Dear Editor:
Sometime during the period of 1946 – 1949, there was a beauty shop in the First National Bank building in Marlinton.
The owner/operator of the business had a daughter whose name was Peggy Zickefoose. Peggy attended Marlinton High School while they lived in Marlinton.
The family moved to Buckhannon and later to Temperance, Michigan.
Peggy married a man, whose last name was Thomas and they had five children.
In the late 1980s, Peggy opened a gift store in Temperance.
My sister, Shirley Mace, moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1977. She often stopped in Peggy’s gift store, which was only three or four miles from Toledo. One day, while Shirley was in the store, someone mentioned West Virginia and you can figure out the rest of the story.
Shirley asked Peggy if she had ever heard of Mace, West Virginia, and Peggy responded that she knew exactly where it was, as she often traveled form Marlinton to Buckhannon by bus on Rt. 219.
Shirley told me of her contact with Peggy, and that they had become good friends. I had often wondered what had become of Peggy as she had been in my class in high school. Peggy did not graduate from MHS because they had moved to Buckhannon prior to 1950.
Shirley took her MHS yearbooks up to Peggy in order for her to review them and afterwards she had many questions regarding our classmates. I was able to bring her up to date on many of our classmates and other items of interest, generated by the yearbooks and discussions with Shirley.
Peggy had some health problems in the last couple of years.
She died January 24, 2017.
Shirley sent me a copy of the obituary, which was posted in the Toledo Blade newspaper. I am forwarding it to The Pocahontas Times in order that it will be posted, along with this note, for Peggy’s friends to know of her passing.
For two people from West Virginia, not knowing each other, to meet at the border of two other states and become friends, and with my connection to both – it is a small world.
I am honored to have been a part of this story.
Sincerely,
Herbert D. Mace
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Open Letter to Friends of Allegheny Mountain Radio:
The budget submitted to Congress by President Trump eliminates all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). If this comes to pass, it will have a profound impact on Allegheny Mountain Radio.
Last year (FY2016), it cost $484,104 to operate Allegheny Mountain Radio (AMR); $248,768 came from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That is over one half of the money needed to maintain current operations. We receive the bulk of this money because we provide the only radio service in most of our region.
AMR provides many essential services, especially as part of the emergency communication network. County Commissions, Board of Supervisors, Emergency Service officials, and all first responders depend upon our 24/7 radio communication to help all people in the region stay safe in weather emergencies like floods, snow storms, and in the wake of unusual events such as the 2012 Derecho. For people who do not, or cannot use electronic communication and get all their information via the radio Allegheny Mountain Radio is literally a life saver. Because we have a high elderly population, this represents potentially thousands of people in the region. If our budget is cut in half, we will no longer be able to maintain this level of services.
AMR provides essential local, live information that is not available from any other source. This includes daily local news, community event dates and times, school closings, church and other planned organization cancellations, funeral notices, road closures, planned power outages, and finding lost animals. If CPB funding is eliminated, AMR will no longer be able to maintain this level of service.
The bulk of AMR’s expenditures pay for personnel: a total of $323,628 in FY 2016. The only way to continue, if CPB funding is eliminated, is to cut to more than half of our employees leaving a skeleton staff unable to maintain services at the current level.
Lots of people listen to the variety of music played on AMR. Whatever you like, it is likely to be played at some point during the week and you can call a real person and make a request. With a skeleton staff, we will have more “canned” non-locally produced programs. No live DJ to call.
Our elected officials in the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate need to understand the consequences to AMR and our community if CPB funding is eliminated.
Contact info:
Representative Evan Jenkins, 1609 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; Phone: 202-225-3452; Fax: 202-225-9061
Senator Joe Manchin, 306 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC, 20510; Phone: 202-224-3954; Fax: 202-228-0002
Senator Shelly Moore Capito, 172 Russell Senate Office Building , Washington DC 20510; 202-224-6472
Roger Forman, President
AMR Board of Directors