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

Charleroi native takes to the air, remembers his roots... By Chris Buckley, VALLEY INDEPENDENT, January 8, 2005
Paul Valovich has retired three times. He's just glad he never had to find "a real job."
"I never considered my 30 years in the Navy a job, I was having too much fun," Valovich said. "My dad was a steelworker at the Allenport plant. I remember how he hated to go to work."

Valovich has spent most of the past four decades in the air.

A 1961 graduate of Charleroi High school, Valovich attended Purdue University. He joined the U.S. Navy ROTC program at the Indiana-based university.

He graduated in 1965 and was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy. He earned his flight wings in 1967.

Valovich flew two combat cruises in Vietnam - aboard the USS Ticonderoga and later the USS Oriskany. He flew 209 combat missions into North Vietnam on his first tour of duty and into South Vietnam and Laos during his second tour.

Those were defining moments in his life, Valovich said.

"I learned a lot about myself flying in and dropping bombs with the sky full of flak," Valovich said. "I realized this is serious - someone is trying to kill me."

He was never hit, but some of those he served with were killed in combat or in training accidents. Those who survived formed a camaraderie that continues today, Valovich said.

"You become too much of a coward to let your friends down," Valovich said.

He flew one to two missions a day at the time.

"Somehow the Navy convinced me flying an A-4 off a World War II carrier was a good way to make a living," Valovich said.

It was at that time that he met his wife, Patricia, in Hong Kong. The couple has two children, Paul Andrew, a profoundly mentally handicapped man now living in a group home in Claysville, and Ann Lusher, a kindergarten teacher in Ridgecrest, Calif.

While in the Navy, Valovich served as a flight instructor, served additional squadron assignments and five additional aircraft carrier deployments, and served in research, development, test and evaluation.

He was also involved in initial software and weapons system development for the F/A-18 Hornet, served as a weapons test pilot, as deputy laboratory director for the Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, Calif., and commanding officer for the Naval Air Station in Pt. Mugu, Calif.

He was in that role when the first Gulf war began. He asked to be assigned to the Persian Gulf, but was told he was too valuable to the Navy in that role.

He also served as deputy program director for the Military Satellite Communications Office in Los Angeles.

He earned a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering at Naval postgraduate school, Monterey, Calif.

Valovich retired in 1995 from the navy. But that did not mean he would take it easy.

After leaving the Navy, Valovich spent one year at Pennsylvania State University's applied research lab as program manager.

He then spent two years at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space in Sunnyvale, Calif., as program manager, and three years at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, Calif. as a program manager.

He returned to flying in September 2001, flying civilian-owned A-4 jets for Advanced Training Systems International (ATSI), Mesa, Ariz., where he is currently vice president of operations.

ATSI provides tactical air services - including air combat maneuvering training - to U.S. and Canadian fighter squadrons and U.S. carrier battle groups. That meant he flew war game like missions, simulating battles against "enemy" planes to provide realistic training for pilots.

The firm also provides services to the Dept. of Defense, and fighter lead-in training for State Department-approved foreign militaries.

Today, he enjoys backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near his California home. His mother, Betty Valovich lives in Roscoe.

Yet, he occasionally harkens back to his days growing up in Charleroi, playing pick up games on Crest Avenue between Third and Fourth streets.

Chris Buckley can be reached at cbuckley@tribweb.com or (724) 684-2642.