Reverend Valentine Plevyak

Rev. Valentine Plevyak (This picture is from his obituary online.)

My hero was my great grandfather’s brother Valentine Raymond Plevyak. His nickname was Wally. He got it when he was a kid. He was born in White Bridges, Pennsylvania in 1916. He grew up in a house with 13 siblings, and only two of them were girls. His father was a coal miner and did not make a lot of money each day.

Rev. Plevyak is on the far right. (This picture is from my family.)

Wally was an average kid, going to school everyday and going to church every Sunday. Later in his life he was very courageous to make a life changing decision. He played baseball and was a great athlete. He was also a great bowler and a tremendous golfer. Once in a game of bowling he got a score of 299 when the best you can get is 300. In High School he was a star baseball outfielder. When he got older he started enjoying religious and church things. Usually when he came over to my grandpa’s house for dinner he always said, “Did you bring me any candy or sweets?” What I heard about him made me decide to write about him.

Wally started getting very famous and was known for playing baseball. When the Phillies heard about him they went to see him play. They thought he was very good and tried to recruit him. But he hated the Phillies. He could have played against Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and all the other greats. But he decided to be a church pastor instead. This decision was very hard. I was surprised, sad, and thought he was very, very courageous to make that decision.

Rev. Plevyak is on the far right. (This picture is from my family.)

He went to St. Bonaventure, a college in New York, where he studied to become a priest. He was then elected into the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame for his baseball skills and great generosity that I’ll always remember.

I never really saw him, but I thought he was very humble and courageous to make that decision and he’ll always be in my mind. I will always think about him and wonder why he picked to be a pastor instead.