To the editor:

It was very sad to hear about the passing of Dave Gossett of the Herald-Star.

Although it puts a smile on my face to remember what Dave did for the St. Stans/Polish Hill community with his articles about the St. Stans/Polish Hill reunion. The reunion started in 2003 in Walter Michalik’s backyard with a couple dozen people attending–mostly from Darlington Road and the surrounding area.

We had moved the reunion indoors after a couple of years to an air-conditioned hall to make it more comfortable for the older folks.

That year, Tina Galownia Greer posted a small piece in the “daily happenings” in the Herald-Star. Dave picked up on that and called us. After a few minutes on the phone, Dave expressed he wanted to do an article on our reunion.

On Sunday, July 20, 2008, there was a 2 ½ page article in the Valley Life section of the Herald-Star which sparked a lot of interest.

That year, we had 150 people. The next year in 2009, we had 275 people. It snowballed as a result of Dave’s articles.

I had met Dave at the Herald-Star a few days before the first article came out, to share information and give him the names and phone numbers of some Polish people to contact for photos and stories. He was very grateful for our help.

Then he said to me, “By the way, where is this Polish Hill?” And I pointed to the two high church bell towers at the top of North Street a block-and-a-half away from the Herald-Star.

“That was the spiritual center of Polish Hill,” I told him. He never knew. But we had a good laugh over it.

It’s long gone now. The school closed 53 years ago. The church closed a couple of decades after that. But the Polish community lives on …mostly in our late 60s, 70s, 80s and a few folks who are still in their 90s. When we cross paths, we usually smile, tell a little story about days gone by or say something in Polish.

So a big dziekuje (thank you in Polish) to you, Dave Gossett! RIP.

Mark Michalik

Steubenville