ST. V-ST. M HONORS FORMER BJ PRESSROOM WORKER BOB BERDIS

 

St. Vincent-St. Mary will honor long-time former BJ pressroom worker Bob Berdis on Friday, October 1 as their Fighting Irish Superfan.

Ken Krause, a BJ retiree, tipped me off with this:

It will be Bob Berdis Night at Green Street Stadium Friday, October 1, when St. Vincent-St. Mary High School honors their “Fighting Irish Superfan,” a former longtime Beacon Journal press room worker. Though not a graduate of St. Vincent, St. Mary, or St. V-M (where his son was in the Class of 1989), Bob has been a longtime St. V-M Athletic Booster Club member and a constant presence at Irish sporting events, home or away. He will be honored before the St. V-M football game against Youngstown Ursuline.

Some BJ folks might also remember Bob as one of the standout bowlers in the Akron Allied Printcraft League.

Bob’s wife, Syvia Jean Berdis, passed away in 2012 at the age of 75. They lived in Norton and the funeral service was held in Doylestown.

Bob was extremely active St. V-M Athletic Booster Club member, as the Superfan honor indicates.

PENNY MORETZ OF ACCOUNTING, PRODUCTION, MAILROOM PASSES AWAY

 

Penny L. Moretz, who retired in 2002 after 35 years at the BJ, passed away.

There will be a Celebration of Life Service for Penny at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 18 at the Suffield United Church of Christ, 1115 State Route 43, Suffield, in the outdoor pavilion.

Luncheon will be served immediately following in the fellowship hall. In the event of inclement weather, services will move to the sanctuary.

Social distance and masks will be required.

 

Penny began at 44 E. Exchange Street in accounting in 1967, then became Production secretary to Tony Agnello before joining the BJ mailroom.

DOYLE BAIRD PASSES AWAY

Doyle Baird, a BJ truck driver for 30 years, a  superb boxer who went toe-to-toe with four world champions, and an outstanding Teamsters member, passed away Thursday, September 2.

The native of Elk Valley, Tennessee was inducted into the Summit County Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000.

He fought for three world titles.

He was the widower of Janet Baird. Their children are Andrea Stem, Doyle, Jr., Derek, Daryl and Billy.

There’s fascinating video, “Grit & Determination – The Doyle Baird Story,” that runs nearly a half-hour. To see it, go to  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=BhXqoRmrFGc&app=desktop

 

Doyle’s obituary:

 

 

Doyle Baird

April 18, 1938 ~ September 2, 2021 (age 83)

 

Doyle Baird, 83, passed away September 2, 2021 surrounded by his family and friends. He was born April 18, 1938 in Elk Valley, Tennessee to the late Jennings and Evelyn Baird.  Doyle lived his younger life in Akron and resided in Portage Lakes for over 52 years.

 

 

Doyle was legendary in the Akron area for his professional boxing career and was inducted into the Summit County Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000.  He fought for three world titles, his most memorable bout at the Akron Rubber Bowl in October of 1968 when he fought Middle Weight Champion Nino Benvenuti for a non-title bout. As the story goes, Doyle won the fight, however the fight was declared a draw.  Doyle’s love and passion for the sport of boxing led him to a training career of over 40 plus years where he trained several professional boxers including heavy weight champion Michael Dokes. Doyle also trained countless numbers of amateur fighters in the Akron area.  He not only taught them the grit and determination it takes to be a boxer, he mentored them and taught them how to be honorable young men and to fight when life gets tough, how to overcome obstacles by believing in themselves.  His motto was always finish what you start and to get up if you get knocked down.  Life is a journey, it’s what you make of it, only you determine your destiny.

 

Doyle retired from the Akron Beacon Journal after 30 years of service being a Teamster truck driver and union steward. He had a heart of gold always humble and kind, loved life, always laughing, joking, or telling a story. Doyle was always eager to go above and beyond to help someone in need.

 

Doyle was a member of Teamsters Local 473, Deuces Wild; Turkeyfoot Sportsman Club and Adoniram Joppa. He loved to watch his children and grandchildren play sports, never missing the opportunity to cheer on and support his family.  He enjoyed weekends watching The Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns.  He loved riding his Harley with his boys and playing poker.

 

Besides his parents, Doyle was preceded in death by his loving wife of 51 years, Janet and sister, Velda Lou Armstrong.  He is survived by his daughter, Andrea (Jeff) Stem; sons, Doyle (Jenna); Derek (Jessica) and Daryl (Amy) and Billy (Patty) Baird; grandchildren, Chloe, Isabella, Kassie, Danica, Lauren, Gavin and Nathan; great grandson, Mavrick; sister, Peggy Snyder; sister-in-law, Sandra Gray; nephew, Jon Gray; as well as many other loving family and friends.

 

Doyle’s constant presence, sound advice and unwavering love will always be remembered and cherished for a lifetime.  He will be deeply missed by his family and so many wonderful friends. 

 

Funeral service will be held at 10 A.M. on Thursday, September 9, 2021 at Schermesser Funeral Home, 600 E. Turkeyfoot Lake Road, Akron, Ohio 44319 with Pastor Bobby Dugger officiating.  Family and friends may call on Wednesday from 1 to 3 P.M. and 5 to 8 P.M. at the funeral home.  Entombment will take place at Greenlawn Memorial Park.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Doyle’s name to Alzheimer’s Association, Greater East Ohio Area Chapter, 70 W. Streetsboro Street, STE 201, Hudson, Ohio 44236.  To leave a special message online for the family, visit our website at www.schermesserfh.com.

 

SCHERMESSER
(330) 899-9107
www.schermesserfh.com 

Memorial Contributions:

Alzheimer’s Association
Greater East Ohio Area Chapter
70 W. Streetsboro Street, STE 201 

Hudson, Ohio 44236 

DAVE ALLBAUGH'S WIDOW PASSES AWAY AT AGE OF 96

 

Rose Allbaugh, widow of super reporter Dave Allbaugh of Dayton Daily News fame, passed away in North Carolina at the age of 96.

 

Rose and Dave’s sons are David B. Allbaugh of Arlington, Virginia and Mark G Allbaugh of Brevard, North Carolina. They had two grandchildren, Alex and Lea Rose Allbaugh.

 

Bill Hershey, a former Columbus and Washington bureau regular for the BJ, gave me the sad news.

 

Bill added:

 

“She had been living in assisted living in North Carolina near their son Mark and his family for the last five months, Mark told me. Until then she had been living independently. She was a force of nature, always on the move.

Mark’s wife Florence posted on Facebook about Rose, our daughter said.

Mark said they plan to have a gathering on Sept.18 at Dave and Rose’s house in Dayton.
Marcia and I plan to go.
They also have a son David who lives in Washington D.C. area.”

 

If you want to send condolences to Mark his email address is ifg24@att.net

 

Dave was my most loyal friend when the Dayton Daily News fired me for union actitivities. Everyone else hid under their desk to avoid the wrath of union-hating Cox Newspapers, which owned the DDN.

 

I didn’t know till I looked up Dave’s obituary in connection with this article that he was born Roy David Allbaugh. Fitting. He was King David to me, too.

THE WARNERS AT AKRON WOMAN'S CITY CLUB SEPTEMBER 28

Former BJ editors Stuart Warner and wife Deb Van Tassel Warner will be the speakers at the Akron Woman’s City Club, 732 East Exchange Street, at noon Tuesday, September 28.

The subject will be the book they edited and produced, “Akron’s Daily Miracle: Reporting the News in the Rubber City.”

Stuart came to the Beacon Journal after 10 years with Knight-Ridder's Lexington newspaper. He was at the BJ from 1979 until 1999 before switching to the PD.  

Deb is a former BJ Features Editor and PD and Arizona editor.

The luncheon costs $20, payable when you show up at the event.

To make a reservation call Valerie at the Akron Woman’s City club at (330) 762-6261.

The book, naturally, will be available for you to purchase. 

SUSAN MANGO CURTIS KEEPS STACKING UP HER HONORS

 

Susan Mango Curtis, former BJ assistant managing editor, is going to need to enlarge her trophy room.

Saturday, August 27 she received the National Association of Black Journalists-Visual Task Force Legacy Award during the group’s convention auction.

Mango’s response:

“I am honored and humbled. It’s a blessing to have served as a member of such an creatively talented group of visual journalists.”

 

In 2020 Mango was named Black Journalists’ Education Journalist of the year.

In 2019 she received the Society for News Design’s  Lifetime Achievement Award.

Before leaving the BJ for in 1997 for become associate professor of visual arts at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University  Mango was involved in the “Question of Color” project that led to one of the 4 BJ Pulitzers (JSK got a 5^th). The late BJ State Desk editor Pat Engelhart graduated from Northwestern before his DeNobil days at the BJ.

Mango is a 1981 graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts and a 1977 graduate of Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland.

Her career includes art director for the National Rifle Association, where she designed American Marksman magazine.

If you want to personally congratulate Mango her e-mail is mangocurtis@northwestern.edu  and her phone number is (847) 508-6057.

A LOVELY REUNION FOR PAULA AND JOHN IN OHIO

 

  

Paul Stone Tucker visited John Olesky in Ohio for 3 weeks in August.

Paula rescued John from his misery when John’s wife, My Mona Lisa as he called her, passed away. For 17 years.

Paula has a home in The Villages, Florida.

John still lives in the condo they jointly purchased in 2006 and lived together in Talmadge.

Paula left The Villages on July 30 and arrived at John’s condo on August 1. She left for the 2-day auto drive to Florida on Sunday, August 22.

Paula and John made good use of the time.

They had dinner in Sugarcreek at Der Dutchman Restaurant, as they have several times before. After visiting the Atwood Lake A-Frame owned by Paula’s parents where she spent her childhood summers.

They walked through Gorge Park in Cuyahoga Falls, even though they had to crawl under a 100-foot toppled tree that blocked the footpath.

They visited the Beaver Pond in Summit County Metro parks and ran into Ranger Bob, Paula’s brother-in-law.

They hiked around the lake in Munroe Falls.

Paula and John golfed together at Mulligan Springs in Portage County, which shares a border with Tallmadge’s Summit County.

They visited Paula’s sister, Janet, at her Lakeside getaway on Lake Erie.

Paula visited all of her siblings: Tom and wife ‘Rae in the former Tamsin Lake area turned into housing allotments; Janet and husband Bob in Boston Heights; Michael and wife Ann in Silver Lake; and Raymond and wife Mary in Akron.

Paula and John also attended the Akron Porchroker event where Raymond and his barbershop quartet sang. The crowds were so thick that they had to walk 11 blocks from where they parked their car, the nearest empty parking place to the porch where Raymond and his quartet sang. Musical groups performed from porches on residential homes in block after block of the city. It’s an extremely popular annual event.

And, by driving 200 miles each way Paula spent her August 20 birthday with her son, Patrick, who drove from New York City for the Bear State Park rendezvous in Pennsylvania.

At Paula’s suggestion John and Paula looked at John’s My Mona Lisa photo album of his late wife and their extended family.

Paula and My Mona Lisa never competed with each other for John’s affections. They were bookends to his love life.

Paula took the sunshine back to Florida with her. But it was lovely while it lasted.

PAULA STONE TUCKER SELLS 2,261 COPIES OF HER BOOK IN ONE DAY

 

Former 1970s BJ State Desk reporter Paula Tucker sold 2,261 copies of her book, “Surviving: A Kent State Memoir,” named one of the best of 2020 in Northeast Ohio and given The Silver Palm by the Florida Writers in 2019, in ONE day.

Paula posted from The Villages, Florida, where she resides:

“So excited! Just got my 2nd quarter 2021 royalty check and found out I sold 2,261 copies of my book during a one-day promotion on 5/31. So happy! It is still available.”

On Kindle and since September 29, 2019 in paperback ($18.41 on Amazon.com, which describes Paula’s book as “an eyewitness account to an event that changed history.”

Thirty yards from Ohio National Guards troops firing away is about as “eyewitness” as anyone would want to be.

May 4, 1970 and the slaughter of four students and wounding of nine others helped turn America against the Vietnam War.

When a country is murdering its children it’s time to re-think what it’s doing. And it did.

“Her experiences at Kent State helped her to grow into a resilient woman who doesn't give up easily,” an article about Paula in GoodRead.com said.

I can personally vouch for that since Paula and I were together for 17 years. She’ll be returning to Ohio in August to visit family and friends.

GoodRead article also stated:

“She is a self-proclaimed fan of James Patterson, Roxane Gay and Fay Weldon as well as a lover of classical literature.”

She got her first "rejection" letter in Akron fourth grade when Sister Mary Joan handed back her Br'er Rabbit story with "What is this?" written across the top in bold red letters.

The 9-year-old Paula explained that she wrote had the story in a southern dialect.

Sister Mary Joan retorted: "Stick to normal writing from now on!" Those who think outside the box often suffer for it early but later become famous for doing that very thing.

You can find Paula on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Or, in August, in Ohio, maybe with other Belles of St. Marys, as I call them. (Cue Bing Crosby singing in the movie.)

A REMINDER THAT FRED BROOKOVER'S MEMORIAL MASS WILL BE SATURDAY, JULY 31

 July 31 Memorial in Uniontown for Fred Brookover

There will be a Memorial Mass at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 31, at Queen of Heaven Catholic Church, 1800 Steese Rd., Uniontown, for retired BJ Circulation driver Fred Brookover, who passed away May 21 in Kissimmee, Florida.

Fred is survived by his wife of 47 years, Dolores Campanale Brookover, who attended St. Anthony’s elementary school in Akron in the 1960s.

Dee’s parents Mary Adelaide Gasbarro Campanale and Philip Edmundo Campanale lived in  Brimfield when the 1998 obituary was published for Dolores’ uncle, John J. Gasbarro of Cuyahoga Falls

PHIL CANUTO KNOWS FIRST-HAND WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT

 

WEWS-Channel 5 and DaLaun Dillard ran a story about former BJ medical writer, Phil Canuto, a kidney transplant recipient (from his cousin) who spoke to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) advisory panel in Washington and urged them to recommend a third booster.

Phil is among 2.7% of Americans who are immune compromised. He did everything to stay safe in the pandemic, including getting vaccinated.

“In my case they tested antibodies and I tested negative after both shots,” Phil said.

“I’m really lucky to be alive, I really savor the life that I have. But I wish that I could live a fuller life and I don’t know when that is going to happen."

Phil also has has four back surgeries.

His stops in life have included Jacksvonville, Illinois, where he grew up; Elmhurst University in Elmhurst, Illinois; and the BJ.

Phil and wife Debra live in Akron.

Allison Reynolds, a scientist, credits Phil and Debra for her love of theater and the arts. She was raised in Akron, spent time in Philadelphia and currently works in Colorado.

Allison describes Phil as one of three men who guided and helped her through her life.

THRITY AND PULITZER WINNER IN INKUBATOR MATCHUP ON FRIDAY

 Sign up for literary battle!

It should be an interesting exchange of thoughts at 7 p.m. Friday, July 23 in the LitCleveland’s Inkubator Online Writing Conference.

In this corner, Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Fellow Viet Thanh Nguyen. In the other corner, best-selling author and former BJ columnist Thrity Umrigar.

They will explore the risks of creativity and creation. How far outside the envelope can you go without getting lost in space?

Nguyen wrote “The Committed.” Thrity’s next novel is “Honor.” Both works will be part of the discussion and the strategy.

Playing it safe can be boring. Leaping outside the box can be catastrophic or a smashing success.

You can register for the free event at: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/7IEFg1iI9iSQdfiOkBjC0Q

I’m putting my money on Thrity for one reason: Bombs away from Bombay!

AL HUNSICKER'S WIDOW PASSES AWAY

 

Lillian Hunsicker, widow of former BJ printer Al Hunsicker, passed away Sunday, July 18.

Al was a regular at the monthly gathering of former BJ workers at Papa Joe’s Restaurant in the Merriman Valley. So was I.

Pam Hunsicker Coy, Lillian and Al’s daughter, is married to Don Coy, whose father, the late Al Coy, was on the Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Baseball Association board of directors with me and former Cuyahoga Falls High baseball coach John Anspach.

Al and I had spirited discussions at the CFABA meetings. Today we both are early members of the CFABA Hall of Fame. There’s a plaque in the Quirk Building in the Falls testifying to that.

Pam and my daughter, Monnie Ann, were friends at Monongah High and often were together at parties and dinners.

Lillian’s obituary:

Lillian P. Hunsicker, 87, was called home to be with her Lord on July 18, 2021. She was born in Akron and resided in Cuyahoga Falls for the past 63 years. She was a graduate of Kenmore High School and a Sunday School teacher at St. John/St. Paul Lutheran Church. Sewing was her favorite hobby.

 

She was preceded in death by her husband, Al; She is survived by her children, Brenda (Dale) Hoover, Pamela (Don) Coy and Thomas Hunsicker; grandchildren, Jillian (Brandon) Foster and Ryan (Laura) Coy; six great grandchildren, plus one in the oven and one in heaven.

 

Family/friends may call from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 25 in the Clifford- Shoemaker Funeral Home, 1930 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221 where a funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 26. In lieu of other remembrances, memorials may be sent to the Haven of Rest, 175 E. Market St., Akron, OH 44308 or St. Jude’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105. Visit www.cliffordshoemaker.com  to share condolences with the family.

 

THRITY TO RECEIVE OHIOANA AWARD OCTOBER 14

 

Thrity among Ohioana Book Awards winners

October 14 event for presentations

 

Tiffany McDaniel's "Betty" won Ohioana’s 5th annual Readers' Choice Book Award.

 

"Betty" got the most votes in fiction as well as the most overall votes of the more than 3,000 cast online, making Tiffany the first two-time winner of the Readers' Choice Book Award!

 

Fan favorites in each of the other five award categories included former BJ columnist Thrity Umbrigar for her book for juveniles, “ Sugar in Milk.”

 

The other winners:

 

Fiction - Tiffany McDaniel, "Betty"

Nonfiction - Maggie Downs, "Braver Than You Think"

About Ohio - Carole Genshaft, "Raggin' On"

Poetry - Marianne Chan, "All Heathens"

Middle Grade/Young Adult - Shelley Pearsall, "Things Seen from Above"

 

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Ohioana Book Awards, and will be presented Thursday, October 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium.