Former residents come home to the county

Home is where the heart is.

In Uniontown, "home" is a deep pride in the community. It is Friday night football games, birthday dinners and familiar faces.

During the decline of the steel and coal industries, thousands of regional jobs evaporated and young adults were not coming back home after college. They moved to places like Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Philadelphia, Charlotte or Atlanta.

Still, some of those who left the area have packed up their houses and families and brought it all back "home" to start again.

There were good reasons to leave: School, work, adventure, even just a change of pace. For many of those who have returned, however, coming home centered around one thing: Family.

Thirty-one-year-old Jeremy Brain lived just outside of Washington, D.C., for almost five years before he recently moved back to Uniontown. He says he made his decision when his aunt died of cancer. She was 50 years old.

Brain said as he got older, his priorities began to change. Although he had a good job in Virginia and has made friends there, he said, "What's the point, if I'm not around my family?"

David Sheba and his wife, Toni Lynn, came back for the same reason. Both grew up in Uniontown and graduated from Laurel Highlands High School. They left in 1992 and came back three years ago, having lived in Philadelphia and north of Pittsburgh.

Toni Lynn Sheba said she and her husband missed out on what they call "the little things" -- a cousin's birthday, last-minute dinners, the special occasions. Now her favorite part of being home is the traditional Sunday dinner at her mother's house.

David Sheba said, "It was nice to come home and be with family."

Matt Brestensky, his wife, Tammy, and their two sons moved to Hopwood from Baltimore five years ago. Matt Brestensky grew up in Hopwood and now lives a block away from his parents -- who still live in the same house where he, his brother Denny and his sister Beth grew up.

Now with a 2 year-old daughter, the Brestenskys say there's just no substitute for their quality of life here.

"It's nice to have Grandma and Grandpap right up the street," Matt Brestensky said.

Although Tammy Bretensky grew up in Annapolis, Md., she calls Uniontown "home."

As she sits in front of a window with a breathtaking view of snow-covered mountains, listening to her daughter, Emme, singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in their living room, there is no doubt in her mind that moving to Hopwood was a good decision.

Here the Brestenskys' three children are surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and they go to school with the children of Matt Brestensky's childhood friends.

For this couple, it was an easy decision to come back home. Matt Brestensky worked as an auditor in Baltimore for several years and his job required him to travel a lot. He says he knew he always wanted to move home.

After moving back to Uniontown, he went back to school, earned a nursing degree and now works at Ruby Memorial Hospital in West Virginia.

He has much more time to spend with his family.

David Sheba says there was a perfect professional opportunity here for him, too, which made the decision to move home even easier.

"We always talked about it ... and then we just did it," he said.

Those who have returned realize the economy in the region is not as vibrant as it once was. The Indiana Business Research Center puts Fayette County's unemployment rate at 6.5 percent, more than double that of Washington, D.C.

Jeremy Brain said he will probably have to sacrifice a higher salary, but he believes the quality of life he's found here is worth it.

"It's the atmosphere," said Uniontown Mayor James Sileo. "The people of Fayette County and Uniontown are just much friendlier."

Brain agreed. He said his friends in Uniontown could always make him laugh.

"Uniontown has great characters. I missed that," he said.