Community

Plaque Dedicated to Late WVU Medicine Reynolds Volunteer

GLEN DALE -- A plaque in honor of the late Betty Weekly, a longtime volunteer at WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital, was dedicated Thursday.

Weekly, who resided in Moundsville and died in October 2022 at the age of 94, logged more than 21,000 volunteer hours at the hospital during the past four decades.

Hospital officials including Chief Operating Officer Tony Martinelli; Weekly's daughters, June Leach and Jane Borsuk; granddaughter Jennifer Rohrig; and fellow volunteer Mickey Massey, were on hand for the event.

The plaque will be installed on a wall above the checkout area inside the hospital gift shop where Weekly put in many hours over the years.

"She volunteered over 21,000 hours which is just incomprehensible to me," Rohrig said. "Aside from her church work, she loved it. She loved being here and she loved the people. She was really so selfless. She would not understand why we're all here today celebrating her.

"No recognition; that's just the kind of person she was."

Rohrig said her grandmother also liked to have fun.

"She was always kind of proper. She was the quintessential grandmother. She taught me so much about giving to others, selflessness and volunteering," Rohrig said.

"She was very dedicated. She never thought of herself, she was always thinking about everyone else."

Rohrig said she wanted to thank the hospital for recognizing her grandmother.

"Hopefully her story will inspire people to give back to the community and volunteer," she added.

Volunteer Mickey Massey said she got to serve with Weekly for many years.

"The 21,000 hours she put in, someone said that was equivalent to 10 years of working," Massey said.

"Betty came from a generation that you went to the beauty shop every week. She had that white hair; she was like a little angel walking around the halls.

"She was very quiet. Anytime anyone asked her to do something, she would say, 'Yes, I'll do that. Yes, I can come.'"

Massey said she has volunteered at WVU Medicine Reynolds for the past 16 years and worked with Weekly in the gift shop. Now Massey helps mostly with fundraisers for the hospital.

Leach said she and sister are appreciative of the plaque dedicated to their mother.

"My mother loved her work up here. I would say it was only second to her church work," Leach said, adding her mother attended Moundsville Baptist Church.

"She was really upset when she had to give it up. She really missed it."

Leach said her mother's volunteer work was important to her and she always was thorough in everything she did. Weekly also worked part-time at Grisell Funeral Home for a time after her husband passed away. She was retired from the former Fostoria Glass Payroll Department.

Borsuk described her mother as "sweet." She noted her mother enjoyed helping people and would not have wanted any recognition for it. Borsuk said when her son Michael was young she would bring him to the gift shop to visit his grandmother.

"He loved coming here to visit. She always bought him candy," she said.