The identification of all the holes is all correct, by the way. Nice job. No. 5 Valley View does not present a very difficult drive (although I have been in the left trees quite a few times), but the green is where all the action is. Often, the shot is a short iron, but even then, it can be nearly impossible to hold the green. And never an easy putt! I played in a lot of charity outings there, and a birdie is a great score on that short straightish hole.
As far as staffing, I know that they were operating on a skeleton crew that last few years. In my opinion, less population, a poor local economy even for those still left in the area, bad weather (a very wet spring last year limiting the number of playable days), a semi-remote location, and stiff competition from nearby courses (Yankee Trace, Walden Ponds, Heatherwood, Beckett Ridge, for example, driving the obtainable price per round down), made it impossible to be profitable after paying down debt service from the great bent-grass renovation.
I think once the leagues from AK Steel dried up (from 5,000 employees to about 1,600), it became just an issue of survival. Less of an impact, but an impact nonetheless, is the presence of two private courses in town (Brown's Run and Wildwood). Those two courses have had to offer some great deals to stay afloat themselves, and that skimmed even more people from potential players (who otherwise might have been playing Weatherwax [myself included]).
I would love to have purchased this course for sentimental reasons. I grew up playing there, and I can see the writing on the wall. I will have to play a few last rounds for good measure, and will take a lot of photos!