Funeral services for Ohio County educator Thomas Innocenti took place Monday, with friends, colleagues and family remembering the former principal and Ohio County Board of Education president.
Innocenti, 91, died Oct. 2 at the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility in Clarksburg.
A Warwood native and U.S. Army veteran who served during the Korean conflict, Innocenti was awarded the Bronze Star with a specification denoting valor/ heroism while engaged in direct combat.
The future principal was a sniper in the military.
Ohio County BOE member Erik Schramm was a member of the Ohio County BOE when Innocenti also was a member. He said he wished he had known more about Innocenti's military background, because it helped shape his viewpoint and work ethic in the schools throughout his life.
He said he learned more about Innocenti from his son Tom in recent years.
Innocenti - who lost his father when he was 7 - had initially wanted to sign up for the U.S. Navy, but was denied because his mother was dependent on him, Schramm said.
Innocenti went on to graduate from West Liberty State College following his service with the U.S. Army, then achieved a master's degree in education from West Virginia University.
He came home to Ohio County to teach, but quickly found he needed a second job. He worked as an underwater welder to provide additional support for his family, Schramm said.
"When he returned, like many veterans Mr. Innocenti was a workaholic," he continued. "He had memories ... that tracked him his entire life.
"He was a workaholic. That is how he fought off the intrusive thoughts of combat."
After retiring in 1999, he was elected to the board of education, where he would go on to serve as president. Innocenti's grandson, Joey Subasic, would follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a principal in Ohio County Schools.
Andy Garber, current Ohio County Board of Education president, succeeded Innocenti as principal at Wheeling Middle School.
"The man is an icon," he said of Innocenti. "He was a very special man who dedicated his life to education. He served as principal first at Clay School, and later at Wheeling Middle School. He was a great leader, and guided those schools to be great schools."
Under Innocenti, Wheeling Middle School achieved National Blue Ribbon School recognition just prior to his retirement, Garber noted.
There were methods Innocenti implemented at the school to improve student achievement, and he would later travel the state to share these with other schools through "The Pivots Program," Garber said.
Garber also remembers that Innocenti started bingo nights at the school, with the proceeds benefiting the boosters program about $250,000 over the years.
"Even when I was there, there was still money in the account he had accrued with bingo," Garber said.
Rick Redd - a former principal at Sand Hill Elementary and McNinch Elementary in Moundsville and special education director for Marshall County Schools - first met Innocenti as a child, when Innocenti and his family lived next door to him in the Middle Creek area of Triadelphia. Innocenti was then the teaching principal at the old Middle Creek Elementary.
Years later in 1972, Innocenti would give Redd his first teaching job at Clay.
Innocenti instilled in his teachers self-sufficiency, Redd said. He remembered one day before classes started at Clay when he and several other teachers were cutting up in the third-floor hallway and Innocenti walked up to them.
"He comes up and says, 'You know what? It really makes you guys look bad if I have to come up here for anything,'" he said.
The message, Redd said, was clear: Innocenti expected his teachers to solve their problems of the day rather than looking to the main office for every little issue.
"So we handled everything," Redd added.
The success of those lessons were shown in the number of teachers under Innocenti who went on to become administrators themselves, Redd said. Innocenti also believed in giving his teachers the spotlight rather than the principal always being front and center.
Ohio County Schools Superintendent Kim Miller remembered Innocenti from her early days as an educator.
"It is a huge loss," she said. "He made a lot of contributions to Ohio County Schools. I was fortunate to have worked with him."
Current Ohio County BOE member David Croft said he grew up being good friends with Innocenti's son, Trevor, and spent many times in the family's pool at their home in Clearview.
"I remember when I won my election for my first term, he asked, 'Do you need any help? By the way, let me tell you what's wrong.' He will be missed," Croft said.