Publisher's Desk

Levi and I took a train trip around the Elkins area this past weekend. It was a great adventure! There is nothing like a small child to open conversation with a friendly face.

We had just returned from a short walk to Cheat Falls and had a brief time before the trip would continue. Levi had been too excited to get his usual sleep, so the lady in front of us said, “He is looking sleepy.” I told her that I didn’t want him to go to sleep until we started home and she asked where we were going. I said, “We are from Calhoun County.”

Her eyes sparkled and the young man with her smiled. During the conversation that followed, I found out that she was a 1966 graduate of Calhoun County High School. She reads the Chronicle online and returned this summer for the CCHS Alumni Reunion.

She is Sue Siers Calvert, the daughter of Clyde and Emma Siers of Chloe. She lives at Lost Creek in Harrison County, and works at the FBI in Bridgeport. She was accompanied by her son, David Wright, of Lewis County. He is a friend of my nephew, Steve (Squeak) Shriver. Sue’s sister is Sandra Siers Murphy of Creston, Ohio. Her brother is Danny Siers of Charleston.

Sue was the little girl in a red sweater who appeared in National Geographic, July 1954, in an article about postal delivery in rural Calhoun County. It pictured a group of people in the post office waiting for Bert Vaughan, the mail carrier, to hand out the mail. She remembers having her picture taken sitting on his mule or horse, which was the only way to reach his rural customers. There is a related article in the latest edition of Golden Seal magazine.

Her uncle, Frank Siers, owned a store that was located at the site of the present Stinson Grocery. Clyde Siers, her father, was owner or manager of the store that is now Chloe Hardware, and at some time had his own store and was the postmaster at Chloe.

Sue plans to refresh her memory by visiting some of these places when she returns for the Metz reunion with her son on Labor Day weekend.