Grandmother (nee Anna Calanich (born 1871) and Grandfather (John) Gelet (born 1859) had an interesting romantic background. Grandma was a maid in Great Granddad's (Louis) home. Grandmother Anna and Granddad John fell in love, but unfortunately, Grandfather was betrothed. In those days the family selected the brides and grooms for their children. A dowry had been exchanged and Granddad married the girl his family had selected for him. Grandma left and no one knew where. Three years after his marriage Grandfather's wife died and Grandfather Gelet hunted for his love for many years. He heard she came to America, and he followed. He finally found her, married her, then they went back to Ukraine to live. After having three children, they both came back to America leaving their two daughters with relatives. John and his son, Charles (born 1893) were also invited by the Y &0 Steel Company to come to the United States. They also ended up in Wyano Pennsylvania. This family had a name- change also. There were many Geleta families in Southwestern Ukraine and this family referred to themselves as "Geleta from Kanich". When they arrived in Baltimore the Immigration Officer gave John Geleta and his family the name of "Geletkanich". They suffered with this name for about fifteen years before they changed their name to Gelet.
They left Mary (born 1895) and Julia (born 1897) behind with relatives. Both of these girls worked from sunup to sundown watching sheep, and had very little to eat and very sparse clothing. When Mary was 11 years of age her Parents sent for the two sisters. Mother (Mary) often talked about the ship they came over on (they were on the Orlop deck -the lowest deck of a vessel). She thought it was wonderful to have the delicious meals. Granddad and Grandmother Gelet met the ship in Baltimore and took the girls shopping. Mom (Mary) used to say she thought she had died and come to heaven. She never failed to love America for all the riches she always enjoyed even though she kept 10 or 11 boarders and did all their miner's clothing by hand. This was heaven?
John Gelet and his son, Charles, had jobs in the coal mine, while John's wife and the two daughters operated a boarding house in their home. Two of the boarders were John and Frank McKetta. Later Steve McKetta lived there also. Young John McKetta took a great shine to pretty little Mary Gelet while Frank took a great shine to the beautiful younger sister, Julia. In 1909 John and Mary were married and later Frank and Julia were married. John and Mary had three children, Charles William born on January 27, 1911, Anna Mae born on July 1, 1913, and John J. McKetta Jr. born on October 17, 1915 (Mother Mary was only 19 when John J. Jr. was born). Frank and Julia had four children named Anamae, Frank Jr., Maryan, and Steve. Later In 1923 brother Steve McKetta married the very attractive Mary Yacynch in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. They subsequently had two daughters, Irene and Helen.
It is Interesting to insert here that the parents of Stan Mikita the hockey great of Boston, and also the parents of Don Meketa, the professional football great of several years ago, came from the same Koroschenko area. However, when John, Jr. contacted both of them, it was learned that they were not related to the McKetta family even though their names were originally also the same as the three brothers -Mukema. Incidentally, there are many tombstones in Koroschenko engraved with the names of Mukema, even though many of the families were not related. It was a common name.
John McKetta, as well as his brothers, was very ambitious and aggressive and wished to be successful. He enrolled in an International correspondence school course (ICS froln Scranton, Pennsylvania) wherein he took a correspondence course to become an electrician. He applied for this even though he was unable to speak, read, or write in English. He taught himself to speak and write in English and took this course over a ten-year period (it normally was a one-year course). He did all of his writing and all of his reading with a Ukrainian-English dictionary at his side. Within 7 years he was given an opportunity by West Penn Power Company to work in an electric sub-station in South Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he was very instrumental in electrifying many coal mining plants which previously had been steam-driven. This meant that his family traveled a lot and moved often during the next 15 years. They moved from Wyano to Johnstown in 1919, then to Moxin, Cambrook, back to Wyano, then to Connellsville, Lynn, Bunker Hill, and finally Brier Hill (all In Pennsylvania). In all these towns he assisted in replacing the steam-driven plants with electrically powered plants. In Brier Hill he was named the chief electrician. This was the highest position held by a non-American in Brier Hill. Ultimately he and brother Frank bought a 185 acre farm In Yukon, Pennsylvania where they raised dairy cattle and also mined the coal that was under that land. In 1935 the McKetta Coal Company was formed. This was a very small coal mine employing 26 miners at its peak operation.
The three brothers achieved their first lifelong ambition of being independent, having wonderful families, and having a name of high recognition and respect in their small communities while living in a country with all its freedoms. Their other ambition was to have their children all graduate from high school since none of the three brothers had any education, including elementary education. It was a great day for them when the youngest child in the family graduated from high school. Several children went on to college and completed graduate studies in professional areas.
This little saga is of absolutely no significance to the development of the world or the United States, except that it represents the type of people brought into this country from all over the world who were highly motivated, worked hard, expected no handouts, had great ambitions, and desired to make a personal living in a country where they had the freedom to do what they wished and to express themselves as they wanted. Their descendants are tremendously proud of them --especially the McKetta-Gelet family.
