Four Wheeling residents will be honored during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend for their contributions in eliminating racial inequity and promoting peace and harmony.
The Martin Luther King Award will be presented to Rodrigues "Rod" Lee and Rabbi Joshua Lief, while Theodora "Teddie" Grogan and Martha Wright will receive the Rosa Parks Award, according to Ron Scott Jr., chairman of Wheeling's Martin Luther King Celebration Committee.
The four will be recognized at ceremonies taking place Sunday. Rodrigues and Grogan will be honored at an awards dinner at 3 p.m. at West Virginia Northern Community College, while Wright and Rabbi Lief will receive their awards at the 6 p.m. Interfaith Prayer Service at Wayman AME Church.
"All of the cumulative work of all four winners says so much about community as a whole," Scott said. "From religious leaders like Rabbi Lief, to community leaders like Rod Lee, to caring for children and Martha Wright to the political arena with Teddie Grogan, we covered a lot of bases.
"It shows we really are a community that takes care of itself any way it can."
Nominations were solicited from the public, and the committee made their decisions on the honorees from submissions, according to Scott.
- Lee has lived in Wheeling all his life. Active in his community, Lee is first vice president of the West Virginia State Association of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World. He is a member of the Elks Panhandle Lodge 74, where he has served as a Past Exalted Ruler. He is a member of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of West Virginia Free & Accepted Masons, American Legion Post 89, Sons of the American Legion, and the local NAACP.
He is also one of the founding members of The Men of Change and has served as a board member for many organizations, including Youth Services System, Workforce Investment, Banum House-Community Relations, and Laughlin Memorial Chapel.
For his dedication in the East Wheeling community, Lee has received numerous humanitarian awards, and has also served as a coach for numerous community youth and high school sports teams. He has been employed since 1997 by the City of Wheeling Recreation Department as a director/facility coordinator. He is also employed by American Electric Power and has served Youth Services System as a Licensed Worker.
- Lief is the rabbi of historic Temple Shalom, the congregation in which he grew up in Wheeling. As a youngster, he was active in all sports, music, and was an Eagle Scout. He has been a leader in the community, often organizing community prayer events to commemorate national, regional, and local events.
Additionally, Lief has been active in the city's current revitalization efforts through support of the arts, business development, parks, public education, and interfaith engagement. He is chair of the Wheeling Human Rights Commission, and serves on the boards of Wheeling Health Right, Congregations for Caring, the Impact Coalition, the Unity Center, and Easterseals. He is the past president of the Wheeling Rotary Club, a group in which he remains active. His service and leadership to the Wheeling-area community reflect the vision of Dr. King to advocate for equal rights for all members of the community.
- Theodora M. "Teddie" Grogan was introduced and inspired to community service by former West Virginia Gov. Jay Rockefeller through his presentation and personal conversation at her freshman convocation at Fairmont State College. She says his words and example lit the fire of service and duty to community and just causes, spurring her to fight for civil, women's, human, and voting rights and the environment.
Grogan has worked in all phases of political activities for local, state, and national campaigns and candidates. She is an active volunteer, currently serving as a member of the Wheeling Hospital Auxiliary and the Board of the Wheeling Academy of Law and Science Foundation, and as a member and past parish council member of St. Joseph Cathedral. She has served on the boards of the Wheeling YWCA and the Wheeling Hopeful City project, the Wheeling Symphony Auxiliary, the Florence Crittenton Junior Board, and the Relay for Life. Grogan also has volunteered in the Wheeling Park High School Guidance Office.
Grogan worked as a research technologist at Mobay Chemical Company, the company's first female to be hired "in plant" in the U.S.
- Wright moved to Wheeling in 1990 and began a career in nonprofit administration in arts organizations, including time as director of the Stifel Fine Arts Center. She came to recognize a desire to be more directly involved with people and programs that assisted with basic needs for health and education. While she has worked in a variety of organizations, she has always been most interested in services for young people.
She has worked for years at Laughlin Memorial Chapel, a nonprofit organization on 18th Street in Wheeling that serves children and their families. Wright became Laughlin Chapel director in 2020. Previously, she served as the Chapel’s development coordinator from 1999-2008. In the intervening years, she was a program officer for Volunteers Exploring Vocation, a Lilly Endowments program supporting national year-of-service organizations and young people discerning a call to ministry.
Before returning to the Chapel, Wright worked at Crittenton Services as development director. She has been an active community member and has served on the City of Wheeling Board of Zoning Appeals and as a Planning Commissioner.
The annual MLK March precedes the awards dinner on Sunday. It starts at 2:15 p.m. at the Windmill, 470 Stone Boulevard, and will proceed downtown to WVNCC at 1704 Market St, Wheeling.
Along the way stations will be set up to honor art from local middle school students, while students from Wheeling Park High School members will play at the conclusion of the march.
There will also be other students providing their own versions of King's speeches.
"I just want folks to understand that it is an inclusive community event. It is for everyone," Scott said. "I'm sure there's something they can find to attend during the weekend."