Roy Kenneth Bales

Roy Kenneth Bales was born in West Newton, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, September 5, 1911. He was the fourth child to James Jamar (“Jim”) Bales and Lydia Jane (Travis) Bales, both of whom had been born and grew up in the southwestern Pennsylvania. They met and were engaged while living in Uniontown, as there families were close neighbors. They were married in Uniontown on May 29, 1903.

The family lived on Main Street in the small town of West Newton. Roy had two older siblings, two sisters named Pansy and Lydia and a brother named James Jr. Unfortunately, about nine months after Roy was born his brother James Jr. died at the age of three.

Roy’s father Jim was employed as a foundry man in a radiator manufacturing company (probably National Radiator or an associated company) and eventually served as a traveling supervisor. At that time the manufacturing of steam radiators, used for the heating of homes and businesses, was a booming industry. His position as a troubleshooter saw them move every so often as he would be tasked to help straighten out the various foundries operated by the company.

Sometime in about 1914-1915 the family relocated to Canton, Ohio, where son Ray Daniel joined the Bales clan on March 6, 1915. Roy and Ray would be very close while growing up. Sometime in 1918-1919, the family was off to the town of New Castle in western Pennsylvania. While they resided at #820 Bonzo Avenue, a son named Clarence Paul, who was born in April 1918 (location unknown), passed away in March 1919. The stay in New Castle was short lived as in late 1919 they found a new home in Utica, New York.

The stay in New York was very brief and before too long they were back in New Castle by early 1920. During this stop in New Castle they lived off of East Maitland Road out in the East Brook area. (NOTE: The house is gone but it was right near where Hanna Lane is now located.)

In the next few years mother Lydia gave birth to two more boys, John Merle (“Merle”) in April 1920 and James Jr. (“Jimmy”) in June 1922. Roy attended the Briar Hill School in East Brook. He spent a lot of time wandering the wooded areas around East Brook and surely enjoyed fishing in the nearby Neshannock Creek. Eldest sister Pansy, at age eighteen, was married to Clarence W. Reiber in July 1923 and moved out of the house.

By the late 1920’s, the Bales family was off to Baltimore, Maryland, where several of Roy’s uncles (Mike and John Bales) were living. They purchased a home at #429 Buena Vista Avenue in northern Baltimore, just of modern-day Route 81 and near Druid Hill Park. Roy, who would have graduated from high school in about 1929, began working with his dad as a machinist at the radiator works. Roy’s sister Lydia married Donald Diebert in October 1929, moved in with him and his parents, and eventually settled in the suburb of Towson, Maryland.

Between late 1930 and early 1932 the Bales family was back in the New Castle area, living way out on Route 108/Harlansburg Road west of Harlansburg and near Eliotts Mills. (NOTE: The house is long gone as the area is now a large gravel/stone plant.) The family attended the Croton Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in New Castle and took an active role in church activities. Roy, who soon took up residence at #913 Dewey Avenue in New Castle, continued working with National Radiator (near Cascade Park) along with my father.

After his younger brother Ray graduated from high school in 1933 he joined Roy and their father at National Radiator. Roy and Ray also remained active by participating as teammates in city-wide sporting leagues, including softball, golf, and bowling. While playing for the Croton M. E. Church they became two of the best players in the New Castle Church Softball League in the 1930’s. Both were offensive beasts at the plate and formed an effective battery, as Roy usually pitched and Ray ran things behind the plate. In October 1938, they helped Croton M. E. win its second straight city championship with a 3-1 series win over the boys from Madison Avenue Christian Church in Mahoningtown. In the deciding game, held at P&O Field in Mahoningtown, they won 12-9. Roy was the winning pitcher and led the way at the plate with four hits including a triple.

Roy had previously began dating a girl named Mariella Blaine who worked as a clerk at Strouss-Hirshberg Company and lived down the street from him at #1014 Dewey Avenue. They were married by the Reverend C. H. Hauger in the Croton M. E. Church on afternoon of January 1, 1937. Afterwards a group of family and friends gathered at her parent’s home for a celebratory dinner. The made their home at #711 Cleveland Avenue and eventually had only one child, a daughter named Patricia Ann who was born on September 10, 1941.

Roy and his family had suffered a terrible tragedy in early June 1939, when his mother Lydia passed after complications stemming from a ruptured appendix. She underwent an emergency appendectomy, but unfortunately passed away on Friday, June 9, at the age of only fifty-five. She was buried in West Newton Cemetery in Fayette County, next to her infant sons James Jr. and Clarence.

Roy quickly gained prominence at National Radiator and was transferred to serve as a branch manager in the New York City office in 1953. Roy and his family lived in Maywood, New Jersey, for eight years before moving to #262 Rea Avenue in the nearby town of Hawthorne in 1958. Daughter Patty graduated from Bogota High School in 1959 and was later married in Hawthorne, New Jersey, in 1960. She moved away to Hawaii and later settled in California.

Roy, after a brief illness, passed away at home on Thursday, August 15, 1966. He was only fifty-four years old. A viewing was held at the Browning-Forshay Funeral Home in Hawthorne on Saturday from 7:00-9:00pm and on Sunday from 2:00-5:00pm and 7:00-9:00pm. A memorial service was conducted, by the Reverend Robert Duncan, at the funeral home on Monday at 10:30am. Roy was subsequently interred in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Patterson, New Jersey.

His wife Mariella, who later went to live with their daughter Patty in Danville, California, died on February 6, 1983. She was buried far away in Oakmont Memorial Park in Lafayette, California.