Local News
Popular Marsh Fork High School reunion nears
From its creation in 1925 to devastating fires to its closure in 2003, Marsh Fork High School generated a lot of history.
The newest chapter is its upcoming reunion July 17-18, open to anyone who either attended Marsh Fork High School or graduated from there.
The reunion opens July 17 at 6 p.m. with a social and cocktail buffet at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. A dinner and social are planned the next day at the same location at 7 p.m. The cost per person is $50 for both days.
“It’s quite a big event,” said Dan Harless, a 1954 alumnus now living in Georgia. “Last year I’d say around 400 people attended.”
Harless says the event is not only about meeting with former schoolmates, but about the sharing of a common era.
“It’s a gathering of old and new friends and sharing a personal history with each other,” he said. “It’s an era that will never happen again.”
Marsh Fork High School opened 1925 as the two-room Montcoal High School. In 1930, the school reached its first milestone, graduating seven students. Two years later, the school became known as Marsh Fork.
The building suffered two fires — one in 1943 and the other in 2005, just two years after the school was closed.
Last year, Marsh Fork alumna Gracie Stover Golden established a Web site to keep the history of Marsh Fork and its history alive. The site posts annuals of past years, old pictures, information from various time periods and a history of the school.
“I started putting up pictures on the site and old annuals of Marsh Fork and then it just went from there,” she said. “It’s important to preserve your history, because like my hometown of Packsville, it’s completely gone.”
Golden, who now lives in Kansas, graduated in 1966 and says Marsh Fork helped her become who she is today.
“Your high school is an important part of your past,” she said. “People I knew back then have helped me make connections today. It really brings people together in that way.”
To this day, she says, she is amazed by the close-knit community that resulted from the school.
“What I think is amazing is how some of these people didn’t know each other when they went to school, but now they’re close like family,” she said.
After Saturday’s reunion dinner, class pictures will be taken, beginning with the earliest class present.
Those who want to attend the events must be registered; no walk-ins permitted. For a registration form, see the school’s Web site at http://marshfork. com/newreunion.htm. Links to yearbooks, memories and other information available at http://www.marshfork.com/.
- Local News
-
-
Improvements under way to make Bluestone Dam safer
Improvements and repairs planned at Bluestone Dam over the next 10 years will make the structure safer, but new operating procedures could lead to increased flooding in some areas downstream from the dam, officials said Thursday at a public meeting in Hinton.
-
DOH to relocate cemeteries for expressway
West Virginia Division of Highways officials will begin relocating cemeteries next week to make room for the next phase of the Coalfields Expressway.
-
GVEDC board gets training
Jeff Finkle, president and CEO of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), spent several hours with local development officials Thursday, giving pointers and leading a discussion on economic strategies.
-
Mix-up leads to W.Va. couple on wrong ballot
Stan and Janet Norman are running for office whether they like it or not.
- Calendar — Friday, March 19, 2010
-
SCHOOL CLOSINGS and DELAYS
Click HERE to go to the West Virginia Department of Education with up-to-date school closings and delays by county.
- Tentative agreement reached between Appalachian Regional Healthcare and the United Steelworkers of America A tentative collective bargaining agreement between Appalachian Regional Healthcare and the United Steelworkers of America was reached Wednesday for more than 2,300 ARH employees represented by the USW in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia.
-
Greenbrier to host Fun Fest and Egg Hunt
The Greenbrier will host its first Community Children’s Easter Fun Fest and Egg Hunt for children ages 3-12 March 28.
-
Bluestone Wildlife Area cleaning up from flood
Very little flooding was reported along the New River near Bluestone Dam Saturday, but in other locations the river overflowed its banks and caused considerable damage, including in the Bluestone Wildlife Management Area, officials said.
-
W.Va. gets $72 million in school construction bonds
West Virginia is getting more than $72 million in federal bonds for public schools.
- More Local News Headlines
-
