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Wheeling Hall of Fame Board Names Inductees

Photo by Linda Comins Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott joins Wheeling Hall of Fame board members Wednesday to name the hall’s 2019 inductees. Board members include, front row from left, secretary-treasurer Philip Stahl, Maureen Zambito, vice chair Jeanne Finstein, chairman Robert DeFrancis, Doug Huff and Councilwoman Wendy Scatterday.

WHEELING — A dozen people are set to be inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in June for their many and varied contributions to the community.

Robert DeFrancis, chairman of the Hall of Fame board, announced the 2019 inductees at a press conference Wednesday in Wheeling City Council chambers.

“It is one of the largest classes we’ve had in many years and one of the most diverse,” DeFrancis said. The hall’s first class was inducted in 1980.

Honorees are being recognized in six major categories. This year, each category has two honorees, which is the maximum number allowed under the hall’s charter, he said.

Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott praised the accomplishments of the new inductees. He said, “We’re standing on the shoulders of trailblazers. We have a very rich city history.”

The new Hall of Fame members, by category, are as follows:t

– Donald W. Mercer and the late William Burrus, Business, Industry and Professions;

– Sue Seibert Farnsworth and Harriette Shull “Hydie” Friend, Public Service;

– Everett Lee and the late John Joseph “J.J.” Owens, Music and Fine Arts;

– Sister Joanne Gonter and the late Rev. Willie F. Stinson, Education and Religion;

– Ronald G. Peyton and Susan D. Vail, Sports and Athletics;

– The late Albert F. Schenk III and his wife, the late Kathleen Hogan Schenk, Philanthropy.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony and banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. June 7 at WesBanco Arena. Tickets are on sale now online at wesbancoarena.com and etix.com.

Mercer, a Wheeling resident who holds a doctorate in biochemistry, served on staff at Montefiore Hospital, Pittsburgh, where he researched and developed a blood test for the rapid and reliable detection of suspected heart attacks. His CK-MB blood test, patented in 1977, showed nearly 100 percent accuracy and is considered one of the major medical developments of the 20th century.

Burrus, who died in 2018, became the first African American president of the American Postal Workers Union in 2001. That achievement made him the first African American to be elected by membership as president of a national union. He was twice named among the 100 most influential black Americans in Ebony magazine.

Farnsworth, a Wheeling resident and lawyer, serves on the Wheeling Park Commission, Oglebay Foundation, Wheeling Symphony board, Women’s Giving Circle and Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley. “Her public service is decades long and reaches into almost every aspect of the nonprofit world,” DeFrancis said.

Friend “led early efforts to use historic preservation for economic development,” he said. The Wheeling resident oversaw renovation of Centre Market and spearheaded the purchase and renovation of the Capitol Theatre, construction of Heritage Port and installation of interpretive exhibits and signage.

Lee, a violinist and conductor, was the first African American to conduct a major Broadway production, a major symphony orchestra in the South and a major opera company in the United States. Lee, now 102, resides in Sweden

Owens, who died in 1931, was a prominent artist who was commissioned to paint portraits of dignitaries from Wheeling, Washington, D.C., and other areas. Many of his paintings of Wheeling’s landmarks and buildings are on permanent display at the Ohio County Public Library.

Gonter taught at the former Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy in Wheeling for 49 years, served as superior of the Sisters of the Visitation community and as Mount de Chantal’s director of alumnae relations. She now resides at the Georgeown Visitation community in Washington, D.C.

Stinson, who died in 2018, was a founder of Agape Baptist Church in Wheeling. served as a professional chef and played football with the Wheeling Ironmen.

“During his years as a Wheeling pastor, Stinson was an example to follow, an inspiration to all who knew him, a leader among people of faith, and a force for hope and progress in East Wheeling and beyond,” DeFrancis said.

Peyton, who now lives in Texas, earned the Catherine Worthington Fellowship Award, the highest honor given to a physical therapist, in 2011. He served as director of sports medicine services at the Olympic Village for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and was president and CEO of the Dogwood Institute in Alpharetta, Georgia, from 1970 to 2010.

Vail, who resides in Wheeling, has won 15 individual women’s golf championships in West Virginia. She started the women’s golf team at Wheeling Jesuit University where her teams have won six conference championships.

The Schenks were”unparalleled philanthropists,” DeFrancis said. “Albert was a nephew of Hall of Fame member Otto Schenk and continued the Schenk family tradition of giving generously to scores of Wheeling-based charities.”

The couple established a trust that continues to assist area organizations and projects.The Schenk Charitable Trust was created upon Albert Schenk’s death in 1995 and enlarged following Kathleen Schenk’s death in 2009.

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