an architect in Fairmont. He pulled the boat out of the river for us and helped us get the engine out of it. Later the old engine was pronounced dead because they couldn't find any parts for it. The Simpson GMC Garage had an old engine out of a Greyhound Bus. They donated it to us and rebuilt it for us with free labor and we had to pay for the new parts at cost. By summer of 1964, she was back in the river again.

January 11,1964 is a day that I will never forget. On this day I met the girl that I would spend the rest of my life with, Cleo Pitts. She attended school in Adamston, but left Clarksburg before High School. She would have been in the class of 1965. On this same day, our Christening Queen Melinda Davis died suddenly and unexpectedly from spinal meningitis. Melinda was a Senior at R-W High School, head Cheerleader, had won every honor that a high school girl could earn or win, was a member of the Honor Society, was listed in Who’s Who and many other things I can't remember everything.. Her mother was a wonderful lady known by many people in the Clarksburg area. Her name was Martha Davis, affectionately known by many as "Old Dear". As a matter of fact there is a lane that runs behind her house in Nutter Fort that is named officially "Old Dear Lane". Martha served the town of Nutter Fort in many capacities after loosing her only child Melinda and a year or two later her husband Harold. She was on the town council for several years and the Library Board. She passed away a couple of years ago.

By the summer of 1964, I had gotten married and was out of the scouting program. I had left the Clarksburg area and lost touch for a while. But one beautiful sunny afternoon in July of 1965, I returned to the Tygart Valley River and after passing some younger scouts on their swimming requirements,( I had became a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor while I was in the Sea Scouts), I was permitted to take the Minnie for an outing down the river with my wife and my new son and a crew of young Sea Explorers. We went down to Rivesville where we docked long enough to get some bread and bologna, chips and drinks and shove off. Through the locks and down to where she had broken down before. We came about and thumbed our noses at the docks where we had tied up when she had broken down and took her back up the river and back through the locks back to our home dock. What a day! One I will never forget. I got busy with family life and lost contact with the group at that time. But the story does not end here.

Later in 1965, the group went on their first real adventure. They took the boat with most of the Scouts and a couple of adults down the river all the way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They tied up at a dock near downtown on the Monongahela River. They had spent the evening in Pittsburgh and had returned to the boat to spend the night. Sometime during the night, one of the boys got up because he didn't feel well. He went topside for some air. The other boys were asleep or didn't think any thing about it. The next morning they couldn't find the boy. Later the divers found him underneath the boat. His name was either Michael or Matthew Garrett. He attended W-I and would have been in the class of 65 or 66. He was an only child, his father worked in one of the banks, Empire I believe and his mother was a wonderful person that had always helped out at the bake sales and the other fund raising events that we had. I was told that his mother and father were never the same after that.

A few years later, Howard Hall the adult founder and leader of the group passed away from a heart attack while still a young man. He had worked at the Exponent Telegram and had an amazing ability to talk any body into anything. The boat had really been his vision even though he was not a strong swimmer himself and had some fear of the water. Many times he put his own family on the back burner to spend time with the Scouts. I don't think his son Bruce ever got to enjoy the program or the boat. After Mr. Hall's death, our other adult leader due to health and employment was never able to take the group over. The whole organization slowly but surely died. All assets including the "Minnie" became the property of The Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Paul Woods looked after the boat for a few years. He tried desperately to get the Boy Scouts to do something with the boat. Several people had shown an interest in buying her, but the Organization wouldn't move. She started leaking again and Mr. Woods was pumping her every week. He called the Boy Scouts one last time and told them they had exactly one week to do something he estimated that in a week she would sink. One week and one day later she sank to the bottom of the Tygart Valley River. That winter when the river froze and later when the ice thawed, they had a flood and large pieces of ice were coming down the river. I guess the ice tore her loose from the mooring lines and she was lost forever. Amen.

P.S. This story has been in me for a long time. You brought it out.

TRIVIA PICTURE FOR AUGUST 2006

Do you know the name of the furniture store in the picture above? Write your guess to Roleta1@aol.com. Remember, I only print correct guesses so there is no harm in you trying to guess…test your memory. If your answer is incorrect, sometimes I even give you a clue and ask you to try again…..

J.C. PENNY’S STORE
Harriet Danley Van Voorhis wrote this about the June Trivia picture and I didn’t get it in the July newsletter. Sorry Harriet….

submitted by: Harriett Danley Van Voorhis (WI '58)
eerfanvan@adelphia.net
If I'm not mistaken, the trivia picture is of the old J.C. Penney store on Main Street, which brought us to where we are today. If I am mistaken, please delete what follows.

My most important memory of that store took place in 1961, after my husband, Bill, and I had left W.V.U. because of financial difficulties and were living with my parents. Bill, desperately seeking a job, was walking the streets of Clarksburg applying everywhere. He was hired by the manager of J.C. Penney, and we were off to Columbus, Ohio, where a Management Trainee was needed. We became "corporate gypsies" and lived in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia over the next 37 years. During that time we raised three children, and Bill worked in several stores, the District and Regional offices, and Corporate Headquarters in New York City. After managing the store in Huntington, West Virginia for four years, Bill took early retirement in 1997, and we built a house at Cheat Lake, outside of Morgantown, West Virginia. Since our goal was always to "get back home", we are extremely happy to be living permanently in the beautiful hills of "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia", not too far from good ol' Clarksburg!!

You were not born with it. You have to obtain it yourself! All of the readers have it.
No one can steal it, and you can’t lose it. You can use it all of your life.
What is it? Write your guess to: Roleta1@aol.com.

ZEKE THE AIREDALE
submitted by: John E. Stealey III (WI '59)
jstealey@shepherd.edu
Recent articles regarding the Stealey Playground and the area in front of the Stealey Methodist Church have stirred my memory enough to recall a canine. I delivered the CLARKSBURG TELEGRAM from 1955 to 1959 on Simpson Street, Ryder Avenue, Waverly Way, Temple Terrace, Rodney Street, and John Street to approximately one hundred, two subscribers. The Clarksburg Publishing Company delivered the bundles to Andy Ridenour’s Store on Euclid Avenue where I and others (Allen Hefner and David Rowe, Sunday PITTSBURGH PRESS) picked up the papers for delivery.

On Sunday mornings only, Zeke met me at Ridenour’s or on the climb up steep Coolidge Street to accompany me on the route. Zeke belonged to the Cutrights who lived on the corner of Rodney and Waverly Way. (Mr. Cutright, if I recall correctly, worked at Craig Auto Parts and had a daughter who was a couple of classes behind me at WI.) Zeke, of course, investigated everything thoroughly and authoritatively marked his extensive territory. An athletic, larger terrier, he ranged widely. Sometimes, he crossed Milford on my return home at the foot of Hartland Avenue.

Zeke displayed his innate agility and sense of timing to his best advantage at the dairy bar on Milford Street adjacent to George’s Cities Service Station and across from the Methodist Church. Outside the front door, he patiently awaited the exit of children with ice cream cones. At the right moment, he leaped and snared the cone from the child’s hand and fled the scene. Children, aware of the situation, always held their cones high over their head, hoping to escape the speeding Airedale’s grab.

PICKING BERRIES
submitted by: Penny Christie Johnson (WI '60)
penem@nc.rr.com
Another great newsletter......

Your question about berry picking brought back great memories. We lived on Wilson Street which made us very close to Lowndes Hill. Peter Johnson (WI --class of 1960) and his family were our next door neighbors. After packing a lunch of pbj's our mothers would get their baskets and off we would go on our mountain hike...The path that we took was at the top of Wilson and Third Street...We were probably only 5 or 6 at the time. I really enjoyed the black raspberries and always came home full and a little sick to my tummy.

Snakes were the things I didn't like and snakes like berries as much as people do so we were always on the lookout for them...Peter and I played on our favorite big rock and then later used it as our table when we enjoyed our sandwiches...Years later my family had a large berry patch in our back yard and yes the snakes were in it too.

Most of them were fake because my mother put them there to scare the birds so they wouldn't eat the berries she had planned to pick for the next cobbler....Home made ice cream and berry cobbler..YUM another memory of living on the hill in Clarksburg in the 50's..

submitted by: Marilyn Lightner Kittle (WI '65)
Pamak41371@wmconnect.com
My husband & I have elderberries that grow on our place here in Lost Creek, WV! We love to pick them, wash & take them off the stems for pies ( apple/elderberry) and to heat & crush them for juice to make jelly also. UMmmmm good! Try it sometime if you ever have the chance!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks Marilyn for offering to give me some jelly…sorry I won’t be able to pick it up. I would love to experience some home made jelly. I do buy it once in awhile from an Amish restaurant here in Sarasota.

submitted by: Roleta Smith Meredith (WI '59)
Roleta1@aol.com
My family lived in Wolf Summit from the time I was about 4 until I was 9 years of age. My brother is almost 5 years older than I. I remember him going berry picking in the hills around Wolf summit. (I never went!) I think he set off with a friend or two. He carried along a couple of buckets. They were smaller than a household buckets and silver in color, probably smaller so he could carry them easier when they were filled and probably galvanized steel. Mother made jelly from the blackberries. (I don’t remember any other kind of berries…she may have made red raspberry jelly too but I only remember blackberry—yumm yumm!) I remember him talking about snakes and he almost always got poison ivy rash. Strange, I wonder if the allergy to poison ivy is inherited. Anyone know? My father, my brother and I were very allergic to poison ivy, mother never got it. Bill never did get it until in the last 5 years he has had it twice. Neither of our children have ever had poison ivy.

submitted by: Joanne Westfall Simpson-Tetrick (WI '52)
fragilegranny34@msn.com
When I was growing up in Hartland on Liberty Ave. there was no V.A. Bridge, Hospital or Park across the West Fork River which ran in front of our house. We had a row boat and would go across the river and pick blackberries. I always managed to get scratched on my arms and legs, but the things my mother did with the berries made me forget the scratches. She made blackberry cobblers, jelly and jam that we enjoyed on our breakfast toast all winter. Mmmm good.

submitted by: Sherry Greitzner Dial (WI '56)
Luman4804@aol.com
My father was in the Navy at Quanset Point, Rhode Island when I was in first grade. Mother and I went to be with him for the summer going into second grade. The little house Dad had rented for us for the summer was right beside a huge blueberry patch. Every morning after listening to Arthur Godfrey on the radio, Mother and I would go with our pails and pick until the sun came out. It was sooooo briary and being barefoot and with bare legs presented quite a challenge! Very gingerly my pail was filled. Every day was a freshly baked Blueberry Pie!!!

submitted by: Martha Jefferies Rice (WI '55)
Lonoma@aol.com
Thanks for jogging my memory.

My mother and I used to spend time at Lake Floyd at the cottage of Helen Powell, a friend of Mom's from Salem. (This was before we owned a cottage there.)

One day we went blackberry picking. It was a very hot day and I was wearing shorts. My mother suggested that I might want to put on long pants so that I wouldn't get chigger bites and scratches from the bushes and a scarf to ward away ticks. However, I knew more than she and went with the shorts. I did not wear a scarf over my head either. We picked several baskets of delicious ripe berries and mother made jam from some and we ate the rest on our cereal.

About a week later I went to my mother and complained of my head being numb. When she looked, she found fifteen ticks embedded in my scalp. Mother lighted a cigarette and proceeded to touch each of those ticks and they backed out of my head. I had no bad effects.

I learned an important lesson, "Mothers know what is best." If that were to happen today, I would probably get Lyme Disease. Things really were more simple then.

SUBJECTS FOR UPCOMING NEWSLETTERS
Please write your memories of thoughts on the following subjects. If you don’t write, we can‘t read a newsletter because there won’t be one!

Please write about as many of the following subjects as you like. However, write about each subject in a separate email to me…thanks

Who was your favorite teacher and how do you think that teacher affected your life? Who was your least favorite teacher and why? Write: Roleta1@aol.com.

Did you have a grape arbor in the back yard? What did your family do with those grapes? Eat them, make jam, make jelly or make wine? Write Roleta1@aol.com.

Did you roller skate? Tell us where and when? Write Roleta1@aol.com.

Wine Making—did anyone in your family or a neighbor make wine? It wasn’t a crime you know….Tell us about it…Write: Roleta1@aol.com.

The Arcade—We all remember it, don’t we? Tell me about your memories of a certain store or event at the Arcade. Write Roleta1@aol.com.

Poison Ivy---remember that song? More than likely I scratched my way through it. I want to know if you are allergic to poison ivy. Do you think that allergy is inherited? Did you ever get poison ivy? Where were you when you caught it…do you remember? What was the worse case you ever had? Write Roleta1@aol.com.

Banks in Clarksburg. I know not many of us had enough money to take to a bank but I was wondering if you remember a bank, where was it located, did you know anyone who worked there, were you ever inside the bank, describe what you remember about the inside of the bank. Tell us about how you saved money. Write Roleta1@aol.com.

OBITUARIES
JOHN BLACKSHIRE
It was recently brought to my attention that John Blackshire who was with the Washington Irving Class of 1959 died October 2003. Our condolences to the family.

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