Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
West Virginia State Senators Robbie Morris and Bill Hamilton delivered a $20,000 check to Marlinton Mayor Sam Felton last Thursday for the Roger L. Trusler Memorial Park on First Avenue.
The senators met Felton at the newly installed pavilion, which is part of the revitalization of the park, that will be named in honor of Trusler, who passed away August 2024 while serving as a councilmember.
“[He] was a contributing fixture in Marlinton and Pocahontas County for the last half century,” Felton said. “His fifty years of work and volunteerism was for the betterment of our community and surrounding area.”
The park project began with a significant donation from the Trusler family, as well as donations from other organizations and individuals touched by Trusler’s generosity.
Due to the volunteerism of New River Electrical employees who prepared, poured and finished the concrete slab for the pavilion, funds will be available to add to the park, including the possibility of new playground equipment and an entranceway to the pavilion.
Hamilton explained that senators are given a certain amount of discretionary funds with which they can select to support projects in their area.
“The funding provided today by our friends and representatives [Hamilton and Morris] assures the completion of the Roger L. Trusler Memorial Park,” Felton said.
Once the upgrades to the park are complete, Felton said there will be a dedication ceremony sometime in late spring/early summer of 2026.
“This facility will echo the sentiments of Roger’s work and a life well spent for the next fifty years,” Felton said.
“If this project can extend a lesson, it will be that we would do well by living a life of service.”
