Wheeling Hall of Fame Announces 2023 Class | News, Sports, Jobs

photo by: Photo by Derek Redd

Wheeling Hall of Fame Selection Committee Chair Robert DeFrancis, left, announces the 2023 Class Friday. He is joined by Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott.

WHEELING – Eleven notable Wheeling names – whose contributions to their respective fields span the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries – were announced Friday as the Wheeling Hall of Fame’s 2023 Induction Class. What those 11 have meant not just to Wheeling, but far beyond the city’s borders, is what Hall of Fame committee members and city officials believe is a shining example of the quality of person that has called this community home for hundreds of years.

The 11 inductees will head to the Hall of Fame in six categories – the late Edward Bates Franzheim and the late Alfred Paull in Business, Industry and Professions; the late Mary Ann Hess and Joan Corson Stamp in Philanthropy; Dr. William C. Mercer and the late Robert J. Otten in Public Service; The Rev. James A. O’Brien, S.J. and the late Beatrice Ann Thomas in Education and Religion; the late Edith Lake Wilkinson and the late “Chickie” Williams in Music and Fine Arts; and the late Edwin M. “Ned” Steckel Jr. in Sports and Athletics.

Robert DeFrancis, chairman of the Hall of Fame committee, said this group continues the lineage of accomplished and well-deserving community members to enter the Hall. He remembers early in his time with the committee when older members of the group began to worry that they were running out of worthy nominees.

“And I’ve never known that to be the case,” DeFrancis said. “There are always individuals who deserve to be looked at closely because of the impact they’ve had on the Wheeling community. And that’s amazing.”

The 2023 class will be inducted in a ceremony scheduled for Saturday, June 10, at WesBanco Arena. The is open to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. A catered dinner is included. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online at WesbancoArena.com, or by calling the box office at 304-233-7000, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.

The 2023 inductees are:

Business, Industry and Professions

Edward Bates Franzheim (1886-1942) – Franzheim designed some of Wheeling’s most prominent buildings beginning in 1890. Among the most notable were Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church and the City Bank of Wheeling, both designed in the Richardsonian style, a style of Romanesque Revival architecture, as well as the YWCA Building, the Board of Trade/Court Theatre, the John Schenk mansion (Altenheim), Ohio Valley General Hospital, the Hazel-Atlas Building, the Sterling Products Building, the Rogers Hotel, and the gates to Wheeling Park.

Alfred Paull (1854-1923) – Paull began his career in Wheeling as secretary of Nail City Glass and the Manufacturers Insurance Co. He later became the senior member of the Alfred Paull & Son general insurance agency. His public service spanned several avenues, holding positions as secretary of the Ohio Valley General Hospital, a four-year member of Wheeling City Council, and eight-year member of the Board of Education. He also was a director of the YMCA and a prominent Mason.

As an active member and ruling elder of Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church, he organized the famous Men’s Bible Class, which had 250 members and an average attendance of 115. His family remains a prominent fixture in the insurance and real estate business in Wheeling.

Philanthropy

Mary Ann Hess (1930-2002) – Hess was a driving force behind the Hess Family Foundation, created in 1998 for philanthropy, charity, and voluntarism. Among the organizations that have benefitted from the foundation’s generosity are Lazarus House, the Friends of Wheeling Preservation Loan Guarantee Program, Project HOPE, Oglebay Foundation, Youth Services System, Catholic Charities, NAMI, Marian House, Towngate Theater and Liza’s Place.

Hess graduated from Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy, attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and was an active parishioner at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. While raising six children,

Mary Ann still found time to play tennis and be an active member of the Junior League of

Wheeling, League of Women Voters, Friends of Wheeling, and the Meals on Wheels program.

Joan Corson Stamp – Stamp is the fourth member of the extended Stifel family to enhance the quality of life for residents of the Wheeling community as a philanthropist. She has been a thoughtful benefactor to the arts, music, public parks, and educational institutions not just in Wheeling, but in West Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region as well.

Her guidance and financial support have greatly enhanced institutions such as Oglebay Park, Oglebay Institute, Wheeling Symphony Society, Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, WVU Rosenbaum Family House, West Virginia University, WVU Foundation, the WVU Alumni Center, National Symphony Orchestra, and The Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley.

Public Service

Dr. William C. Mercer – Mercer has served the Wheeling community for decades, both in hospitals and as medical director of the Ohio County Health Department for 22 years. Pittsburgh Magazine named him a top regional doctor in 1996. In 2008 he was cited as the West Virginia Family Physician of the Year.

Mercer also is well known for his work in helping fight homelessness and treat addictions, earning him the honor of 2016 Good Samaritan of the Year from Youth Services System. He also created a nationally recognized anti-smoking campaign aimed at youth, the “Joe Too Cool To Smoke” campaign that features iconic Charles Schulz character Snoopy. The grand marshal of the 2018 city Christmas parade joins his father and brother in the Hall of Fame.

Robert J. Otten (1920-2005) – Otten is a central figure in two of Wheeling’s best known attractions – Oglebay Park’s Winter Festival of Lights and the city’s thriving amateur hockey scene. The festival began in 1985 with the first of his 50 light show designs. Since then, those displays have grown and have attracted several million visitors to Wheeling during the Christmas season.

Otten also founded the Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association in 1964. Teams in that league now compete for the Bob Otten Cup. His work also helped attract professional minor-league hockey to the city in the Wheeling Thunderbirds, now Nailers. An interior and stage designer, he first worked for the Wheeling Park Commission as its creative director and later joined Stone & Thomas Department Store, retiring from there as a corporate vice president.

Education and Religion

The Rev. James A. O’Brien, S.J. – O’Brien was ordained a priest in 1960 and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Loyola University, Chicago. He arrived at then-Wheeling College in 1962 to teach philosophy. The 1970s Appalachian Bishops Pastoral Letter served as a call to action for him. He organized the first Appalachian Experience Student Club in 1978 to help those in need in southern West Virginia.

One of eight children born to James and Julia O’Brien, he is quoted saying, “There is a line in an old verse that says one should ‘live by the side of the road and be a friend to those who pass by.’ That’s what I’ve tried to do – be a faithful person to God and others.”

Beatrice Ann Thomas (1938-2019) – After graduating from the newly integrated Wheeling High School in 1956, Thomas became the first Black student to ever enroll at Ohio Valley General Hospital’s School of Nursing. Thomas graduated in 1959, became a Registered Nurse and , worked at OVGH for 12 years. In 1971 began a 30-year career as a nurse with Ohio County Schools.

Thomas overcame the obstacles of racism and discrimination with grit and grace. Throughout her service as a nurse, and in retirement, she also served her community as a volunteer, advocate, role model, and leader, helping to make it a better place to live for people of all races, abilities, faiths and world views.

Music and Fine Arts

Edith Lake Wilkinson (1868-1957) – Wilkinson left Wheeling for New York at age 20 to pursue life as an artist, joining the Provincetown Art Colony in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1914. There, her canvases exploded with color and light. She was among the first to create White Line prints with fellow West Virginia artist Blanche Lazzell.

In the 1920s, a Wheeling attorney managing her inheritance absconded her funds and committed her to an asylum. Her body of work was packed into trunks and shipped to relatives in Wheeling. Decades later, the trunk’s contents were discovered, and Edith and her art were introduced to the 21st century.

“Chickie” Williams (1919-2007) – With her husband Doc Williams, Chickie Williams became a prominent voice in country music for decades. Born Jessie Wanda Crupe in Bethany, she joined her husband’s act, Doc Williams and the Border Riders after having three daughters and adopted the stage name “Chickie.” Performing for years on WWVA’s Wheeling Jamboree radio program, she became known as “The Girl with the Lullaby Voice.”

She provided vocals and played upright bass for the band, and her original arrangement of the hymn “Beyond the Sunset” was a No. 3 hit that later was recorded by Hank Williams and Red Foley. She remained a Jamboree cast member for 52 years, retiring with her husband. In 2008, the state named a section of Interstate 70 in Wheeling the “Doc and Chickie Williams Highway; Country Music Royal Couple.”

Sports and Athletics

Edwin M. “Ned” Steckel Jr. (1930-2018) – Steckel earned fame in television broadcasting as an award-winning producer. The Linsly Military Institute graduate continued his education at the University of Michigan and Bethany College and earned a degree in journalism from Syracuse University. From 1965-84, he worked at ABC Sports as assistant to executive producer Roone Arledge, and as a producer/director, winning eight Emmy awards for “ABC’s Wide World of Sports,” college football, and various summer and winter Olympic games.

His broadcasting career included stops at WKWK and WTRF in Wheeling, WOLF in Syracuse, and WTAE and WIIC in Pittsburgh. Leaving broadcasting, he joined the communications faculty at Bethany College.

Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who kicked off Friday’s announcement, said Wheeling residents should be proud that so many people in its history have been so influential and that their contributions have made the Friendly City the community it has grown to become.

“Wheeling would not be Wheeling today without this rich collection of people who’ve come through it, built things here, invented things,” he said. “They’ve made music, they’ve made arts here, they had vision and foresight to make investments. That’s not something that every city up and down this valley can boast.

“We’ve been very fortunate here,” he continued. “This is a great way to take stock and appreciate those whose contributions have made us what we are.”