This issue I am going to share with you some of the life of my neighbor James Way Morrisey. “Jim,” as he is known in the Vail area, has family roots dating back to the mid-1800s.
Jim’s grandparents settled in a home located next to the railroad bed of the former Tyrone/Clearfield branchline just one-half mile north of the Vail station. Andrew and Mary McCoy Morrisey had six children: one infant dying at birth, Andrew, Mary, Rose, Maddie, and John D. Morrisey.
John met and married a local girl, Ellameda B. Way, who in time became Jim’s parents. They set up housekeeping in the home that Jim lives in today, located on the corner of Vanscoyoc Road and Old Route 220. Three children born in this home: James Way, born July 10, 1916; John Jackson, born June 16, 1918; and Sue Ellameda (Stricker), born November 8, 1923.
Jim’s father, John, worked for the railroad as a telegraph operator, sometimes known as a “clock operator.” John worked at various stations in the area — Vail, Park, Bald Eagle, Port Matilda, or wherever he was needed. Ellameda was a homemaker except during World War II, when she worked at the local John R. Wald plant, in Tyrone. The plant was based in the former Wilson Chemical factory.
The Morrisey family’s life was much the same as most families of that time. The homestead was a small-scale farm, with a garden and livestock to furnish the needed food. They had horses for transportation. Jim recalls the Morriseys hunting and fishing for an additional food supply.
The Morrisey children went to the nearby one-room, “Old Main” school, which taught grades 1–8. After completing eighth grade the children went on to high school on Lincoln Ave., Tyrone. The Morrisey children walked, rode bicycles, or bummed rides to school in Tyrone. Jim remembers that later on they got an old Ford to drive to town. The importance of getting an education was instilled in Jim by his parents.
The young men of the Bald Eagle area had a softball team that played teams of other towns and villages in regular games and tournaments. The two Morrisey boys both played on one of the “good” Bald Eagle teams.
Jim graduated from high school in 1935 and went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad on June 1, 1936. He entered into a machinist apprenticeship at the Juniata railroad shops. This apprenticeship would have taken forty-eight months for him to complete, but because of WW II Jim didn’t become a machinist until November 26, 1945.
During this period of Jim’s life he started dating a young girl from Tyrone, Jane L. Kustenbauder, who lived at 1401 Clay Ave. Their first date, in 1939, was a “blind date” set up by one of Jane’s friends. Jim and Jane enjoyed square dancing at the old Bald Eagle Grange Hall and the Riggles Gap Sportsmen Club.
In January 1941 Jim’s name came up on the draft list. He immediately joined the Sheridan Troop B 104th Cavalry in Tyrone. He enlisted February 1, 1941 and was placed on active duty February 17, 1941. Jim reported to Camp Indiantown Gap and was based there for one year.
Jim and Jane were married September 15, 1941 in Frostburg, Md. The marriage started out with a “one-week” honeymoon in Indiantown Gap.
After one year in Indiantown Gap Jim was moved to the Carolina Maneuvers, in North Carolina. From there he was sent to Philadelphia for guard duty at the docks. At this time the military was reviewing all enlisted men’s records for skills that the men had. They learned that Jim was an experienced railroader, and consequently moved him to the railroad outfit in Camp Robinson at Meridian, Miss. This division was the 727th Railway Operating Battalion, B Company, working with the Southern Railroad.
Jane came to live with Jim in Mississippi. While living there, the couple discovered they were going to have their first child. When Jim was moved to a new camp, Jane moved back to Tyrone with her parents to have the baby. Their first child was a son, James Gleason, born on March 26, 1943. Jim would know his son only through letters and pictures for the next twenty-seven months.
Jim was then sent on to Camp Claiborne, La. for three months. Here the 759th Railway Operating Battalion was started. Jim was promoted to Technical Sergeant when he left Louisiana.
The next stop for Jim was at Camp Jesse Turner, in Van Buren, Ark. working with the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The 759th had three Companies, A, B, and C. Company A was the track platoon assigned to track building and maintenance; Company B was assigned to repairs of engines and cars in the enginehouse shops; and Company C was in charge of train movement in the Operating Headquarters.
With the 759th’s training completed, the men were shipped out to Algiers, North Africa. Jim worked in the Algiers-Hamma shops and roundhouse as the enginehouse foreman for eleven months during the Tunisian Campaign. The battalion then was dispatched to Rome for four months. In August 1944, while stationed in Rome, Jim got word from home that his father had passed away.
The 759th was sent to southern France, then on to Marseilles and Dijon. In France Jim worked on repairing as many engines as possible and reassembling twenty-two new locomotives that had been shipped there from the United States.
In April 1945 the 759th Battalion moved on to Bebra, Germany. This was Jim’s last move before being sent home. On May 7, 1945 the battalion received word that the war had ended. Jim left for home on June 6, 1945. Jim was sent back to Indiantown Gap, where he remained until his discharge on August 19, 1945.
Honors given to Jim for his military years are the Good Conduct Medal and the European African Middle Eastern Service Medal with three bronze stars. The battles and campaigns with which Jim was involved were the Rome-Arno, the Rhineland, and the Central Europe.
Jim and Jane picked up their lives again, going to housekeeping in an apartment on Lincoln Avenue, Tyrone. Jim went back to work at the Juniata shops, picked up right where he left off, and completed his apprenticeship in November. In 1946 Jim and Jane bought the Morrisey home in Vail and moved in. The saying, “new house, new baby,” held true for the couple because on October 15, 1947 their second son, John Edgar, was born. Two years later, on February 9, 1949, their last child was born — a little girl named Melinda Jane.
The Morriseys attended Bald Eagle Methodist Church, where they both had active roles. Jane played the organ and piano for many years; Jim taught Sunday school and was a Sunday school superintendent for more than ten years.
Over the years Jim was active in many organizations. He is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and of the American Legion. He is a fifty-two-year member of the Masonic Lodge #494 and served as Worshipful Master of the lodge in 1965. Jim is a life member of the Tyrone Sportsmen’s Club, serving as treasurer for the last twenty-six years. The Bald Eagle Cemetery Association is another organization in which Jim held an office; he was secretary-treasurer for more than twenty-five years.
Starting in 1962 Jim worked out of his home as a justice of the peace. For eight years he served the area doing notary work, licensing, collecting fines, and performing marriages.
In 1970 Jim took a leave of absence from the railroad. He ran for the office of District Justice for Blair County District 24-3-01. He won the election and opened his office in the Tyrone Municipal Building in January 1970. Jim held the office until his retirement in December 1981.
I asked Jim to think back to any events that stood out to him in his memory. Jim, like many others, quickly recalled the “Flood of 1936.” Jim remembers that the snows started early that year and kept coming. The temperature stayed cold throughout the winter causing a large buildup of snow and ice. When the spring thaw came, the ice began to melt and the streams rose too quickly, carrying the chunks downstream. The ice clogged along bridges and small culverts, causing massive flooding throughout the area.
Jim’s children live nearby: Gleason in Williamsburg, John in Fallentimber, and Melinda (Stouffer) just one and one-half miles up the road. Jim has been blessed with eight grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.
Jim lost his partner in life, Jane, on September 18, 1991. Her death came three days after their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
Jim has many hobbies, but the one on which he spends the most time and money is coin collecting. He has been collecting coins for more than twenty years and attends many coin collecting meetings in the area.
I have known Jim all my life. He is a firm, fair, and friendly man who has given much to many. Thank you, Jim, for letting us into your “chat room.”
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