Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
February 1 has become a special date for Frank Witsberger, the new superintendent at Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.
February 1, 2023, Witsberger officially retired from the Army. and exactly one year later, he became the assistant superintendent at Cass, which then led to his new position.
While Witsberger is new to the state parks system, he has wanted to be a park ranger since he was a teen.
“Going back to when I was a kid, I knew at like twelve, thirteen years old I wanted to be a ranger,” he said. “My church youth group did a big tour of the west. We left Wheeling and went to the St. Louis arch then over to the Grand Canyon, then up to Yellowstone, then over to Mount Rushmore and came back to Wheeling. I was just awestruck – ‘Wait – you can make a living doing this? That’s an actual thing?’”
This revelation led Witsberger to apply for a job at Oglebay Park. From age 12 to 14, he was a docent at the Good Children’s Zoo at Oglebay Park, After that, he got an entry level job at the Crispin Center where he worked during his college years.
“I had a pretty singular focus, ‘I’m going to set conditions to realize this goal,’” he said.
When he set out to reach the goal, Witsberger had no idea it would take more than 30 years, but life sometimes has a way of making a meandering path from Point A to Point B.
Witsberger received a Bachelor’s Degree in Recreation and Parks Management from West Virginia University and planned to enter the state parks system then, but he didn’t get hired. He applied to the West Virginia State Police and started the first leg of his journey from there.
“I served eight years with the state police at Moorefield/Petersburg and then resigned from the department because I also was an Army reservist at the time,” he said. “I tell people my mid-life crisis – with seventeen years of reserve time already banked – was that I resigned from the state police and went on active duty for twenty plus years.”
During his service – the second leg of his journey – Witsberger served a tour in Iraq and two short tours in Central America working in Humanitarian and Civil Assistance missions overseeing training and construction work. Witsberger was in the army’s engineer regiment and trained in construction management, project management and construction contract administration. He served as the TCOR – Technical Contracting Officer Representative.
As the TCOR, Witsberger made sure that all material orders were to specs and the “government was getting what it paid for.”
Witsberger, his wife and two daughters were living in Mississippi when he retired and entered the third leg of his journey – applying to the state parks system in West Virginia.
He applied for superintendent and assistant superintendent positions at parks across West Virginia and other states. “I know, at one point, people didn’t think I was serious… It’s like I was throwing things at the wall to see what stuck.”
Witsberger made two, 15-hour round trips from Mississippi to West Virginia to interview for positions, including superintendent at Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park and assistant superintendent at Babcock State Park.
“They [had that vacancy] at Babcock State Park which was pretty cool because that was one of the first dates I took my wife on, so I applied for that,” he said. “I drove back to Charleston, this was in January and even then, they were like ‘we’d love to have you, but you seem over-qualified.’ I said, ‘what have you got in mind?’”
At that time, there was an assistant superintendent position open at Cass. So that January, on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend, before he went to Charleston for the Babcock interview, Witsberger traveled through not one, but two blizzards to see Cass.
“I met with [former superintendent Marshall Markley] for three hours,” he said. “We walked around town in a snowstorm, talking to the staff. That was Monday and my interview for Babcock was on Thursday, so I roll into the interview, and they mention Cass and I said, funny you would say that because I just spent all of Monday in a snowstorm up there, and if you could work something out, I’m amenable to that opportunity.”
It worked out, and Witsberger became the assistant superintendent on February 1.
Shortly after, in March, Markley was hired for the position of superintendent at Blackwater Falls State Park which gave Witsberger the opportunity to apply for the superintendent position at Cass.
“Marshall, I guess, talked to the powers that be and said, ‘Frank’s got all that he needs (knowledge, skills, attitude) to succeed at Cass,’ so then I had to reapply for the superintendent proper,” he said.
Sadly, Markley unexpectedly passed away April 26.
Witsberger said that, while his time working with Markley was short, he was grateful to have worked with him.
Since his first trip to Cass in January, Witsberger has been enthusiastic about not only learning the ropes of his position, but of all the duties required of the staff at Cass.
It’s hard to get in touch with Witsberger by calling the office phone because he is usually out and about in the park, making sure everything is running smoothly – and lending a hand when needed.
“Today is a perfect example,” he said on July 11. “We support six other parks with our quartermaster laundry operation. One of them is Watoga. Because of our seasonal hours’ schedule, we need a guy to drive on Thursdays. So, I had Oscar [Halstead] teach me the route and teach me what to do. I got up this morning and left at six to take a fresh load of laundry down to Watoga.
“Two Sundays ago, I was in the laundry, washing and drying and laying out towels,” he continued. “I told the folks here, there’s not a job in this park that I’m afraid to do. All the engineer training, the public safety, emergency management training – I may not do it as good as you would do it, but I’m not afraid to chap my hands up or get after stuff.”
It took a little longer than expected to realize his goal of being a ranger, but now, at the age of 54, Witsberger is happy to be living his dream, especially back in his home state in one of the most unique state parks.
“I absolutely consider myself exceptionally fortunate to be here,” he said. “Cass is such a unique place. I’m nobody special other than I’m the chief custodian and the chief steward of this resource. I take that very seriously. I’m trying to empower other people to share that type of vision. –We are blessed to be given this opportunity to provide stewardship of this place that’s 120 years old, and if we do it right for however long we’re here, maybe we’ll get another 120 years out of it.
“You try to do the best you can with what you have, in the time allotted to you,” he continued. “I am a public servant. This is something I’ve been called to for my whole life.”
