Jo Anna Gregory proudly wore the uniform of a Paden City Cheerleader. In this picture Jo An was 16 and a junior. She was honored with being chosen as Cheerleader of the Week.

As I have stated many times, I am fascinated by history. American, world, and local. One of the best ways to review history locally is to research old newspapers. That part comes easy as I spend a fair amount of time looking at the past to see what interested the community a half century back in the pages of the Wetzel Chronicle.

One of the first stories I came across was Secretary of State AJ Manchin. I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple times in Charleston. He had a bigger than life personality and really did love our state. He not only promoted it, but he helped to clean it up and spread the word across the nation. The picture shows A.J. standing in an old car that once sat on the end of Paden City in an abandoned junk yard. With his powers and perseverance, he made a difference in our state in the junk that could be seen from the road ways. He made WEST VIRGINIA GREAT AGAIN and did it without tramping on either political party by laying blame.

Another photo I found in the 1975 archives, is one that anyone that was in the area at the time still remembers. On January 4th the Paden City High School caught fire and was destroyed. In the caption alongside the picture of the burning school was the statement, ‘It is hard to believe that the students no longer will be trampling those all too familiar halls. It may be so, but for many years to come, the golden memories of the old school will carry on.’

The writer made it seem that it would take some time to rebuild and bring back the students. But the school board, county and the town itself-pulled up their boots straps and began once again. The people of Paden City have stood together before and after this event. It is why they will always be known as Paden City Strong.

In 1975 another cornerstone event took place, Magnolia’s Lou Nocida stepped down as Football coach. That departure opened the door to a legend in Ohio Valley sport to take over as Magnolia head football coach, Dave Cisar. Young and handsome he set new standards for hard-nosed dedication to the game in not only the valley, but across this state. Still today, fifty years later mention Dave Cisar and you will hear stories of dedication and love of sports and the athletes he coached. He had one way of coaching, “My Way”

Back in 1975 Paden City had a very talented band and strong cheering section. These outstanding groups were led by majorettes and cheerleaders. Ms. Jennifer Thomas proudly leads her team onto victories’, but she participated in many events during her time at Paden City.

Ms. Jo Anna Gregory proudly wore the uniform of a Paden City Cheerleader. In this picture Jo An was 16 and a junior. She was honored with being chosen as Cheerleader of the week.

I hope you enjoyed this look back 50 years to a time when we all were a little younger. More to come from 1975 next week.