Chad Riley has plenty of responsibility he faces daily outside the standards brought about by family life. As the Chief Executive Officer of The Thrasher Group headquartered in Bridgeport, he oversees projects that total in the hundreds of millions of dollars along with hundreds of employees in several states.

 

At times, managing the burden can be heavy. But Riley had help along the way from his parents, and family members to his friends on how to lead – and he will be quick to tell you that.

 

He also had another person who showed him in his own way how to deal with people and lead. That person, who he knew on just about every front, took his last breath away a week ago today.

 

John Anthony Marchio of Shinnston passed at the age of 73. He was laid to rest Friday.

 

Although I knew him in a casual setting, I did not know the real John Marchio – other than he seemed to be well liked when I first ran into him in my old sports writing days when he was the assistant principal to Principal Jerry Toth at Lincoln High School. He was always courteous and, as you get up in years like I am, you remember the simple kind gestures that often showed the core of who someone was. Riley said that was John Marchio.

 

Marchio served as principal to Riley from 1987 to 1990 at Lincoln. Riley knew him as more than that. He was his family’s neighbor where they often vacationed together. He grew up with his daughters and after high school, Riley, and Mickey Tate – Marchio’s son-in-law – had the unique pleasure of having Marchio as part of the their youth team’s coaching staff. Mickey told me this past week the kids playing loved him – and I am not surprised.

 

“He had a guiding hand on every front from which I knew him. It was such a wonderful transition to go as having him as my neighbor, my principal, to my friend,” said Riley. “There was an impact at each level. He was just a good person.”

 

The praise for Marchio is strong by those who encountered him. And if you are from Harrison County, you likely had an interaction with him on the education front or know someone who did. He taught, he coached, and he served in the assistant principal capacity at Roosevelt-Wilson and Lincoln and then principal and Lumberport Middle School according to his obituary.

 

A person cannot be involved in education at so many stops for so long to not have an impact – either negative or positive. And the impact, by every account I have seen, is on the positive side. Add to the fact those he impacted are scattered in various professions and livelihoods, and certainly in the teaching field, all over Harrison County and beyond.

 

You can count Bridgeport among the school systems that have branches from the Marchio tree of teaching. For the sake of brevity, former Bridgeport High School Principal Mark DeFazio comes from the teaching tree of Marchio, and the sole one I talked to.

 

“His impact can’t be overstated. I can assure you he impacted me, particularly as an administrator,” said DeFazio. “To be honest, the reason I got my first and only head basketball coaching job at Lincoln was because I was an assistant coach at R-W when he was an assistant principal there. The job came open, and he asked if I was interested after talking with Mr. Toth. I’m certain to this day he’s the reason I got that job.”

 

Not so ironically, DeFazio and Marchio became good friends during their time together at Lincoln. Ironically, DeFazio said his family joined the Riley family, the Marchio family and the Fratto family on occasional trips to Myrtle Beach.

 

“It was a crew,” said DeFazio laughing. “I even think Mr. Toth may have gone with us one year.”

 

DeFazio and Riley had something else in common when it came to Marchio. They both remembered how he oversaw things at school.

 

“John was an old-fashioned administrator who handled most of the discipline at Lincoln. He was fair and consistent, and the kids knew that because they could sense he cared about them and loved them,” said DeFazio. “I would see him give clothes to kids that needed clothes and I would sometimes see him give money to a kid that needed money. No one knew it, he just did it and the kids paid attention to him.”

 

Riley, as a student, vouched for that.

 

“Mr. Toth was viewed as the strong ruler, who had the iron fist and was fair. Then John was the balance even though he was the disciplinarian,” said Riley. “John didn’t let you get by with things, but he also knew kids that needed strict discipline and the ones who needed more of a pat on the back and a friend that could show them the way. That is a special trait, and he had it, and I imagine it rubbed off on his staff and I know it rubbed off on those who knew him.”

 

That BHS staffers, past and present, who learned under Marchio does not just consist of DeFazio. Although I am certain the list is much longer and DeFazio said so as well, he pointed to current BHS principal Matt DeMotto as working under Marchio as a trainer, as well as baseball Coach Pete Iquinto, former BHS athletic director Larry Burner who was Lincoln’s football coach, Dennis Hutson was a basketball coach at both schools, as well as former Bridgeport softball coach Frank Lopez who coached at Lincoln.

 

“I am certain they learned from him because I certainly leaned from him and a few others. He was important to me because when I worked under Mr. (Lindy) Bennet as the assistant I handled the discipline and John gave me a lot of good advice,” said DeFazio. “I used to write on legal pads, color coded things, and even used his discipline referral form from Lincoln. As a new administrator, I cannot begin to tell you how important a resource he was, and he was resource you could trust because he was your friend.”

 

As if often the case as the years pass, DeFazio and Marchio went their separate ways, but remained friends. He said he thought of old memories and even recent ones when he saw his friend passed.

 

“Even when we weren’t talking every day and weren’t as close, when my mom died, he was among the first to call me. When I was facing health issues, John was, again, among the first to call,” said DeFazio. “That’s an impact beyond what he did for me professionally, so it certainly adds to the loss.

 

“When you teach and you’re an administrator, you’re in contact with so many students and families that if you’re good at what you do, and John was, you make an impact that carries over. Through the years, just with education, the lives he impacted are countless,” DeFazio said. “The thing with John is he made an impact beyond teaching. That is what helped make him special and his loss a little bit more difficult to take.”

 

As for that community service, it was impressive as well. Marchio was a City Council member, a leader in church, civic groups, and just about anything that needed done in Shinnston and beyond. Again, I am certain I just scratched the surface of his community service and his goodness. The testimonies I have read are proof of that.

 

God may have people out there who were as good as John Marchio, but it would be hard to find any who were better.

 

Rest in Peace John. Your work here is finished.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows John Marchio with his wife Marie as they get ready to go watch their grandchildren involved at the Bridgeport schools. In the second photo, he is shown in his yearbook shot from the late 1980s, while he is shown with Shinnston's Matt Fleece in an annual pepper canning that involved friends and family in the third picture. In the fourth photo, he is in his grandfather role, while he's shown during his time as LMS Principal in the bottom photo. Photos involving Marchio, family and at LMS courtesy of Gina Marchio, while yearbook profile photo courtesy of Chad Riley.