Jan 2, 2023
PARKERSBURG — A Teacher of the Year, a former chief of police, noted businessmen, a guard at the Nuremberg war crimes trials and a former fire marshal in West Virginia are among the notable residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley who died in the past year.
Among them were:
∫ Samuel B. Ross II, 79, Parkersburg, died on Dec. 22 in Jupiter, Fla. Ross was a businessman starting with one convenience store, later selling the multi-faceted company for more than $600 million, then became a philanthropist through the Ross Foundation. Ross also restored the Blennerhassett Hotel and his foundation spearheaded Discovery World on Market.
∫ Larry H. McPeek (Mouse), 79, Mineral Wells, died Dec. 16, at his residence. A sprint car racer in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, he was inducted into the Atomic Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2021.
∫ Joseph Richard Staudt, 94, Williamstown, died Dec. 15. An athlete at the University of Akron, he was inducted into the Summit County Baseball Hall of Fame.
∫ Charles (Chuck) Kenneth Milhoan, 79, died on Dec. 12. A life-long educator, he was an assistant director at the Washington County Career Center, editor of the Salem College newspaper when he was a freshman and received a summer internship with U.S. Rep. Ken Hechler for an essay he had written.
∫ Fenton Gale “Bud” Hammett Jr., 82, died Dec. 11. He spent 37 years in education and was an assistant superintendent of schools in Wood County.
∫ William Lee Bonar, 93, Marietta, died Dec. 10. Bonar was the second-winningest football coach in Marietta High School history. He was athletic director at Marietta and was inducted into the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, the Bellaire High School Hall and Wall of Fame, the Marietta High School Hall of Fame in 2017 and the Marietta College Hall of Fame in 2018.
∫ John Richard Swales III, 74, Parkersburg, died Dec. 8. He retired from Public Debt as assistant commissioner and was a U.S. Marine veteran who volunteered with Adult Literacy and the Actors Guild.
∫ Landon T. Smith, 80, Caldwell, died on Dec. 6. Smith was sheriff of Noble County from 1972 to 2009 and was the marshal of Belle Valley from 1962 to 1972. Smith was among the investigators into the Thomas Dillon serial killings.
∫ Carolyn Epling, 84, South Charleston, W.Va., formerly of Palestine, died on Dec. 2. She was Wirt County High School’s first princess in the first Black Walnut Festival in Spencer. She was a legislative auditor in West Virginia until becoming the fiscal officer for the House of Delegates.
∫ John E. Roberts, 86, Middlebourne, died Dec. 1. He was a Tyler County magistrate from 1988-2014 and the first male cheerleader in Tyler County.
∫ Robert J. McCloy III, 85, Parkersburg, died on Nov. 28. Amassing a lengthy resume over the decades, McCloy was an attorney, a professor at the former Parkersburg Community College, a U.S. Army veteran and an officer with the West Virginia National Guard, was active in scouting and was the first president of the Allohak Council, was vice president of finance and administration at the Middleton Doll Co., was president of several companies including Mole Master Corp. of Marietta and when Parkersburg Community College transitioned to West Virginia University at Parkersburg, he was asked to participate in the transition. He became chairman of the Business Division at WVUP where the first baccalaureate degrees were offered by the school.
∫ Patrick Donald Amrine, 76, Waterford, died Nov. 30. He was active in the community, youth sports, established St. Mary’s Athletic Boosters and was a leader on the Washington County and Barlow Fair Boards.
∫ James Gavin Cawley, 78, Marietta, passed away Nov. 28. He was a professional golfer in his early 20s and owned Nevada Bob’s throughout Florida, Nevada and Arizona.
∫ David A. Combs, 85, Spencer, died on Nov. 17. He was a vice president at the First National Bank of Spencer, a president of the Chamber of Commerce, was named the Jaycees Young Man of the Year in 1967, organized the first Jaycee July Fourth celebration in 1967 and organized the Nut Run held during the Black Walnut Festival.
∫ Gwendolyn Mary Noe, 82, Marietta, died on Nov. 12. She served 10 years on the Marietta City Schools Board of Education and was a founding member of the Riverside Artists Gallery.
∫ Sister Rita Marie von Berg, 100, Torch, died on Oct. 25. Sister Marie, the CEO and chairman of the board of the former St. Joseph’s Hospital in Parkersburg and an administrator of Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling, entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1939. She was an animal lover who raised Nubian goats, was active in the American Red Cross and the Clown Club as Whugy the Clown, played basketball when she was over 70 in the West Virginia Senior Women’s League and was an avid and boisterous West Virginia University football fan, much to the chagrin of the less-prepared fans of opposing teams.
∫ Fred VanKirk, 87, Charleston, a Jackson County native, died on Oct. 24. The Ravenswood High School graduate, Army veteran and WVU engineering alum started with the former State Road Commission in West Virginia and eventually became a commissioner and secretary of transportation serving under five governors of West Virginia.
∫ Twila L. Stiers Hoover, 89, Waterford, died Oct. 23. She won a National Poet award in the early 1980s.
∫ Icie Jones, 88, Marietta, died on Oct. 22. She and her husband, Wilbur, founded Jones and Jones Accounting, where she worked until two weeks before she died.
∫ Victor Yoak, 100, Ripley, died on Oct. 20. A Navy veteran of World War II, Yoak was named a Distinguished West Virginian in 1988 by Gov. Arch Moore. A bridge in Ripley was named in his honor in 2021 and he served on Ripley City Council, the Ripley Beautification Committee and the Jackson County Republican Executive Committee.
∫ Edelene Claira Wood, 100, Parkersburg, died Oct. 17. Wood, a noted expert on wild foods and a contemporary of the famed naturalist Euell Gibbons, was a published author and president of the National Wild Food Association. Wood served in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II.
∫ Lola “Pauline” Smith, 95, Ravenswood, died on Oct. 16. She compiled and published three volumes of her father’s historical writings of Jackson, Wood and Wirt counties and in 2002 was named a West Virginia History Hero.
∫ Michael Alan Cottrell, 61, Parkersburg, died on Oct. 14. Cottrell was a fire chief in Fairbury, Neb., a fire chief for General Motors at Mansfield, Ohio, served in the Lubeck VFD since 1981 and was fire chief there from 1997-2003. The department’s new building was named after Cottrell. He was a president of the Parkersburg Homecoming, ran for mayor of Parkersburg and was organizing a festival at the time of his death to honor the military and first responders, the Angels of Our Nation festival.
∫ Rick L. Wells, 63, Pennsboro, died on Oct. 6. Wells was a paramedic and volunteer firefighter for more than 35 years in Ritchie County and retired from the Camden Clark Ambulance Service.
∫ Flora L. Kampmeier, 88, Marietta, died on Oct. 4. She was the Washington County Clerk of Courts from September 1975 until her retirement in December 1988.
∫ Patricia Casey Moynihan, 90, Anderson, S.C., died on Sept. 5. She helped found the Mid-Ohio Valley Players 64 years ago.
∫ Capt. Ransford Craig “Heck” Heckert, 74, Parkersburg, died on Aug. 29. A businessman, Heckert was involved with the American Sternwheel Association, the Great Kanawha River Navy, the Marine Corps League, the Taxi Cab Association, the West Virginia Towing Association and Junkyard Association. Heckert was a president of the Sternwheel Association and a fleet admiral of the Great Kanawha River Navy.
∫ Walter Smittle III, 79, Ripley, died Aug. 25. He was the youngest State Fire Marshal in West Virginia history and served 26 years as the longest serving fire marshal until his retirement in 1999. In addition to serving on national fire safety boards and associations, he was 911 director in Jackson County and most recently was director of emergency services for Jackson County, where he received Emergency Manager of the Year by the state Emergency Management Council.
∫ Susan Charity Gracey, 68, Parkersburg, died Aug. 8. A 40-year educator, she was a National Board-Certified Teacher who earned the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching, the Ashland Oil Teacher Achievement Award, the USA Today All USA Teacher Team and the Japanese Fulbright Memorial Program. Upon retirement from Wood County Schools, Gracey was named the principal of North Christian School.
∫ Patricia Ann Moore Martin, 72, New Matamoras, died Aug. 9. She served on the Matamoras Homecoming Festival, the Fireman’s Festival and Christmas in the Village Committees, and as village council, clerk and treasurer.
∫ Patsy “Pat” Minnite Sr., 82, Vienna, died on Aug. 5. He was the founder of the PM Company and the Spirit of Giving philanthropic program.
∫ Mark Francis Bradley, 52, Marietta, died on Aug. 4. He played baseball for the Ohio University Bobcats and was on the conference championship team in 1991 that went to the NCAA tournament. He was in the sports Halls of Fame at Marietta High School, Mid-Ohio Valley and Ohio University. After 20 years as president of Peoples Bank, he joined Magnum Magnetics in 2010. He was a club champ at the Marietta Country Club and was on the broadcast teams for local high school and college sports on WMOA.
∫ George Kellenberger, 83, died July 30. He was the long-time president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Mid-Ohio Valley and the first president of the Parkersburg Homecoming Festival.
∫ George B. Fox, 69, Parkersburg, died on July 2. Fox retired from the Parkersburg Police Department where he was chief of police, starting as a dispatcher and later becoming the department’s first police dog handler.
∫ Steve Greiner, 76, Vienna, died on July 2. Greiner, who as a child was the face of the Greiner Bread Co., was the assessor and the sheriff of Wood County. Serving two terms as sheriff, he was the first deputy to advance through the ranks and become sheriff.
∫ Dan Fowler, 79, died on June 23. Fowler was an archaeologist with the West Virginia Geologic Survey and the executive director of the Blennerhassett Historical State Park Commission, where he oversaw the construction of the mansion and other island developments. He left the island and enrolled in law school in 1987 at West Virginia University.
∫ Holmes R. “Butch” Shaver, 83, Parkersburg, died on June 14. The former Wood County commissioner was the owner of Parkersburg Realty and was involved in numerous development projects in the region. The judicial annex in Wood County is named after Shaver. Shaver, who received the William P.A. Nicely Award for Lifetime Achievement, served on many boards and organizations including the Airport Authority and the Development Authority.
∫ Ragina Melton Copeland, 79, Powhatan, Va., formerly of Washington, W.Va., died on June 3. She retired from West Virginia University at Parkersburg as professor emeritus with 40 years of service.
∫ Gary Joe Lockhart, 79, Barefoot Bay, Fla., died on June 1. A 1960 graduate of Parkersburg High School where he was the head drum major, Lockhart was the first manager of the Mid-Ohio Valley Transit Authority, serving from 1976 to 2011. The transit facility on Juliana Street is named in his honor.
∫ Helen Stahl, 97, Little Hocking, died May 18. She and her late husband, Paul, in 1958 opened Stahl’s Nursery and Christmas Shop in Little Hocking.
∫ Roger Michael Dutcher, 75, Marietta, died April 1. Dutcher served for 30 years on the Marietta Police Department, retiring as a captain in 2000. He received a Police Purple Heart in 1990 after he was shot during an arrest.
∫ Douglas Alan Hoselton, 71, Buckeye, Ariz., died on March 30. A Parkersburg native, he coached the Parkersburg Catholic High School girls basketball team to its first Class A Championship in 1979 and had a successful collegiate career coaching women’s basketball at the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State from 1989-1993 and as an assistant coach at Penn State and Virginia Commonwealth.
∫ James Andrew Rose, 69, Williamstown, died on March 29. Rose was a former deputy state fire marshal, safety and security supervisor at Camden Clark Memorial Hospital where in 1988 he started one of the nation’s first hospital-based Hazmat teams, finished his career at the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department as threat preparedness coordinator and was a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels for his work in fire safety and chemical response.
∫ Emory C. (Sam) Waggoner, 95, Elizabeth, died on March 26. He served on the Elizabeth Town Council.
∫ Junior Ray Linch, 94, Vienna, died on March 16. He was a guard at the Nuremberg war crimes trials after World War II and is one of five servicemen on the Gold Star Family Monument in Vienna.
∫ Douglas R. Farr, 89, Marietta, died on March 13. A mechanical engineer, he moved to Marietta in 1979 to become the president of Marietta Metal Products. In 1985, he and his son, Doug Jr., started Farr Manufacturing & Engineering Co., serving as president until 2007. The senior Farr was the 1990 SBA Outstanding Small Businessman, the 1990 Merrill Lynch Entrepreneur of the Year, the 1991 Blue Chip Enterprise winner and the 1993 Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Illinois.
∫ Catherine “Cathy” Louise (Shuff) Bennett, 73, Middlebourne, died on March 11. An educator, the University of South Carolina Library Journal in 2002 gave her its Movers and Shakers award for leadership and innovation as a library educator. In 2014, she retired from Belmont Technical College and was recognized as Associate Dean Emeritus and received the Heritage Tree Award.
∫ Kelton R. Fliehman, 92, Lowell, died on March 11. He served many years on Lowell Village Council and was a mayor of Lowell.
∫ Gene Patterson, 89, Vienna, formerly Sistersville, died on Feb. 14. He was a Sistersville city commissioner for over 50 years and was a member of the Jackson County and state Democratic Executive Committees.
∫ James Christopher Osborn, 72, Parkersburg, died Feb. 6. Osborn was a Marine who served in Vietnam and was trained in aerial reconnaissance, training that led to his profession as a photographer. He opened Osborn Photographic Illustration in 1976, where his photographs won numerous awards for their commercial and advertising usages including tourism promotion for the state of West Virginia. In 2009, he was the only photographer from West Virginia selected for the national “50 States” project. He was the first Eagle Scout at Boy Scout Troop 16, was president of the Board for the Cultural Center of Fine Arts and was a board member of the Parkersburg Art Center.
∫ Charles “Gary” Winters, 79, Parkersburg, died on Feb. 5. Winters during his career owned and operated the 19th Street Country Club, was a Parkersburg City Councilman from 1978 through 1981, worked the chains at Parkersburg High School football games and helped build more than 300 handicap ramps.
∫ Dallas E. Flowers, 82, St. Marys, died Feb. 1. He was chief of police in St. Marys from March 10, 1981 to March 19, 2002.
∫ William “Bill” Auxier Jr., 74, Belmont, died on Jan. 27. A member of the West Virginia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame, he was a physical education teacher and coach from 1973 to 2005 at St. Marys High School where as an assistant football coach the school produced two state championship teams.
∫ Paul Edward Thornton Jr., 70, Williamstown, died on Jan. 24. A former city councilman in Vienna, he was a police officer in Vienna, development director for the City of Vienna and was president of the Small City Chapter of the National League of Cities.
∫ Lewis Roland Rutherford, 84, Parkersburg, died Jan. 17. Recognized by Who’s Who of American College Professors, Rutherford was Teacher of the Year at WVU Parkersburg several times.
∫ Ralph L. Blair, 87, Belleville, died on Jan. 13. He was a longtime member of the West Virginia and Wood County farm bureaus, serving as an officer, and served on the Wood County Board of Education and the Wood County Planning Commission.
∫ William C. Dearien, 82, Vienna, died Dec. 31, 2021. He was an executive director of SW Resources and was the West Virginia State Director of Rehabilitation. He then owned five Subway Restaurants until retirement in 2007 and was named an Outstanding Young Man of America.
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
CHARLESTON — WorkForce West Virginia announced a series of Statewite Virtual Job Fairs taking place …
While the statewide average of positive COVID-10 cases decreased to 232.4 cases per 100,000 residents over the past …
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
Copyright © Marietta Times | https://www.mariettatimes.com | 700 Channel Lane, Marietta, OH 45750 | 740-373-2121