Glenville State College’s West Virginia Veterans’ Legacy Project is continuing to travel throughout West Virginia and beyond. Over the past year, the project has appeared at the Romney City Hall and the Brooke County Historical Museum and Cultural Center in Wellsburg. It was also the featured Veterans Day presentation at the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility (WVVNF) in Clarksburg on November 11, 2013. Readings, stories, and quotes from the project’s book ‘Heroes Among Us’ highlighted that event. Legacy project products were also part of the ‘A Taste of West Virginia’ summer event in Washington D.C. in the halls of the Rayburn House Office Building just outside U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s Washington, D.C. office.
Regarding the event at the WVVNF, GSC Public Relations Specialist Dr. Bob Henry Baber said, “Capturing the veterans’ stories and pictures was a profoundly meaningful experience for the entire team. We were indeed blessed to pay back the tiniest bit of our collective debt to veterans who have sacrificed for all of us. Returning to the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility for Veterans Day felt like coming home—seeing old friends, making new ones, and pausing with sadness to reflect upon some of those whom we photographed and recorded for a few brief moments before they passed on. Truly, to be with these veterans was unreservedly humbling.”
The presentation at WVVNF also included the singing of patriotic songs including‘God Bless America’ Legacy Project participant and Korean War Veteran George Daugherty who told the poignant story of the song’s creation by Irving Berlin and its huge popularity during World War II and to this day. WVVNF Chaplain Johnny Payne stated, “The residents were pleased to see their pictures and stories in the book, in the traveling photo exhibit, and on the stunning display piece which served as a backdrop to the observance. The public and staff really enjoyed receiving complimentary copies of the book and having residents sign their names by their pictures. It was great for the Glenville State College West Virginia Veterans’ Legacy Project to return to the very place where so many ‘Heroes Among Us’ were interviewed and photographed for the book and project as a whole.”
Some of the nursing home employees presented Baber with an award for the project. “Many contributed to the Legacy Project, but none more so than this facility. We simply couldn’t have done what we did without them. The glass eagle sculpture that I received is an exquisite piece of art which will have a treasured place on my mantel and in my heart. When I look at it, I will think of my late father, a World War II Veteran, and all the veterans I’ve come to know through this project,” Baber stated.
The GSC West Virginia Veterans’ Legacy Project’s popular 37-piece traveling photography exhibit and accompanying ten-foot by seven-foot mobile piece also were shown at two recent events in Greenbrier County: the West Virginia Reading Association’s 2013 Annual Conference held at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs and at ‘The Seasons’ healthcare facility in Lewisburg.
The traveling photography exhibit and accompanying mobile piece are suitable for business lobbies, galleries, municipalities, libraries, schools, veteran halls, patriotic celebrations and other venues on a first-come, first-serve basis. The GSC West Virginia Veterans’ Legacy Project products also include a book ‘Heroes Among Us’ as well as a documentary on DVD called A Tradition of Service. Each sells for $10 individually or $15 for the pair. For more information on any of the project’s items, contact the GSC Public Relations Department at (304) 462-4115.
