Photo by Heather Ziegler This photo of the late Bill Hogan shows him working on sketches of several children he encountered with the Fundraiser Urban Mobile Playground program.

WHEELING — Rarely do second chances in life pan out as well as they did for Wheeling native Bill Hogan and for the people whose lives he touched in various ways. Hogan died on Nov. 4. He was 91.

Some may remember Hogan as a U.S. Air Force veteran, or as a financial adviser. Maybe you knew him as the father to six children or grandpa to three grandkids. Or perhaps you knew Bill when he and wife Susan spent five years in the Peace Corps in West Africa.

However, there are people young and old who knew Hogan by his street name “Sketch.” As a 49-year member of Alcoholics Anonymous, Hogan rubbed elbows with the homeless and economically challenged youth as easily as he did the Wheeling Symphony crowd.

His ability to capture the faces of such people in his drawings prompted a simple but telling tribute to this man who once thought life was not worth living. His second chance at life came through his relationships with the community and family he loved, by giving of his time, talents and treasure to make others see the good in life.

Just a few weeks before his passing, The Mother Jones Center for Resilient Community at 88 14th St. in Wheeling, dedicated a space as the Bill Hogan Community Gallery. The display is available for viewing until Saturday and then will become a permanent gallery within the building. This center is operated as part of the House of Hagar Share Inc. with Kate Marshall as executive director.

It was at the House of Hagar, also on 14th Street that Hogan often shared meals and stories with those less fortunate.

Marshall said it became a regular part of Hogan’s visits to sketch the people with whom he came into contact. Many of their faces adorn the walls of the gallery.

When he helped establish the Funraiser Urban Mobile Playground initiative, he interacted with many children in which the funmobile would visit neighborhoods and provide youngsters with fun activities.

“He was at every stop,” Marshall said. “He would draw pictures of the kids and that was something special for a lot of them. Almost all of them have pictures he drew hanging in their bedrooms,” Marshall said.

In a Facebook post, several of the children commented how Hogan touched their lives. Among the remarks were “He was always there for us,” and “He was like the grandpa I never had.”

Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott also remarked about Hogan’s larger-than-life presence in Wheeling.

“Bill seemed to have a way of effortlessly touching the lives of people he came to know during his life. He could draw upon a seemingly endless fountain of wisdom to make any conversation with him not only interesting but also immensely edifying. Often, he would convey this wisdom through a story that seemed too remarkably apt to the conversation at hand to be true. In fairness, I never fact-checked any of Bill’s stories. But he told them with such an aww-shucksy charm that it never occurred to me that they could be anything but carved out of pure fact.”

To honor his memory, the family asks that donations be made to the Bill Hogan Art Gallery, in care of the MoJo Center for Resilient Community, 88 14th St., Wheeling, W.Va. 26003. Donations will help further the cause of other local artists who may need a second chance, too.