P.O. Box 517, Weirton, WV 26062 R E B

M Meeting at Cathy’s Volume 2, Issue 11 E

V November 23, 2010

O Upcoming Events: N November 27, 2010 Weirton 2010 Christmas Parade - Starts at 11:30 February 24, 2011 WV History Day State Capital April 2 , 2011 Festival of Nations Millsop Community Center

Museum Officers: Elected 7-7-10

R President E Dennis R. Jones B Vice President M

E Pamela Makricosta

V Vice President O Despina Melonas Photo by Dennis Jones

N Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce President, Brenda Mull, is shown addressing our museum members at WAMCC’s monthly Treasurer meeting, held on Nov. 11 at Cathy’s Homemade Pies and Sandwiches 3073 Main St, Weirton. Over 25 museum members came and Paul B. Zuros enjoyed a nice cozy evening. Attendees included Juginder and Dolly Luthra, Despina Melonas, Argiro Latousakis, Rich Young, Ed Giacchino, Mary & Dave Zwierzchowski, Richard & Ruth Ellen Reinard, Bob & Leah Shirer, John Teresh, George Sotraidis, Paul B. Secretary Zuros, John & Elma Pandelios, Jason Rine, Angie Angelos, Pamela Makricosta, Kim Salter, Connie Thompson, Jim Fenske, Yvonne Kim Salter Tuchalski, Brenda Mull, and WAMCC President, Dennis Jones. Additional photos of meeting are on next page. Museum to be in Parade Christmas Dreams Museum Brenda Mull, President of Weirton Area Dennis announced that in accordance with 3393 Main Street Chamber of Commerce (a member of this year’s parade theme “Christmas Weirton, WV 26062 WAMCC), attended our monthly meeting in Dreams,” the museum’s float will be remod- Museum Hours: November and delivered happy news about eled to represent our long awaited dream - a the Chamber’s annual Christmas Parade, new larger museum to adequately display our Monday thru Friday which will take place on Saturday, Novem- vast collections of local history. The large 9:00 am thru 4:00 pm

R ber 27 starting at 11:30 am. Brenda ex- brick museum building on back of the float (other times available)

E plained that WAMCC will be represented in will be wrapped in green ribbon as “A Gift

B Editor: Dennis Jones the parade with a large float and also, to Our Community.” The sides of the float WAMCC President, Dennis Jones, was se- will feature newspaper vending machines, M [email protected]

E lected as this year’s Christmas Parade Grand donated by the Weirton Daily Times, and the

V Museum Phone: Marshall. Dennis Jones expressed his ap- newspaper headlines will convey the news preciation and conveyed how surprised he that a “NEW MUSEUM OPENS” in Weirton. O (304) 479-7266 (cell phone) was when Brenda delivered the news to him The front of the float will show a living N Website: a few weeks ago. Dennis wanted to give the room scene, where members are sitting on a whole museum a presence in the parade and sofa reading the good news in the Weirton www.weirtonmuseum.com decided to have a float for all members. Daily Times and children will be on the floor Christmas Dreams (cont.)

“Everything seems to be falling into place for our dream come true during this magical holiday season.” - Dennis Jones, WAMCC President looking at presents under the Christmas Tree. Along side the float, Weirton Steel Corp. luggage tags (see photos at right) will be distributed to the crowd, with the message: “Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center, a Gift to Our Commu- nity. The Past is Our Present to You.” One additional item, which may be added to the float is the large Simon’s Pictured above: Weirton Steel Corp. luggage ID tags with a special Christmas message inserted. These tags Furniture Chair. Another topic on this will be distributed to the crowd along the parade route on November 27. meeting’s agenda was our progress on finding a larger building and Dennis ex- plained that we are very close to being able to purchase the old Home Furniture Company building at 3149 Main Street. He remarked “Everything seems to be falling into place for our dream come true during this magical holiday season.”

Photo by Dennis Jones

Photo by Dennis Jones Cathy Adams (right) and her waitress, Melissa (left), were Seated at the “Hero’s Table” (a remnant from the movie “Super 8”) at Cathy’s are (left to right) Angie Angelos, kept very busy serving our hungry museum members. Yvonne Tuchalski, Connie Thompson, Jim Fenske, Pamela Makricosta, and Kim Salter.

Photo by Dennis Jones Photo by Dennis Jones Photo by Dennis Jones We all were happy to see Dick Reinard, WAMCC’s Elma and John Pandelios also had a delightful time at Bob and Leah Shirer are shown with Cathy Adams, Man- first treasurer, and his wife Ruth Ellen come to our our meeting. As more people came and space became ager. Just to the right of Cathy is a picture of Tommy meeting at Cathy’s. We understand that Dick ordered scarce, they shared their table and conversation with Gormley, Assistant Director, a native of Scotland, whose one of the famous French Burgers a day or two in Jason Rine, one of WAMCC’s young scholars. pleasant Glaswegian accent was heard often during the advance, just in case supplies were limited. shooting of “Super 8” in Weirton. Cathy has placed auto- graphed pictures of all the “Super 8” film crew throughout Everyone had a wonderful time at Cathy’s enjoying the food, conversation, her restaurant, where they had frequented in September and, of course, the detailed business meeting. We will soon be back. and October of 2010.

Page 2 Volume 2, Issue 11 Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center Newsletter WAMCC Represented at “Connecting to Collections” Summit On October 27, WAMCC’s President, Dennis Jones, attended the “Connecting to Collections” summit at the State Capital Archives building in Charleston. The Weirton Area Museum was 1 of 124 statewide institutions to respond to a survey ear- lier this year assessing the condition of collections within our state of WV. The survey was funded by a IMLS grant to each of the 50 states recognizing the need to properly care for and preserve items that make up our cultural heritage. Randall Reid Smith, WV Commissioner of the Division of Culture and History, spoke at the beginning of the program congratulating the lead WV agencies in this survey (Huntington Museum of Art and WV Libraries). It is hoped that a good plan of action will be developed across the state with support from additional Photographer Unknown grants. Lee Price provided preliminary results from the survey, Left to Right: Rik Rekowski (Director Mary H. Weir Public Library), Mary Margaret which was sent out to 230 statewide institutions with 54 % of Layne (Director of Huntington Museum of Art), Frances O’Brien (Dean of Libraries, WVU), Lee Price (Director of Development, Conservation Center for Art and them responding. Of the respondents, 29% were museums Historic Artifacts), and Dennis Jones (President Weirton Area Museum & Cultural and 32% were libraries. Rik Rekowski was present to repre- Center). Lee Price is helping with the grant by tabulating and analyzing results. sent the Mary H. Weir Public Library. “Top of WV Showcase”, “Taste of the Valley” and Christmas Tree Contest

Photo by Dennis Jones On October 26, the Top of WV’s “After Business Showcase” and Weirton Chamber’s “Taste of the Valley” combined their events at the Serbian American Culture Center. Shown above: A lucky winner is shown receiving the Weirton Area History Game, offered as a door prize by WAMCC. Each of the participating organizations were required to offer a door prize. Commissioner Mike Swartzmiller is shown holding the raffle bowl, while Commissioner Dan Greathouse, Director of Top of WV CVB, an- nounces the winners. Top of WV CVB Technical Assistants Bonnie Burskey and Deb Daugherty are shown assisting with the prize presentations. Shown below: Leah and Bob Shirer were in charge of WAMCC’s table display, which offered all the museum’s publications.

Photo by Dennis Jones On November 20, Leah Shirer set up and decorated WAMCC’s entry into the 3rd Annual Thomas E. Millsop Center Christmas Tree contest. WAMCC was the winner of the first contest held in 2008 with a theme of “Christmas in Holliday’s Cove” 100 years ago in 1908. CHANGE, Inc., was the winner last year. All visitors to the Com- munity Center may vote on their favorite tree by contributing $1.00 to the Community Center’s Legacy Trust Fund. Photo by Dennis Jones

Page 3 Volume 2, Issue 11 Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center Newsletter Recent Museum Contributions

Photo by Dennis Jones Photo above shows WAMCC’s Anthony Bongiovanni receiving a ceramic coin bank from Danny Warrick of Weirton. The bank features a beautiful American Bald Eagle and inscription that reads: “The Peoples Bank - Weirton, West Virginia - Better Banking Service - Since 1923”

We thank the editor of Goldenseal Magazine, John Lilly, for sending us the photo at right, which shows Weir High School Band drum majors (left to right): Paul Kuhns, Tyrone Price, and David Kuhns at the 1960 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. This photo and several others will be featured in and article written by Tom Tarowski in the upcoming issue of WV Golden- seal Magazine due out in December. Several of the photos in the article were contributed by WAMCC from their Weirton Steel archives and we will have this issue available to the public. Photographer Unknown Weirton’s Bob Trice From Dunbar to the to the Philadelphia Athletics

Photographer Unknown Photographer Unknown Photographer Unknown Photographer Unknown Andre’ Trice, recently contributed 1951), rooming with . day in major league was on these photos of his father, Bob Trice, Also in 1949, he helped the Home- April 24, 1954, when he pitched 1-0 who became the first African- stead Grays defeat the New York shutout against the American to play for the Philadelphia Black Yankees in a game played at . Bob played his Athletics professional baseball team. Cove Field in Weirton. After being final major league game in 1954, when Bob was a 1945 graduate of Weirton bounced around in the minor leagues, the Athletics moved to Kansas City. Dunbar High School before joining he was called up to the Philadelphia He was only 28 years old when he left the U.S. Navy and serving in World Athletics in September of 1953, be- the majors and later returned to work War II. After the war, he became a coming their first African-American with Weirton Steel Company, where pitcher for the Homestead Grays of player and posting a pitching record of his father, Ben Trice, was employed. the Negro National League (1949-. 2 wins and 1 loss. His best career Bob passed away in 1988.

Above information researched by Page 4 Volume 2, Issue 11 Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center Newsletter Dennis Jones.