蘑菇视频

Jun 10, 2026 By Garrett Neese 3 min read

For many, Southern California might evoke images of palm trees, ocean breezes and chilled-out beach bums.

But Breanne Chapley knew true relaxation could only be found back home in Fayette County.

“California is hectic,” said Chapley, who now lives in McClellandtown. “Traffic is awful, and it’s just very busy. It’s more laid back here. I like more a country lifestyle than city. I definitely knew I’d always come back after college.”

Chapley spent her youth in Smithfield. She remembers it as a fun childhood, filled with trips to Kennywood and Idlewild amusement parks.

As a student at Albert Gallatin High School, her class was the first to graduate after the school was renovated — and the envy of anyone who ever dreaded gym.

With construction underway, the time they might have spent running laps was used instead to hang out and talk with friends.

“We actually got to play card games,” she said. “That’s where I learned to shuffle a deck of cards.”

From there, she went to Virginia for college. She left after a year for Chapman University, a research school about 30 miles from Los Angeles.

She had family in California, where her dad grew up. Also, she wanted to see the sights.

But Pennsylvania called her back.

In Fayette County, she reconnected with her future husband, who’d been a classmate at Albert Gallatin. He now works for Hranec.

They have two daughters, Hannah and Ava, who she’d taken out to play at Uniontown’s Areford Community Park.

Though Chapley left California, the education she got there led her to a career in the medical field, where she’s worked for 15 years.

For the past 10, she’s been involved in clinical research doing studies of medications. It’s a stay-at-home job with flexible hours that allows her be with her family.

Right now, Chapley’s in the middle of a five-year study of a drug for muscular dystrophy. That will get published in an academic journal, and potentially lead to a medication receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

“I run the study, so making sure we have all the subjects and making sure that we have everything we need, and that the study goes smoothly, and that we have all the information that the doctor needs in order to be able to finish it to the end,” she said. “And hopefully, get a medication that people really need.”

In her free time, Chapley and her family enjoy taking excursions to Summit Mountain, visiting Fort Necessity and Ohiopyle State Park.

Her daughters’ childhood memories are full of the same places she loved as a kid. The family has season passes to Kennywood and Idlewild. And they also frequent the Brownsville Drive-In in Grindstone.

“We were really glad that that’s still open,” she said. “They think that’s really neat, to be able to sit outside and watch a movie.”

The family’s made an annual summer trip the past five years to Bethany Beach in Delaware.

“It’s a more quiet, laid-back beach, and we like that,” she said.

Though beaches are more plentiful elsewhere, the relaxed pace of life in Fayette County — and the places that have given her and her family a lifetime of memories — means Chapley definitely plans to stay.

“We like to travel, but we always like to come back,” she said.