Judy and Roger Hough relax at their home in Corona, Calif.

A quick search of the Internet travel information site Mapquest shows the distance between the Mon Valley and Corona, Calif., is just more than 2,400 miles. And the journey by automobile would take about 35 hours.

But for former area residents Roger and Judy Hough, who have lived in California for 41 years, time stands still when they recall the joy and experiences of growing up in the area. Roger Hough is a native of Stockdale and his wife is a native of Monessen.

"Being away almost 50 years has not decreased our interest in and ties to the Valley," said Roger Hough, a 1956 graduate of Charleroi High School. "It will always be home to both of us, no matter where we live."

Roger Hough, who is retired after a long career in education, is the son of the late Harold A. Hough and Gertrude Hough, who were lifelong residents of Stockdale. Judy Hough is the daughter of retired Lt. Col. James and Ann Coccari, who also live in Corona and who will soon celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary. James Coccari lived in Monessen for many years and his wife is the former Ann Popovich, of Charleroi.
Roger Hough's father worked at the Allenport Plant of Pittsburgh Steel for many years before retiring. His mother was a retired nurse. Both were actively involved with the Stockdale Volunteer Fire Department, Harold Hough as a company and line officer and Gertrude Hough as a member of the unit's women's auxiliary.

"Many people also will remember my father for his volunteer work with Scouting in the Mon Valley," Hough, 69, said. "He was a mentor to a large number of Eagle Scouts for many years. Mom and Dad also were known as the Candy Man and Candy Lady because of their candy-making business. People loved that candy, and I still have inquiries about it."

After graduation from Charleroi High School where he was a standout baseball player, Hough attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas for one year. He transferred to California University of Pennsylvania (then California State Teachers College) in 1958 and graduated in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in biology.

"I just wanted to get back to the area. Dallas was a little too far away," Hough said.

He taught and coached for five years in Lorain, Ohio, and Bethel Park while earning his master's degree from West Virginia University. He and Judy were married in August 1964 and lived in Monessen for two years before moving to Long Beach, Calif. Roger Hough also studied at the University of Arizona on a National Science Grant and received a second master's degree. After making the transition to California, he did additional post-graduate work at the University of California at Long Beach and Fullerton.

Meanwhile, Judy Hough, a 1962 graduate of Monessen High School, attended Robert Morris University and received an associate degree in business. She worked in finance and sales for more than 20 years before retiring.

Roger Hough's teaching career spanned 43 years and included 25 years as department chairman at Long Beach Community College.

"My expertise was teaching anatomy and physiology to nursing students," he said. "I always found teaching, on every level, to be a wonderful experience. It's gratifying to know you can have an impact on people's lives by helping them learn to develop their minds and grow as individuals."

That approach to life was instilled in Hough by a variety of mentors and role models.

"In baseball, there were two excellent coaches who influenced my life, James (Toots) Fillingham in high school and Mitch Bailey in college," Roger Hough said. "They were students of the game and, more important, good men who cared about their players on and off the field."

Hough also remembers the late John Gilmore "Scissors" McIlvaine, one of the most legendary baseball figures in Mon Valley history.

"Mac was 'Mr. Baseball' in the area for so many years," Hough said. "He was perhaps my most interesting mentor in baseball. He was deaf but always knew what was going on and he was so knowledgeable about the game. He was a fierce competitor as a player and manager. Many of the lessons I learned from Mr. Fillingham, Mitch Bailey and 'Scissors' have stayed with me over all these years."

In his professional life as an educator, Hough said John Lewis, his first biology professor at California State Teachers College, had a "profound impact" on his life.

"His words of wisdom have been with me since I had my first biology class with him," Hough said.

He also credits Dr. Barbara Kalbus, of Long Beach Community College, for giving him positive direction.

"She was very important to me in the development of becoming a respected department chair," he said.

Growing up in the Mon Valley was a "unique experience," Hough said.

"Living in a small town like Stockdale, which had no more than 800 people, was great," he said. "Everyone knew each other and people were close and friendly. I'll never forget going to a four-room elementary school with two grades to a room in Stockdale. There were only 12 students in my eighth-grade class."

Riding the streetcars, "especially the old orange trolleys," from Stockdale to Charleroi to go to high school was another unforgettable experience for Hough.

"We also did a lot of hitchhiking as a main means of transportation and it was never difficult to get a ride," he said.

Hough's first experience in baseball was being drafted by a team sponsored by Dr. A.S. Sickman, of Lock Four.

"That was a big deal, being selected to play Little League games at the (Charleroi High) stadium," Hough said.

Those youth games led to more baseball action in other youth leagues, high school, American Legion and college.

"I certainly made lots of friends playing baseball in the Mon Valley," Hough said. "There are too many to name individually, but there were good players throughout the area. We played on so many fields, some cow pastures, but those days created many treasures to hold on to."

Hough extended his affiliation with baseball as a youth leagues coach for more than 20 years.

"I had so much enjoyment watching kids between the ages of 9 and 18 go through the programs," he said.

Hough also recalls the popular Saturday night record hops (dances) at the Stockdale Fire Hall. His father was among the volunteer firefighters who organized the dances that began in December 1957, and his mother was one of the women who prepared and served the delicious food sold at the weekly gatherings for thousands of teenagers in the region.

Moving to Southern California -- Corona, a city of 120,000, 48 miles southeast of Los Angeles -- was "very difficult," Hough said.

"It separated Judy and me from friends and family," he said. "It became difficult to keep in touch, but we never forgot our roots, our hometowns. After my father's death in 1986, we returned home to help my mother with the house each year and tried to convince her to move to a retirement facility. But she always resisted the transition. She wanted to stay in her home. She always said, 'It's your turn to visit now. I have done my share of traveling west.'"

Gertrude Hough died in 2000.

Judy Hough has an uncle, Robert Coccari; an aunt, Edith Coccari, and many cousins and friends still living in the Monessen area. Her brother, Michael, is a high school teacher in the Bakersfield School District and lives in Tehachapi, Calif. Michael attended elementary school at St. Cajetan School in Monessen but moved to Westminster, Calif., in sixth grade and graduated from Westminster High School in 1970.

Hough, meanwhile, has two brothers, Edward and Dennis. Edward is retired and lives in Depoe Bay, Ore., and Dennis is planning to retire to Yuma, Ariz. They also are Charleroi High School graduates, Edward in 1960 and Dennis in 1964.

The importance of family values to Roger and Judy Hough is emphasized by their pride in their son, Scott Louis Hough, and his wife, Michelle, and their children, Cody James Hough and Lauren Taylor Hough, students at Santiago High School and Citrus Hills Intermediate School, respectively. Scott, a native Californian, is an electrical supervisor and Michelle is a supervisor for Citigroup Bank.

"They are great kids," Hough, who retired in 2004, said of his son and daughter-in-law. "And our grandchildren bring so much joy to our lives."

Hough is proud of his accomplishments in and dedication to education.

"It was a good career, an opportunity that I'm glad came my way," Hough said. "But the greatest achievement for Judy and me is our close family ties with my in-laws, our son and daughter-in-law and our grandchildren. There is nothing that can replace family."

Nor is there anything -- time or distance -- that can separate Roger and Judy Hough from their Mon Valley memories.

"The Valley will always be very special to us," Roger Hough said. "It was our home during the formative years of our lives. The Valley was thriving with work and sports of all kind when we were growing up. The (Monongahela) river was an adventure in the summer and Pittsburgh was close. You never forget the Pirates and the Steelers, no matter where you live. You never forget the good times and the good people."