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


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    THE 60's
      Margie Surovchak, '68
      Sam Woncheck, '69
      Paul Valovich, '61
      Jerry Parola, '69 IN MEMORIAM
      Stan Kemp, '63
      Libero A. (Lee) Tremonti, '60
      John M. Valovich, '63
      Don Saunders, '63
      Carol Semantic Claybaugh, '62
      Paul Hubinon, '60
      Pat Sanders Murphy, '66
      Cal Mongomery, '66
      William 'Gus' Pagonis, '60

Memories unveiled in Hidden Valley... By Ron Paglia, FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW, April 30, 2006
As a member of the Charleroi Area High School Class of 1966, Pat Murphy will always share a special part of history in the school district. It was the first group of seniors to graduate from the new high school on Fecsen Drive in Fallowfield Townhip.

And Murphy, the former Pat Sanders, has many lingering memories of those times.

"I fondly remember the days of my childhood in the Mon Valley," said Murphy, who now resides at Hidden Valley Resort in Somerset County. "I grew up in Charleroi and Fallowfield Township in the late '50s and early '60s. What wonderful years those were."
Among the memories that remain with her are:

The canteen dances at the Methodist church after all of the Charleroi Area High School football games. "You had to have a sponsor to get in," Murphy recalled.

Roller skating at the Piggy Wiggy on the Belle Vernon-Monessen Road (Route 906). "That was where we were all introduced to the Hokey Pokey," she said.

The older kids talking about going to the Jumpin' Jive Bee Hive dances in Charleroi.

Mr. Shell (John Shelapinsky) and his championship football and basketball teams at Fallowfield Junior High School. "I was so proud to be a Fallowfield Falcon," Pat said, smiling.

Going to the high school dances and dancing to the great music of the Telstars, "our very own Beatles-like group." The Telstars, who later changed their name to the Volcanics, were Larry Traversari, bass guitar; Frank Thompson, vocals and lead guitar; Bob Campbell, drums, and Craig Jennion, rhythm guitar.

Walking to Ghenne's restaurant (later reincarnated as The Mint) in Fallowfield Township and getting a one-scoop ice cream cone.

Shopping for the prom at Miller's in Charleroi and Christmas shopping at Cox's department store; Wolf's, Gene's and Frank's men's store, and Kenny's for children.

Attending the Charleroi Girl Scout Camp, Camp Charwood at old Eldora Park, and later, as an older Scout, attending camp at Laurel Hill State Park (Camp No. 5).

Dances at the old Mon Valley Catholic High School, "the only place to be on Sunday nights."

The senior class play, "Pillow Talk." Kathy Gluch and David Guydan had the lead roles performed by Doris Day and Rock Hudson in the film version of the romantic comedy. "They were wonderful," Murphy said of Gluch and Guydan. "I had only a few lines but it was a lot of fun."

Paying a dime per car to cross the Charleroi-Monessen Bridge.

Murphy's parents, Thomas and Wilma Sanders, are deceased. Wilma Sanders was active with the Girl Scouts and also was "quite a fine musician," Murphy said. Her father was a coal miner and a florist.

"I grew up on Coyle Curtin Road in Fallowfield Township," Murphy said. "Great friends from those days included Elaine Hager Maniglia, Kathy Endreszl Bayley and Michelle Foster Chenowith. We do not get together nearly enough."

Murphy and her friends also enjoyed going to the movies at the State, Coyle and Palace theaters in Charleroi; miniature golfing at Sweeney's, where you could also rent a trampoline for 25 cents for 10 minutes; ice skating at South Park; swimming at Redd's Beach; dancing lessons at Zoise Baer's Studio; community picnics at Kennywood; bowling at Lynnwood Lanes; the twin screens at the Super 71 drive-in theater; hamburgers for 15 cents at Winky's in Speers, and the popular teenage nightclubs, the Blue Fox in Monongahela and the In-Crowd outside of Monessen.

"I also remember that whenever any of us kids were bad, the adult in charge would threaten to send us to Morganza," Murphy said, laughingly. "I am not quite sure what Morganza was, but I am sure it was a terrible place."

For the record, Morganza was a facility for juvenile delinquents located near Canonsburg. It later became Western Center and has been closed for several years.

Murphy also recalled that "as a very young girl, my mother buying me leggings."

"They were wool pants that matched the wool coats that little girls wore in the winter when it was very cold," she said. "Somehow pants were not appropriate to wear to school or church. But if we had leggings on, it was quite acceptable."

Murphy and her husband, Dennis, moved to Hidden Valley last fall after she retired from her teaching position of 36 years as an eighth-grade literature instructor at Carroll Middle School in the Ringgold School District. She stays busy as the piano accompanist for The West Newton Community Singers, and her husband is the administrator at Harmon House Nursing Home in Mt. Pleasant. Their son, Connor, also a CAHS alumnus, is a graduate of Dickinson College and is pursuing a doctorate in biology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The Murphys have many friends and relatives in the Mon Valley, including Erin and Frank Sinko, Colleen and Steve Arnowitz, of Monongahela; Mark and Bonnie Micheli, Lois and Sean MacDonald, Cindy and Brian Murphy, and Eric and Margie Kuvinka, all of the Charleroi area; Jon and Sharon Bellamy, of Donora, and "a wonderful former neighbor" from Fallowfield Avenue in Charleroi, Evelyn Tomcanin.

"We stay in touch," Pat Murphy said. "I have attended some of our class reunions. The committee, usually led by Bernice Blasko, always does such a fine job. I think a '60s reunion would be the best."

She also keeps tabs on her Class of '66 classmates and other Charleroi Area High graduates on the CAHS Alumni Web site developed and maintained by Jeane Palfrey (class of 1974).

"Jeane is doing a great job with the Web site," Murphy said. "There is so much information available there. And it brings back a lot of pleasant memories."