Mon Valley memories are thriving in Florida

Clyde Behanna has been gone from the Mid-Mon Valley for many years, but his recollections of living here remain strong.

Behanna, who now resides in Osprey, Fla., was born in Donora in 1930 in the home next door to his grandparents, George and Louise Behanna, at Waddell Avenue and Second Street.

"They lived in the small house on the corner," Behanna said. "Second Street ended there at that time; there was no extension. The house is still there and is owned, I believe, by the Perry family that had the fruit and vegetable market downtown. The home I was born in was owned by the Polachek family. As a child, I also lived around the corner from Rosie Bier's store in a house we rented from the Chatlaks."

In addition to the memorable aromas and penny candy at Rosie Bier's, Behanna recalled a cobbler named DeFelicis who had a shop "just up the street" from the store.

The Behanna family moved to Gallatin when Clyde was still a young boy, but he spent "a great deal of time in Donora as my dad worked for US Steel and we did most of our shopping there."

"The names that have been mentioned in previous articles about Donora brought back so many pleasant memories of a town built on blood, swear, tears and a lot of pride," Behanna, 79, said. "Though I did not go to school in Donora, I have many friends who did."

Behanna vividly remembers such places as the Spur Station at the corner of Meldon and Seventh, where "I could fill up my 1937 Chevy for less than $4."

It was located across the street from Zeffiro's and the Chevrolet garage and there was an Esso station nearby, he said.

"The main gate for the wire mill also was there," Behanna said. "And there were all the ethnic clubs in town. There were so many places to hang out on Friday and Saturday nights that it was sometimes a tough decision as to where to go. And Monessen, Monongahela and Charleroi had even more selections. Sometimes we spent so much time trying to decide that it was too late to go anywhere."

Behanna also recalled that there were three movie theatres in Donora.

"When I was very young, we usually wound up going to the double features at the old Princess at Sixth and McKean or the Liberty at the other end of town," he said. "We sat up so close to the screen that we thought we could get powder burns or sword nicks when the action started."

One of his favorite recollections was watching a movie called "Frank Harmon of Michigan."

"That was on Sunday, Dec.7, 1941," Behanna said solemnly. "Dad came to pick us up and told us the at Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. That didn't mean anything to a couple kids who had been no further than Pittsburgh their entire lives. It wasn?'t until years later that I understood and appreciated that infamous day in history.?"

The Harris Theatre between Sixth and Seventh streets on McKean Ave. was the ?"upscale?" movie house in town and ?"even had a balcony.?"

Clyde?'s grandfather George Behanna was born in Carroll Township and his grandmother, Louse Fine Behanna, was a native of Floreffe.

His father, also named Clyde, was one of six children in the family. He began working for American Steel and Wire as a very young man "perhaps 20.?" He started in the brick gang and was head roller in the Blooming Mill when he retired. His brother Ralph became a self-taught tool and die designer after moving to Akron, Ohio in the mid-1930s, and another brother, Clarence, and his family lived in Washington, where he worked for Hazel-Atlas Glass. Their sister Rosetta married George Hilty, a successful civil attorney in Pittsburgh. The youngest brother never left Donora, except for service with the U.S. Army during World War II.

?"Most people knew him as BeeBee, the generator-starter guy,?" Clyde said. ?"The shop, BeeBee Electric Service, is still operating on Meldon Ave. My brother Bob was the second generation running the shop, but he is semi-retired and his son Kenny is in charge today.?"

Behanna?'s parents ?- his mother?'s maiden name was Natali and she was born and grew up in Gallatin ?- were marreid in 1929. They lived in Donora at various rentals before moving to Gallatin. After living with his grandparents for a short time, Behanna?'s father built a small home on a piece of land given to him by the Natali family. They later moved to a "big old company house" at the intersection of Routes 906 and 31.

He remembers the Ripepi family that owned the Green Front Market as well as the Quattrone, Pascarella and Pelligrini families. He also noted that former football star Elmo Natali, who later coached on the high school and college levels, was a second cousin to his mother.

Behanna attended the old Sunnyside Elementary Schol that was located where the Gallatin-Sunnyside Fire Station now stands. He then attended and was graduated from Monessen High School "because there was no high school in our town at that time." He received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from The Pennsylvania State University and drew his first teaching assignment at the original Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth. His major field of study was science "physics, to be specific" but he also taught history at times during his career.

"I stayed there for five years and helped open the new Elizabeth Forward High School on Route 48 before moving to Montgomery County, Maryland in 1959," he recalled.

Behanna's first wife was Rita Stofko of Donora.

"She was a cousin to Jimmy Giannamore," Clyde said. "She was a great dancer. I have many fond memories of dancing with her at such places at St. John's Church, the Italian Club and the Falcons Hall as well as many other places throughout the Valley. We got married in 1951 and raised four children. She contracted lung cancer in 1988 and died in 1990."

Behanna remained in Montgomery County, where he taught for 30 years before retiring. He remarried and then moved to Osprey in 2000.

"We both have children in the Virginia, Washington, DC and Maryland areas, so we go north often," he said. "I trip to get to Pennsylvania once or twice a year to visit my brother Bob and his family and other relatives (an aunt and several cousins)."

When he does return, it's a cinch Clyde Behanna will spend a good bit of time reminiscing about the proverbial "good old days ... times when life was so much more simple."

(If you have memories to share or story ideas, contact Ron Paglia at or c/or The Valley Independent, Eastgate 19, Monessen, PA 15062.)