listing/roster of Charleroi, Pennsylvania High School Graduates/Alumni


Return Home	'Contact Us'... Submit Profile & UPDATES	Class Directory	Reunions (Includes Possible ALL 60's Reunion)	Where Are They Now? / Where They Were	Photo Gallery	TOWN TALK	Sports!	SCHOLASTICS

    THE 50's
      Geraldine Marr, '56
      Kaye Eisenhower, '52
      Joseph Kormuth, '57
      Neil Lucas, '51
      Joseph Miller, '56
      David W. Jones, Sr., '57
      John (Jack) Stech, '51
      Bill & Joann Hagerty, '51
      Jack Fegela, '58
      Art Strelick, '59
      Roger Hough, '56
      Jack Young, '52

Charleroi native a world traveler, By Dorothy Yagodich, For The Tribune-Review, July 17, 2005
John "Jack" Stech is a retired teacher and extensive traveler who claims Charleroi as his hometown.

After graduation with the Class of 1951 from Charleroi High School, Stech entered California State College (now California University of Pennsylvania) to pursue a degree in elementary education. Jobs with Fuller Brush and Montgomery Ward "helped me make spending money," he said.

Seven days after graduation in 1956, the military draft beckoned.

After basic training, Stech chose cryptography over officer candidate school. After learning coding and decoding in cryptography, Stech was sent to Ft. Niagara, N.Y. He described it as "the coldest place in the world." The noise there sounded like a train, but it was in reality the roar of the falls, he said.

Told he was being sent to Korea, Stech ended up instead going to Japan, stationed in Toyko in a section called Pershing Heights.

"I have a picture of Mt. Fuji taken by a friend. It is difficult to photograph since it is usually cloud-covered."

While in Toyko, Stech met a Japanese girl attempting to learn more English. She persuaded him to come to Waseda University to talk with Japanese people at the English Speaking Society.

As he spoke there, the girl came to the window shouting "Stech san, Stech san." Stech learned there were two different societies and he was at the wrong one. He ended up speaking to both societies, two different days of the week, when he was free from service duties.

When Stech was discharged from the Army in 1958, he found a teaching position with the Raccoon School District near Monaca with a starting salary of $3,600. During two years there, he began classes for a master's degree in elementary administration.

Meanwhile, Stech met the superintendent of Harmony School District, moved to a position there and worked for seven years. He moved on to Aliquippa, serving 19 years as elementary principal in three schools there. Now with 28 years in teaching, Stech added his two years of military toward retirement.

With his dad living in Florida, Stech bought a home on the east coast of the state and settled in with a teaching position in Brevard County in elementary education for the next 10 years.

But he always managed to come back to Charleroi to visit his sister, Norma "Sis" Stech Stack, who resides in Speers. "I usually come in late June or early July and for the holidays," he said. With her encouragement, Stech decided it was time to travel to see the world.

Stech had already been to an extended tour of Mexico in 1968.

Then, in 1999, Stech took a nine-day trip to Tanzania. He landed in Nairobi, Kenya, and was taken to a beautiful new hotel that had a pool. He was escorted by a guard with rifle in hand. Stech learned that earlier, a woman had gone to the pool and was attacked by a lion. She died, and her husband was injured during the attack while trying to save her.

Stech boarded a Toyoto Overlander and was driven through the "wonderful wilds of Africa." He saw the Serengetti Plains teeming with wildlife, and Ngorongoro Crater in its picturesque setting. Animals surrounded the vehicle and "we were in the midst of them, not 20 feet away," he said.

With the migration of wildebeests and zebra, Stech learned that wildebeests have excellent smell capabilities, and each zebra has unique stripping patterns. "They are like fingerprints," he explained.

Closer to Nairobi, Stech recalled the Carnivore Restaurant, which served nothing but meat. Here he tried wildebeest and found ostrich, alligator and a series of other animals on the menu.

In 2001, a 23-day trip to China was on his menu. Four of those days were spent in Thailand. Stech saw some of the building of Three Gorges Dam, took a Yangtze River tour, and visited the Joseph Stilwell Museum with the famed Flying Tigers.

Stech also visited Xian (Sian), where terracotta warrior figures were unearthed. He stood in Tiananmen Square, where protests turned to tragedy in 1989.

Stech was taken to the home of an elderly Chinese couple to see how they lived. "That was interesting," he said. "They lived simply."

Stech found Chinese food bland. "I was the soup taster," he said. Watermelon was served every day when his group was touring on a boat.

In Thailand, Stech found the food more to his liking. One Mongolian restaurant featured stir-fry. "That was good." And they offered desserts and pastries, he added.

The following year, Stech took a tour of the Scandinavian countries -- Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden -- then Estonia and on to St. Petersburg, Russia. "A beautiful trip," he said, especially Copenhagen.

In 2004, Stech booked a trip to Alaska. But his health intervened -- a slight stroke forced him to cancel.

Of all his travels, Stech found the wilds of Africa and Tanzania the best. "I'd like to go back," he said.

Now Stech resides in Melbourne, Fla., in a townhouse on the golf course.

When he returns to visit his hometown, he said he's "devastated to see the blighted condition of the downtown."

Stech recalled the beautiful town he remembered. He loved the football games. "I was a rooter, along with my friend, Rich McGuire," who has also moved to Florida. Stech was surprised when he heard of the fire at St. Jerome Church, because it was once his home parish. Still, his memories of Charleroi are cherished.

Stech expressed one regret in his life, that he never married. When in his 30s, Stech had a long engagement but never took the plunge, he said. Except for his sister and her family, "I am alone," he said.

So when Stech is questioned why he never married, he jokingly answers, "No one ever asked me."

Dorothy Zippay Yagodich, '51 is one the alumni site's earliest supporters/fans.