W.Va. Italian Heritage Festival announces this year’s honorees

John and Mary Shields were awarded the Samuel F. and Lucia D’Annunzio Father and Mother of the Year honor, and Anna Pishner Harsh was named the Excellence in Education Award Winner. The honorees will be recognized at the annual WVIHF dinner at 6 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Bridgeport Conference Center.

“We look for people with significant contributions to society and successes in work, personal or family life,” said Stephen Pishner, member of the Board of Directors at WVIHF.

He said proposed honorees are submitted by local residents, and then that list is narrowed down by availability, gifts or talents and willingness to serve the community. The man and woman of the year must be Italian-Americans and born in West Virginia. Others honored don’t necessarily have to be born in West Virginia, but must have ties to Italian culture.

Joe Retton is a Monongah native who attended Fairview High School and later Fairmont State College, where he played baseball. After serving in the Korean War, he received his master’s from West Virginia University. He taught at Barrackville High School for seven years, but his biggest claim to fame was his 19-year career as men’s basketball coach at Fairmont State, leading the Falcons to nearly 500 victories.

Sharon Flanery is lawyer in the areas of energy and natural resources. She has worked at various law firms in Charleston, Pittsburgh and Saudi Arabia.  

John Ebert graduated from University of Notre Dame with an accounting degree and went to work for several accounting firms in Dallas. In 1988, he was accepted into the McDonald’s training program to become a franchisee. Ebert and his dad now own 11 McDonald’s franchises in West Virginia and five in Maryland.

Margaret Bailey is a lifelong resident of Clarksburg. She attended Alderson-Broaddus College in 1967 for nursing. After college, she was a nurse at the former Union Protestant Hospital, Broaddus Hospital, Veterans Administration Center in Cincinnati and the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center. She is currently serving her fourth term as a Clarksburg councilwoman.

Anna Pishner Harsh said she is very honored to receive such an award and thinks education is extremely important. She is an adjunct professor at West Virginia Northern Community College and artistic director and founder of Allegro Dance Company. Allegro will perform at the festival this year. Harsh has been performing with the festival since its beginning in 1979.

“I’ve been involved as a volunteer, a princess in the royal court, marched with my high school band and my dance company. This will be the first year I’ve ridden in the parade besides as a princess,” Harsh said.

Mary Shields said she is overwhelmed with joy to be given such an honor. She considers herself and her husband as just everyday parents who lead a simple life with their five children. They have also been involved with the festival for 35 years, and John Shields has worked behind-the-scenes and on the Board of Directors. Mary Shields is a guidance counselor at Bridgeport Middle School, and John Shields is a CPA with Secret & Shields in Clarksburg.

“I think that our children have become good, upstanding citizens, and they are our greatest blessing as parents,” Mary Shields said.

Staff writer Ashlie Walter can be reached at (304) 626-1445 or by email at awalter@exponent-telegram.com