Photo by Joselyn King Scott Reed, left, a former chairman of the Ohio County Republican Party, expresses his condolences to Mary McKinley, wife of former U.S. Rep. David B. McKinley, during visitation Sunday in the third floor courtroom at West Virginia Independence Hall. The funeral for McKinley is set to take place at 11 a.m. today at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Wheeling.

WHEELING – There was a very long receiving line as many members from the public turned out Sunday afternoon to honor the memory of the late U.S. Rep. David B. McKinley.

Visitation took place from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday in the third floor courtroom at West Virginia Independence Hall, with people lined up through the room to the elevator and adjacent hallways to pay their respects to the McKinley family.

McKinley’s funeral is set for 11 a.m. today at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 1410 Chapline St., Wheeling. Interment will follow in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling, WV.

Among those in line Sunday was former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, a Democrat. He said he and the Republican McKinley didn’t always agree politically, but they nevertheless found common ground.

“We both loved Wheeling, and old buildings, and we found commonality in those interests,” Fluharty explained. “We worked together when he was in office and I was mayor.

“Wheeling had no greater advocate than David McKinley, and I think he is going to be severely missed.”

Another Democrat, Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, acknowledged he sought McKinley’s support and counsel when he first ran for office.

“He quietly got behind my campaign because we shared the same vision for what Wheeling could be,” he said. “That he would cross party lines when it was in the best interest of Wheeling says a lot about his character. That is so missing these days in the divided time we live in.”

Robert Miller, the executive director of the West Virginia Route 2/I-68 Authority, credited McKinley with not only getting him interested in politics but also starting him on a new career path.

“I first talked to him on Tax Day in 2010 during his first congressional campaign,” Miller said. “We met out at Wheeling Park at a Tea Party rally.

“I always vowed I would never get engaged in politics. I got engaged and became his ‘number one volunteer’ – that’s what he jokingly called me. I feel my whole life changed. If we hadn’t met that night, it would have really been different. I’m going to miss him.”

West Virginia Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, has observed how much effort McKinley put into constituent services.

“I’ve known David for a very long time,” Clements said. “The year he left the legislature (in 1994), I went in right after him. I got his seat.

“I always admired David during his days in the U.S. Congress because he was either in Washington, or he was out in the district. I don’t know how many times I went to counties in my Senate district, and there was David out there working. That’s the kind of people we need who stay on top of things.”

McKinley is going to be missed “as a congressman, a family man, and a great citizen of this state,” he continued.

Dr. Richard Terry of Wheeling said he is just two months older than McKinley, and that the two grew up together.

“He has always been a terrific person,” Terry said. “He was the most ethical person I ever met. We’re going to miss him.”

Jeanne Finstein, president of the Friends of Wheeling, termed McKinley “a real leader in historic preservation” – both as a person and as a member of the business community and civil engineer.

She noted McKinley’s efforts to restore the Maxwell Building in Wheeling, which would later house the business operations of the McKinley and Associates engineering firm.

“It was just a terrific adaptive reuse (of a building),” she said. “We will miss him.

“I always felt he was a very honest and forthright representative of the people. I didn’t always agree with his positions, but I always respected his decisions and felt he was doing what was best. We can’t ask for more.”

Jason Koegler, vice president for advancement at Bethany College, said he came “in appreciation of a man who represented our community and gave everything.”

“When I was working at West Liberty University, he was so supportive, and I liked connecting with him,” Koegler said. “He always put community first.”

Sarah Koegler, a former member of the Ohio County Board of Education, recounted McKinley’s efforts to bring colleges in the region together to collectively apply for federal grant money.

“Congressman McKinley was very interested in building coalitions,” she said. “It was about 10 years ago, he pulled together folks from about five different higher educational organizations in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to see if they could come together and apply for a common National Science Foundation Association Grant.

‘It was very unheard of for these colleges to collaborate, but he was able to do it (get them to work together).”

While the schools ultimately did not receive the grant, the effort marked the first time they had worked together to apply for money, according to Sarah Koegler.

Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger added McKinley “was very supportive of law enforcement.”

He spoke of how Wheeling police officers over the years have been winners of National Association of Police Officers awards, and how one year he made certain they got special treatment while they were in Washington, D.C. to receive the honor.

McKinley arranged for the Wheeling officers to receive private tours of the U.S. Capitol and FBI headquarters, and later see downstairs at the Library of Congress building.

“We had breakfast in the Washington Room, and at the end of the day we had a few beverages out on the Speaker’s Balcony overlooking the Washington Monument,” Schwertfeger said.

“For a man to do something like that for law enforcement… he didn’t have to take the time for something like that.”

Wheeling business owner Scott Reed, a former chairman of the Ohio County Republican Party, noted how McKinley impacted his life as well as those of his family.

Reed’s son Michael interned for McKinley when he was a congressman, and later Michael interned at the White House “because of Congressman McKinley,” Reed said.

“(McKinley) loved Wheeling. He loved West Virginia, and it made an impact on our community,” Reed said.

Former Wheeling City Council member Wendy Scatterday explained McKinley and her father, the late Robert “Scat” Scatterday, were friends for many years. In addition, she and the older McKinley children went to high school together.

“I remember we had a campaign sign for him in our yard for his first House of Delegates run,” she said. “Congressman McKinley and (wife) Mary have been supportive of me during our lifelong friendships. It was important for me to come here and give them a hug.

“People will remember Congressman McKinley. I might not always have agreed with him, but he was a good man. But he loved West Virginians, and worked very hard for them,” Scatterday said.