Heritage Days Held in Adena
Visit Adena to see old friends and meet new ones.| Heritage Days Queen, Grand Marshals Announced Three people have unanimously been selected by the Heritage Day Committee to be honored for their town throughout Adena Heritage Days. They are 2008 Heritage Day queen, Marge Goldsborough and grand parade marshals Ramona and Art Zelent. Marge Goldsborough, now age 76 has lived in Adena all of her life. When asked of her response to be Adena Heritage Day Queen, she replied, "I was shocked and surprised to be chosen." Marge was born and raised in Adena and graduated from Adena High School in 1950. She took jobs at the A&P and the IGA. In 1952 she was worked for Ohio Consolidated that soon became General Telephone. In those days, you would simply dial "0" on your telephone and would be connected with a live Operator. Marge was one of them. Marge became so familiar with telephone operations that she worked in the offices of General Telephone in Cadiz, Oberlin, Minerva, and finally Cambridge. Duties of telephone operators then were that of a 911 dispatcher, handing billing and doing disconnects. Marge said, " I worked all shifts including midnight, Sundays and Holidays." She began as an operator, then supervisor, and later operator service manager handling three GTE telephone offices and was part of GTE's billion-dollar corporation. She recalled, "When I worked in Adena, there were 719 customers and I knew them all." With the advancement of technology, and an employment of approximately, 160,000 people in the U.S., the GTE offices began to close. In 1989, Verizon acquired GTE so Marge was sent to Cambridge where she finally retired in 1990. She has fond memories of her job and has met many people there. Marge is now a member of the Industrial Pioneer Telephone Association as is many of her telephone co-workers. The group gathers once a month enjoying social outings, dinners, and picnics. Marge remembered when the organization wanted to go to Nashville, Tennessee and sold cookbooks to raise money for the trip. "We all try to keep together," she said of her fellow IPTA friends. Marge is actively involved in Adena with the United Methodist Church and Women's Club. She currently resides in Adena and has a daughter and son- in-law Lynn & Kevin McConnell and granddaughter Chelsea, of Scio. "I'm proud of my home town," said Marge, " Adena is home to me." |
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The Zelents are a renowned Adena couple. The courteous couple met in the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois. Ramona Pitner was born in Duncanwood that was a former coal-mining town located off of Georgetown Road. Fate was obviously in the wind because
at that time she didn't know she would marry the boss of a Duncanwood coalmine.
Ramona's father was a coalminer and she says, " If you're familiar with the song, "Coal Miner's daughter"-that's me!" After moving from Duncanwood to Chicago, Ramona met and dated Art Zelent whose hometown was Chicago.
Art was born in Chicago, lived eight years in Wisconsin and then moved back to Chicago. From 1942-45 he was drafted into the United States Navy. Art says he remembers being a cook aboard a Navy Ship. Art is an outdoor enthusiast and favors fishing. He is a loyal member of Pine Valley Sportsman Club. Ramona and Art married in Chicago and vacationed in Adena. Living in the city of Chicago was quite different than living in the quaint village of Adena. Art recalls, "We would take a two week vacation and go to Adena and found that we knew more people here than in Chicago." After raising two children in Chicago, the couple longed for Adena and moved in 1958. Art careered in coal and worked with Bedway Coal as a Tipple Boss for Duncanwood, East Cadiz, and Martins Ferry coalmines. He worked the last ten years of his job for R & F Coal Company that was owned by Shell Oil. The Zelents are devoted to their Lutheran faith and during the devastating flood of 1990, they helped several Adena families .They have lived in Adena for exactly 50 years. Though they have frequented Florida, they favor Adena so they spend the majority of their time in their hometown. Art and Ramona are happily married and have four children, Johnny Zelent who resides in Florida, Debbie Birbeck of Wheeling, Tina Richetti who lives Utah and Judy Jones of Cadiz. They are a friendly and affectionate couple who cast brilliant smiles. While standing side by side in their lovely backyard garden, Ramona and Art obliged, "We're quite content here in Adena!" |
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TOKENS OF ADENA: The Heritage Adena memorabilia such as crocks, mugs and T-Shirts, are available. If you would like to purchase these items, please Contact Dot Czibor 546-3708.
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All Heritage Committee sponsored project proceeds are donated to improve the Village of Adena.
