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Bob'N'Along for July 1

It's a shame that kids don't have nicknames anymore

(Wednesday, July 1) I had the pleasure of speaking to William "Fish Hook" ReBrook of 1602 W. Pike St. in Adamston, who had written to me recently.

He said when he was a young boy growing up in Adamston, it seemed almost everybody had a nickname.

"Not many kids have nicknames anymore," he said.

ReBrook listed ones he's able to remember from years ago. They include: "Colebank" Moore, "Chug" Wallen, "Shack" Waller, "Tom Mix" Linsbeck, "Wezzel" (sic) Grogg, "Squirrelly" and "Brother" Fankhouser, "Hop Sing" Swinnler, "Host" and "Monk" McWilliams, "Birdseed" Tyler, "Lardy" Phares, "Fish Hook" ReBrook, "Screwey" Newlon, "Zeke" Trupo, "Cap" O'Field;

"Squinty" Wolfe, "Gabby" Newlon, "Butter Cup" Norman, "Hard Times" Elders, "Yack" Mazzei, "Cherry" Hughes, "Lefty" Rhoden, "Sam C." (dog mascot), "D.O." Evans, "Picky" Pickens, "Alkey" Strother, "Rat" O'Neil, "Dog Meat" McClung, "Ching" Vanscoy, "Pooch" Strother, "Happy" Lemasters and "Bone Head" Shaughnessy.

Thanks, "Fish Hook."

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I'm happy to announce that today is the 25th anniversary of the day my friend and "ticker" specialist Creel S. Cornwell Jr., M.D., established his practice at Associated Internists, Inc., now Associated Specialists, Inc.

If my memory serves me correctly, he went into practice with the late Dr. Lynwood Zinn and with James A. Thompson, M.D., when their offices were located in the DeSales Hall building (formerly the nursing school in downtown Clarksburg).

Dr. Cornwell received his Bachelor of Science in biology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his M.D. degree in 1969 from West Virginia University in Morgantown.

He completed his internship at Akron City Hospital, Akron, Ohio, in 1969-70; his internal medicine residency also from Akron City Hospital in 1970-71 and at WVU Hospital in 1971-73.

He was chief resident of internal medicine in 1973 and was board certified in internal medicine the same year.

In addition, he entered private practice in internal medicine/non-invasive cardiology at United Hospital Center in Clarksburg in 1973, where he remains a member of the medical staff at present.

From 1974-76, he was a consulting physician at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital in Weston, where he established and directed SJMH's cardiac care unit; and at St. Joseph's Hospital in Buckhannon from 1974-76.

Other facts about Dr. Cornwell: advanced achievement in Internal Medicine Certification in 1989; currently medical director of the coronary care unit, the intensive care unit and the cardiac step-down unit at UHC; currently medical director of Electrocardiographic and Echocardiographic Laboratories at UHC.

Further, he was president of the West Virginia State Heart Association from 1980 through 1982; established the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at UHC in 1978, initial hospital-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program in the State of West Virginia and director of that program up to the present day.

Dr. Cornwell established Holter monitoring, nuclear cardiology exercise testing and two-dimensional echocardiography at UHC. He was chief of staff of the medical staff at UHC from 1980 through 1982.

He and his wife, the former Cheryl Bishop, are residents of 220 Buckhannon Ave. in Clarksburg.

Dr. Cornwell, famous to those who have come to know him for his dry sense of humor and wit, had one thing to say when contacted -- that he's "of the opinion the speed limit in Montana should be adopted nationwide."

Go figure. I'm trying.