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Here's your chance to report the news people should know about! Become actively involved by submitting your W.Va. news article or press release to the Editor of Mountain Edge. Tell us what is happening in your neck of the woods. Include your name for "byline" credit. 200 hundred words or less. If appropriate we will publish it here.
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NEWS BRIEF INDEX:
You can also submit news of your own click hereElkins Purple Majesties
Read about this local Randolph County, WV chapter of the Red Hat Society. A "disorganization" of women dedicated to wearing purple and red hats.Vintage Volkswagen Beetle Restored
See pictures and take a step back in historyWoody Simmons, Master Fiddler Dies at 93 Mountain Edge Founder Paul McQuain Dies at 61 1999 Ramp Season Gets Off To Smelly Start Elkins Native Sets Writing Contest Record Randolph County Rallies Behind Corridor-H Highway Homepages & You: Build Your Presence in the Marketplace Put Your Homepage to Work for You!
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June 2005
WOODY SIMMONS, MASTER FIDDLER DIES AT 93
Acclaimed West Virginia fiddler player Woody Simmons died Friday, June 3, 2005 in Elkins WV. A longtime Mill Creek WV resident, Mr. Simmons was honored with numerous awards over the years for his rich, traditional music that included playing fiddle, banjo and guitar.
A thin, tall man with a wide country smile, Woody always had a friendly hello. He was a fixture at fairs, festivals, and local events such as "Pickin' in the Park" and the Augusta Heritage Festival. He was easy to spot in a crowd -- not only by the sweet strains of his fiddle strings but also by his trademark cowboy hat.
Born at Becky's Creek near Huttonsville WV in 1911, Simmons began doing road construction at the age of 14. He eventually began cutting timber and later ran a service station in addition to owning and operating several juke box and pinball businesses.
Mr. Simmons was preceded in death by his wife LaVerne, son William Andrew Simmons, and infant twins who died at birth. He is survived by his daughter-in-law, Wanna Cutright Simmons, one granddaughter, three great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.
July 1999
MOUNTAIN EDGE FOUNDER PAUL McQUAIN DIES AT 61Paul David Lee McQuain, 61, of Elkins, W.Va., died Saturday, July 3, 1999, at his residence.
Mr. McQuain was born Oct. 30, 1937, at Elkins, a son of Okey Lee McQuain and Lillian Wyatt Breeden, both of Elkins.
On May 2, 1964, at the First United Methodist Church in Elkins, he married the former Sharon L. Jack, who survives.
He is survived by two sons, Michael Eric McQuain and wife, Barbara, Tarpon Springs, Fla., and Kelly Lee McQuain, Philadelphia, Pa.; two daughters, Barbara Aleen McQuain and Erin Elizabeth McQuain, both of Elkins; stepmother, Katy McQuain, and stepfather the Rev. Paul Breeden, both of Elkins; one sister Delores Lee Sibley and husband, A. Tracy, Princeton; two aunts, Edith Collett, Elkins, and Geneva Zirkle, Rocky Point, N.C.; three brother-in-laws, Tharon L. Jack and Alvin Jack, both of Elkins, and L. Wayne Jack, Woodbridge, Va.; and several nieces and nephews..
For more than 40 years, Mr. McQuain was a well-known local estate auctioneer, sign painter and artist, antique dealer and real estate broker. In 1963, he established McQuain Sign Service, a local sign and advertising business, which he operated for 20 years. Many of his original signs and artwork are still in use today by local businesses. In 1967, he established McQuain Advertising, which later became McQuain Advertising & Auctions, and heavily developed appreciation and sales of area antiques. He recently took his auction business online with the establishment of West Virginia Auctions and Antiques, an Internet site specializing in online auction information and advice, antiques and collectibles.
In 1978, he started his real estate career as a salesman with Archer Real Estate and later became a licensed real estate broker, starting McQuain Real Estate. In 1979, he obtained his auctioneer license through Mendenhall School of Auctioneering in High Point, N.C.
He was a past president, member of the board of directors and life member of the Elkins Jaycees, was named Jaycee of the Year for 1968-69 and twice headed the Project of the Year. Under his administration, the Elkins Jaycee chapter received the first state Jaycee Industrial Development Award given to a chapter. As a Jaycee, he helped start the annual Jaycee Christmas Toy Drive, helped form the Pop Warner Little League Football, and was active in many of its community projects, including parades, celebrations and July 4th festivities. He was involved in preserving the Jaycee Jitney, a modified 1924 Model-T Ford that promoted Randolph County throughout the southeastern United States and often appeared in the Mountain State Forest Festival parade.
In the early 1970s, he produced and hosted "The Elkins Report," which later became "The Randolph County Report," a weekly television show for WDTV highlighting local tourism, area attractions, events and people of West Virginia. For several years, he wrote and published the Pathfinder magazine, a local periodical, and recently developed Mountain Edge, an Internet magazine. Both magazines promoted state and local tourism and activities. He was a former Mountain State Forest Festival publicity director. In 1971, he was recognized as an Outstanding Young Man of America.
He was a former executive secretary of the Potomac Highland Travel Council, a regional travel association formed to promote tourism in the eastern portion of West Virginia. He served on the board of directors for the Elkins Industrial Development Corporation, and was active in the establishment of the Industrial Park of Elkins. He was an original member and founding secretary of the Randolph County Development Authority, serving for several years on the board of directors. He was a member of the policies and personnel committee of the Appalachian Mental Health Center, and was active in the recreation and tourism committees of the Randolph County Planning Commission. He was a founding member of the Randolph County Tax Study Association and was involved for several years in its work.
Mr. McQuain was a 1956 graduate of Elkins High School and a graduate of the University of Hard Knocks. He served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged in the fall of 1963. He attended the First United Methodist Church of Elkins.
April 1999
1999 RAMP SEASON GETS OFF TO SMELLY STARTThe spring season got off to a particularly festive start with this year's Ramp Festival in the Elkins City Park. Hundreds turned out on Saturday, April 24, 1999, to indulge themselves in the area's unique "spring tonic" known as the ramp. This wild onion has been heralded for years as the antidote for winter blues, jump-starting its eaters with spring fever. To read and see more about the Ramp Festival click the following link.
Philadelphia, PA: January 1999
ELKINS NATIVE SET WRITING CONTEST RECORD
Writer Kelly McQuain recently won the 1999 Philadelphia City Paper Writing Award for Fiction for his short story, "Burial Game". The contest annually selects the works of one poet and one fiction writer to appear as cover features in the weekly newspaper's late December/early January issue. This year, several hundred writers entered the contest. McQuain, who won in the poetry category last year for his poem "Weirdo #1: Annabelle", is the first entrant ever to win prizes in both categories.
In addition to a cash award of $350, McQuain and this year's winning poet, Eve Nicholas, will read their prize-winning works at Borders Books in Philadelphia on Monday, January 18, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. . McQuain's story appears in the weekly print issue of the Philadelphia City Paper cover-dated January 1, 1999-January 7, 1999 (it is also accessible online, along with McQuain's winning poem from last year, at the City Paper's site on the World Wide Web at http://www.cpcn.com/articles/123198/cov.fiction.shtml or http://www.cpcn.com/search Keyword: McQuain).
McQuain's story is an excerpt from a group of interrelated short stories focusing on two children growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of rural West Virginia. McQuain, a native of Elkins, West Virginia, drew upon his own childhood experience for the project. Other stories from the manuscript--tentatively titled Inventing You--have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, The Sycamore Review, Kansas Quarterly/Arkansas Review, and three times in The James White Review. McQuain's other fiction and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in the anthologies Best American Erotica 1999, Obsessed, Wilma Loves Betty, The Harrington Gay Men's Fiction Quarterly, Generation Q and elsewhere. McQuain's poetry has appeared in Texture, American Writing, Siren's Silence and other publications. His articles and reviews appear in many publications, including Art & Understanding magazine, where he is a contributing editor.
McQuain is a 1985 graduate of Elkins High School who studied English and literature at West Virginia Wesleyan College, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and Temple University, from where he received a Masters Degree in English in 1991. "I am honored to be selected again this year," says McQuain, whose story was chosen by judge Karen Outen. "The Philadelphia City Paper welcomes work that strives to be experimental and inventive, and offers a great opportunity for a writer to reach an audience larger than that of a typical literary magazine. In addition, this award has provided encouragement now as I finish up the manuscript from which this story was taken and start looking for a publisher."
McQuain has studied creative writing in the past with novelists David Bradley and Toby Olsen, and more recently studied with author Peter Cameron at the West Virginia Writers Workshop in Morgantown, West Virginia. McQuain currently teaches composition at the University of the Arts, and developmental and creative writing at the Community College of Philadelphia, where he will lead a new advanced fiction writing workshop beginning January 19. He also leads a monthly writing workshop for faculty and staff at the Community College of Philadelphia.
TO READ MR. McQUAIN'S WORK GO TO http://www.cpcn.com/search
Keyword: McQuain
Elkins, WV: January 23, 1999
RANDOLPH COUNTY RALLIES BEHIND CORRIDOR-H HIGHWAY
by Barbara McQuain
The historic downtown Elkins train depot was the site of the January 23, 1999, Committee for Corridor-H rally. Hundreds of Randolph Countians turned out under gray skies to show their overwhelmingly support for the building of the Appalachian highway. Several state and local politicians, including West Virginia Governor Cecil Underwood, spoke to the gathering as they enjoyed free refreshments provided by local businesses. The highlight of the afternoon was a convoy of well over 100 trucks that blared thru downtown Elkins as Corridor-H supporters cheered and waved banners.
CLICK HERE
for feature article and rally pictures
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