Albert and Kathleen Schenk Recognized For Generous Contributions to Community, Selected to Wheeling Hall of Fame
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(Editor's Note: This is the final article in a six-part series profiling the Wheeling Hall of Fame's 2019 inductees.)
WHEELING --A couple, whose generosity continues to help many area organizations, have been selected for the Wheeling Hall of Fame.
The late Albert F. Schenk III and his wife, the late Kathleen Hogan Schenk, are being inducted in the Philanthropy category.
They and 10 other honorees are to be recognized during a banquet at 6 p.m. Friday at WesBanco Arena. Tickets sales for the Hall of Fame dinner are now closed.
"No other private foundation in the Wheeling area comes close to the breadth and depth of grants made annually by the Schenk Charitable Trust," members of the hall's board said. "Albert was a nephew of Hall of Fame member Otto Schenk and continued the Schenk family tradition of giving generously to scores of primarily Wheeling-based charitable organizations."
The Schenk Charitable Trust was created upon the death of Albert Schenk in 1995 and increased substantially after his wife's death in 2009. The trust is managed by their family.
"According to public filings, the Schenk Charitable Trust has more than $8 million in assets and annually distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships, capital improvements and program assistance to educational and social service agencies throughout the Wheeling area, greatly improving the lives of citizens of Wheeling," Hall of Fame officials said.
For instance, significant grants for health care have been made to Ohio Valley Medical Center's Robert C. Byrd Behavioral Health Center, Liza's Place, WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital, Wheeling Health Right and Lazarus House.
Educational grants have been given to Augusta Levy Learning Center, Bethany College, Wheeling Jesuit University, the Marshall County and Ohio County school systems, Wheeling Central Catholic High School, Corpus Christi and St. Vincent de Paul elementary schools and King's Daughters Child Care Center.
The trust also has made grants to to social service agencies, including Crittenton Services, Catholic Charities, Laughlin Memorial Chapel, Russell Nesbitt Services, Youth Services System and the United Way.
Grants to improve the quality of life have been awarded to Grow Ohio Valley, Oglebay Foundation, Oglebay Institute, Wheeling Symphony and to the city for the East Wheeling Chambers field.
The charitable trust also supports the July fireworks celebration at Oglebay Park in honor of Albert Schenk, whose love of fireworks was well known.
The Schenks were born in Wheeling and lived there continuously until 1950, when they moved to Elm Knoll along Big Wheeling Creek in Marshall County.
Most of Albert Schenk's gifts were made anonymously, but he did allow his family name to be used for the construction of Oglebay Park's Schenk Lake as a memorial for his parents. Other gifts to support the Wheeling Park Commission and enhance the lake continued throughout his lifetime.
Kathleen Hogan Schenk began a lifetime of volunteer work with the Red Cross during World War II. In later years, she was a volunteer for Girl Scouts, King's Daughters and OVMC and was a member of the Charter Guild of Wheeling Jesuit University.
She served on the boards of Wheeling Hospital, Welty Home, Good Shepherd Nursing Home and the former Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy.
During her lifetime, she was a significant supporter of Mount de Chantal, WJU and Wheeling Hospital, "again without public recognition," hall members said.
The other 2019 Hall of Fame inductees are Donald W. Mercer and the late William Burrus, for 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; and Ronald G. Peyton and Susan D. Vail, Sports and Athletics.