Category: Tributes

 

Ganell serves as the Associate Editor of the Appalachian Quarterly published by Wise County Historical Society and works tirelessly with the set-up and lay-out of the magazine. Ganell puts in many hours of hard work each month  putting material into page-maker, working with pictures and finally printing it out for final proof- reading.

Ganell was born in the Riverview section of Coeburn, Virginia.  She was married to the late Darvin Marshall,  They have two sons: Bill and John Marshall.  Ganell lives in the Sandy Ridge section where she and Darvin made their home.

Ganell has put in countless hours in building and helping maintain the Sandy Ridge Old Regular Baptist Church and the old school building.  She has taken on the responsibility of copying any old church records pertaining to the Old Regular Baptist  Church that can be found.  She has worked for about 40 years on her family history research.

Ganell has worked with crafts since 1960 making corn-shuck and apple-head dolls as well as serving as an officer in craft organizations.  She is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, past and present member  of Sandy Ridge Handicrafters; past member of Piedmont Crafts, Inc.; past member of the Blue Ridge Hearthside Crafts, as well as others.  Her work has been featured on White House Christmas trees several times; in the Smithsonian Museum; in national magazines and special exhibits across the country.  She and her husband Darvin, were active in the formation of the local community center at Fairview School on Sandy Ridge.

In addition to the Appalachian Quarterly, corn-shuck dolls, and everything else she does, Ganell enjoys helping others in  learning to  use the computer.

Nina Counts Mullins

Born in the shadows of the mountains in Dickenson County, VA on a blustery March morning, Nina Ruth Counts emerged into a family of five children.  Nina being the oldest assumed responsibility at an early age.  Nina was married at age 19 to Cossie Mullins, Jr. and they began their married life in Clinchco, VA, then moved Scott Robinson Hollow Road where she has lived since.

Over the years , after caring for four elderly members of her husband’s  and her family and then Cossie who died of ALS she has dedicated her life to different organizations of service.  She has been a member of the Home Extension for 30 years and was elected Homemaker of the Year for two straight years.  She is a charter member of the Norton Community Hospital Auxiliary and has served as President for three years and current buyer and manager of the Helping Hands Gift Shop.

She is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Pound and is involved with feeding the elderly and disabled in the church community.  She is a charter member of the Wise County Historical Society and helps in whatever capacity she is needed. She is our best sales person traveling to various community activities and helping set up tables and attending them selling books for the Historical Society to help keep  it afloat.

Nina is a great cook, very good at entertaining and has had the Historical Society to her home for dinners and has catered certain social events presented by the Historical Society.

Above all she is a dedicated  mother of one daughter, Sheryl, three grandchildren and four great-grandsons and is always there for whoever needs her.

Nancy has an abiding and deep interest in people, particularly in Southwest Virginia, their lives and their history.  Her aim is to preserve the Appalachian heritage in such a manner that our children in future generations will know as much as possible about their origin and be proud of it.

Untold hours have been spent reading and transcribing microfilm records, digging through books and papers in courthouses and library archives.  Miles have been covered while recording names and dates in long forgotten, overgrown cemeteries. Interviews with aged men and women have yielded priceless memories and knowledge.

Nancy serves as the Special Focus Editor for the Appalachian Quarterly and assisted with The Heritage of Wise County Volume  II, from selecting photos, to lay-out to whatever needed to be done.  She has co-authored several volumes of genealogy including the famous Stallard Connection and The Descendants of William Addington.  She has also published several volumes of county records, such as census and marriages.  She was Co-Editor and Co-Publisher of The Southwest Virginian magazine of history and genealogy.

Nancy is our resident story-teller, if you’ve got a topic, she’s got a story. No story’s too big…no story’s too little.  She has published several of her stories from the unpublished manuscript, “You Can’t Get There From Here,” in the Appalachian Quarterly.

Nancy is married to Cecil Brown and they live in Longford Kansas, but she also has a home in Wise County where she comes often.  Nancy is a Wise County native, born and raised in Pound before moving to Wise where she lived until she married Cecil.  Her mother, Violet Clark still lives in Wise.  Nancy has four children, three step-children, three grandchildren, and seven step-grandchildren; and two step-great grandchildren. (Update: After the death of Cecil Brown, Nancy is now married to Hays).

Wanda Rose is a charter member of the Historical Society and was instrumental in the compiling of the Wise County Heritage Book and The City of Norton Volume 1, and was Vice Chairman of the Book committee. She helped compile the book WISE COUNTY, VIRGINIA’S WORLD WAR II VETERANS: A Tribute,  which consists of 928 pages,  6000 stories and 3000 pictures. She is now treasurer of the Historical Society, a job which she fills with great dedication.

It can truthfully be said, “Wanda is a gift to the Historical Society.”  She can do most anything, and if we need help in solving a problem, Wanda is the one to call upon.  You name it, she does it!  She serves as our Circulation Manager and maintains our photo archives which was amply used in Heritage volume II. Wanda proof’s our Appalachian Quarterly and oversees the quarterly mailing of the issues to our many subscribers.  She takes book orders and mails them out..  She is constantly on the phone, making trips to the post office or bank, and looks out for our financial status.

Wanda was a volunteer at the Wise Appalachian Hospital and was Gift Shop Manager and buyer for 20 years.  She, along with Dorothy Witt, installed Lifelines in Wise and Dickenson counties for disabled people. She served as Director of the Arts and Photographer exhibitions for the Virginia-Kentucky Fair for several years.  She currently belongs to the Wise Quilt Group which she helped organize.

Wanda is married to Stuart Rose, formerly of Banner, and they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  They are the parents of three sons: Benjamin of Charlottesville, VA; Joe Fred of Wise and Steven, deceased, of Wise.  They have four grandchildren, Penny, Autumn, Patricia “Trish” and Wesley and 1 step-granddaughter, Kate, and five great-grandchildren, Leah, Alexandria, Grayson, Damon, Shane and a step-granddaughter, Anatasia.  Wanda and Stuart live in Wise, Virginia.

Wanda is very dependable, has a wonderful personality, and is great company.

First President of Wise County Historical Society

We, the members of the Wise County Historical Society, would like to take this opportunity to offer a tribute to our first president, Dorothy Hall Witt. Without her foresight and perseverance the Historical Society of Wise County would not exist today.

Dorothy Hall Witt our distinguished first president and charter member of the Wise County Historical Society was instrumental in the compiling and publishing of The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton, Volume 1 and 2, among other publications. She was also instrumental in the establishing of the Wise County Historical Society. She served as the President of the Historical Society the first years of its establishment.

While helping on the Lee County Book Committee in the creating of the Bicentennial History of Lee County Virginia published in 1991, Dorothy felt the need for the same in Wise County, and was instrumental in forming a group of Wise County historians who published their own Heritage of Wise County and the City of Norton Volume 1 in 1993. She was Chairman of the Book Committee and was elected President of the Wise County Historical Society when it was organized.

For the past 8 years Dorothy has served as recording secretary for the Wise County Historical Society and has worked a day or two a week at the office in the courthouse. She also is the editor of the Aging Gracefully segment of the Appalachian Quarterly published by Wise County Historical Society. She along with her friend and co-worker, Wanda Rose traveled over the county working on volume 1 of Wise County and the City of Norton, and installing lifelines for disabled and the elderly, she became interested in interviewing older people, which was the birth of Aging Gracefully in Appalachia.

Dorothy’s heritage is completely Appalachian as her father was a native of Lee County and her mother was a native of Russell County. Dorothy was born in Norton, grew up in Powell Valley, graduated from East Stone Gap High School, lived in Coeburn for twenty years and has lived in Wise for the past 33 years. She completed several courses at Clinch Valley College in English, Creative writing and Appalachian culture.

Dorothy worked for 14 years for the Department of Social Services, then worked as a medical transcriptionist and secretary at Wise Appalachian Regional Hospital for 19 years, retiring in 1989 to travel and pursue all the volunteer activities in which she was interested.

She has two sons, Hal Addington of Pinckney, Michigan, and Tim Addington of Atlanta, Georgia, and one grand-daughter, April Addington, a sophomore at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Dorothy is married to Harold Witt and they reside in Wise.

Dorothy is a dedicated member, wife, mother, and grandmother. She is good company and has a great sense of humor.

Fannie grew up in the Hurricane section of Wise County  and attended school at the old Wise High school. She is married to Letcher Steele and has six living children and one deceased, several grandchildren and great grandchildren.

After raising her family, Fannie decided to better educate herself, so she bought a used typewriter and borrowed a typing book and she was off!  She hasn’t stopped since! She has gone through two typewriters, two  outdated computers and almost through one purchased new. (This part was written a few years ago and does not apply today)

The love of writing was instilled in Fannie while a child from writing letters for her mother to her older siblings who lived away from home.  One of her interests is writing poetry.  She has some of her work published in an anthology of Our World’s Best Loved Poems. She has received the Golden and Silver poet awards from World of Poetry and was invited to attend their poetry convention in Reno, Nevada.  She also has poetry in Blue Mountain Arts that can be found at their electronic greeting card site on the internet.

Family Reunions, after the passing of her mother, inspired Fannie to delve further into researching her family history.  Her first genealogy book, Country Roads and Lanes, was published in 1991 and five years later in 1996, The Crabtree-Stanley Collection: A Memorial, was in print.  These two books cover both her Father and Mother’s families.  She is currently working on and is nearing the completion of a book of old time recipes, stories, games, herbs, songs, etc., which will be called, Our Vanishing Heritage. (Can be purchased at Wise Historical Society office)

Fannie joined the book committee of The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton, helping with stories and proof-reading.  From the publishing of this book the Wise County Historical Society was formed and Fannie is a charter member.  She volunteers at the Society’s office  and is the archivist, keeping a database of all the books and documents that come into the office  and  filing them in their respective places.   Fannie has helped with and authored numerous articles for Heritage I and II, WWII Veteran’s Book and the Apple Blossoms of Yesteryear published by  the Historical Society.  When the Appalachian Quarterly was initiated, Fannie became the book review editor for On The Bookshelf. She also maintains the Historical Society’s web page.

Aside from the Historical Society some of Fannie’s interests are Church, family gatherings, photography, and making quilts.

Paul is a charter member of the Historical Society and provided all the information from his personal research on the City of Norton Chapter for Heritage II.

Paul is knowledgeable in researching deeds, which are his particular speciality and has helped hundreds of folks coming to Wise County to research their families. In addition  to his work in the court records, he has also visited and documented 95% of all the cemeteries in Wise County.  If you happen to be in a Wise County Cemetery and meet a tall, thin man, with pencil and paper, that’s Paul.  Ask him anything you want and chances are you can’t stump him with a question on Wise County History or its people.  Paul  keeps the Archives office open on Tuesday Afternoon.  Paul and his wife Pat have one son, Paul Jr. and two grandchildren and have lived in Norton for many years.  Paul retired from Sears after working for Cohens Department store in Norton for many years.

Paul is now researching and compiling a book on Norton, Virginia.

Rhonda serves as the Editor for The Appalachian Quarterly, the Historical Society magazine which is mailed to 42 states, Australia, Canada and Great Britain.  She is the author of various genealogies including The Descendants of William Addington and William Robertson of England and his Descendants. She also has compiled various county records such as marriage, census and death records, to name a few.  She has assisted in the publication and preparation of numerous other volumes including Tales from South of the Mountain Volume 1 & 2, (by Elzie “Sock” Mullins) and Mountain Mists and Where The Eagle LIt (by Cossie Mullins, Jr.)

Rhonda has conducted many seminars on genealogy.  Rhonda along with Wanda Rose worked exclusively on Wise County’s World war II Veterans. She assisted  with the publication of Heritage of Wise County Volume I and was happily working on Wise County’s Civil War Veterans when her work was interrupted to help complete Heritage Volume II. Rhonda formerly was the  Co-Editor and Co-Publisher of The Southwest Virginian, a magazine of history and genealogy.

Rhonda has now returned to her work on the upcoming Civil War book, documenting, researching, and typing information on each veteran.  She is also working on the Early Settlers series, featuring histories and genealogies of the early settlers in Wise and surrounding counties.  Rhonda along with Wanda Rose, Lil Gobble and Fannie Steele are currently involved in photographing and documenting all the stones for people born before 1900 buried in Wise County.

Rhonda is a Wise native, growing up near Wise and then moving to Norton where she has lived for the past 34 years.   She is the office manager of Heritage Hall – Big Stone Gap, VA.