Published: Monday, April 9, 2007
Boardman, Warren men honored for donating blood
Family members who needed blood got the Hall of Fame donors started.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
Some 1,251 people may owe their lives to the blood donated by Keith Boone and John Mosko through the American Red Cross over the past 40 to 50 years.
Boone, of Boardman, and Mosko, of Warren, were among 99 people recently inducted into the American Red Cross Northern Ohio Blood Services Region Hall of Fame in three categories: "Honor" (200-224 pints), "Tribute" (225 to 249 pints), and "Legacy" (250-plus).
Boone has given 218 pints of whole blood, and Mosko has donated 203 pints of whole blood, placing them at the "Honor" level of giving. The highest whole blood total in the inaugural Hall of Fame class was 318 pints.
The Red Cross said an average of three people benefit from every pint of whole blood donated. That means blood from the two men has provided red cells, plasma and platelets to an estimated 1,251 people.
For perspective, to reach hall-of-fame levels, people would have to regularly donate the maximum six pints a year for 34 years, Karen Kelley, Red Cross spokeswoman, said.
The average person has 10 to 12 pints of blood in their body, she said.
"If you need blood, whether for elective surgery, to combat disease, or because of trauma from an injury, you are at risk of dying if you don't get it," Kelley said.
How they started
Boone, 69, whose blood type is A positive, is just shy of 28 gallons of blood donated, a number he intends to get this year.
"I'll have my 26 gallons when I donate April 21" at the Cortland Masonic Lodge Hall, said Mosko, who is 77. His blood type is O positive.
Boone and Mosko started donating blood at relatively young ages for similar personal reasons.
For Mosko, it was a sister who needed blood for a heart operation that got him started in the late 1950s.
Also, he said the Red Cross wanted blood for military service personnel and others. Now, he has another personal reason to keep giving. One of his daughters is waiting for a liver transplant, and she will need blood.
"I just got started and kept it up. I'll keep giving as long as I'm able," said Mosko, who worked 22 years at Van Huffel Tube Co. in Warren until it closed in the mid-1980s. He also was a volunteer firefighter for the Cortland Fire Department for 20 years, retiring with the rank of lieutenant, and has done construction, carpenter, electrical and plumbing work most his life.
Mosko grew up on Larchmont Street Northeast in Warren and graduated in 1948 from the former St. Mary High School in Warren. He lived in Bazetta Township for many years and moved back to Warren when he and his second wife, Jackie, were married in 2002.
Both widowed, they have 10 children between them, including Brian Mosko of Howland and Ed Mosko of Niles, who are following in their father's footsteps.
Brian has donated about eight gallons and Ed about nine gallons, their father said.
Tops in Mahoning
Boone is retired director of legal services for the law firm of Harrington, Hoppe and Mitchell, with offices in Youngstown, Warren and Salem, for which he worked 20 years.
A tax professional enrolled to practice before the IRS, he now operates Boone Tax Service in the Sky Bank Building, Youngstown, and does consulting work for the law firm and other clients.
Giving blood is something he started in 1961 when his cousin from Chicago was diagnosed with leukemia.
"I asked what I could do. The family said he needed lots of blood. I said, 'Hell, I can do that.'"
That started Boone, at 23, on his way to becoming the top blood donor in Mahoning County.
Boone said he continues to give blood in honor of his nephew and his wife, Harriett, known as Susan, who he said can't donate blood.
The couple has two children, a daughter, Laura Nappnau of Canfield, and a son, Keith Jr. of Newton Falls, and three grandchildren.
Activities
Boone is a 32nd Degree Mason and a Shriner, serves on the board of Park Vista Retirement Community, is vice chairman of the Boardman Township Zoning Board of Appeals and former president of the Four Square Club.
He served in the Army Reserve from 1960 to 1966, and graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky.
"I am hoping, because I am able to give blood, that others who can will be inspired to give. There is a real sense of accomplishment to know you have helped people," Boone said.
"I hope that if I ever need blood, or when my daughter does, it will be there," Mosko said.
Boone and Mosko received certificates of appreciation and Red Cross pins, part of which is in the shape of a drop of blood with the inscription "200-plus," at the induction ceremony.
There are some other benefits to giving blood that the inductees specifically mentioned.
Mosko noted the "delicious soups" available to blood donors at the Masonic Lodge, and Boone, who gives regularly at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Boardman, said he is particularly fond of the "free cookies."
Boone added: "P.S.: It [giving blood] doesn't hurt."
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