Virginia Mae Brown

Gray Barker received a B.A. from Glenville State College

Betty Bartholomew received a master's degree from WVU

Bill Campbell graduated from Princeton University

Harden-Harden Funeral Home operated on Charleston’s East End

Appalachian Electric Power provided electricity in 21 counties

Clyde Beale pardoned by Governor Patteson

Walter Barnes wrote The Teacher Speaks

West Virginia Conservation Commission constructed Baker Lake

The Berkeley Woolen Company closed its operations in Martinsburg

Pearl S. Buck founded the international adoption agency, Welcome House, based in Pennsylvania

Lew Burdette married Mary Ann Shelton

The state's first television station WSAZ-TV went on air

West Virginia chose electric chair over hanging for capital punishment

Northern cardinal became the state bird

William E. Davies published first full report on West Virginia caves

The beginnings of the Cedar Lakes Conference Center originated in an act of the legislature

B'nai Jacob congregation moved to new synagogue

Little Jimmy Dickens joined the Grand Ole Opry at WSM

Henry Hazelwood retired as principal

The Booth family sold the Dreamland to group of Huntington businessmen

Joanne Dru appeared in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Bishop Strider announced his retirement

Forestlands of West Virginia covered 60 % of state

Major flood brought devastation to Grant County

Capt. Mary B. Greene, wife of Capt. Gordon Greene, died

Carroll High School in Hamlin was destroyed by fire

Alberta Pierson Hannum's book Roseanna McCoy was released as a motion picture

The Health Department shifted its emphasis from communicable diseases to chronic illnesses and other public health issues.

Cam Henderson resigned as the Marshall football coach

The Huntington Publishing Co. started WSAZ-TV Channel 3, first TV station in West Virginia and one of earliest in the country

The construction of Bluestone Dam on the New River was completed

Rush Holt changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican

William Flannery became speaker of the House of Delegates

Hayes Picklesimer succeeded John L. Dickinson as president of Kanawha Valley Bank

Kelly Axe and Tool Company changed its name to True Temper

Larry Richardson and Bob Osborne joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

Berry Pink and Sellers Peltier founded the Marble King Company

Clarence Meadows opened a law office in Charleston

Morgantown annexed Suncrest and Sabraton

West Virginia Mountain State Gospel Singers Corporation invited groups from Greenbrier and Fayette counties to participate in Nicholas County homecoming of Mount Nebo Gospel Sings

Marble King Factory moved to St. Marys

DuPont plant built at Washington Bottom

Alfred Knobler created the Pilgrim Glass Corporation

Mole Hill changed its name to Mountain

Jack Rollins wrote the lyrics to "Peter Cottontail"

Fred Schaus made All-American in basketball at WVU

Union Carbide developed its technical center above its South Charleston plant

Red Sovine began recording with MGM, Decca, and eventually Starday

Marshal played in the Tangerine Bowl

Buddy Starcher's "I'll Still Write Your Name in the Sand" became a hit

Weldon Cook and Robert Livingston Russell formed the Cook-Russell Theater Corp

The sugar maple became the state tree of West Virginia

The West Virginia State Police Academy began operation

Commercial television cable installation began operating at Piedmont and Cameron

The second USS Huntington was decommissioned after three tours to the Mediterranean

WAJR-AM in Morgantown became the flagship station for statewide network distribution of WVU football and basketball games

Land was donated to the state for the Watters Smith Memorial State Park

Wheeling Dollar Saving & Trust acquired National Exchange Bank

The State Education Association changed its name to the West Virginia Education Association

Riley Wilson became seriously ill at the inauguration of President Truman

Sam Jones signed with the Cleveland Indians

Elizabeth Harden married Virgil Gilmore, a future two-term Charleston city councilman

Toni Stone played for the San Francisco Sea Lions, then joined the New Orleans Creoles

Raleigh County Memorial Airport built

Charleston baseball joined the American Association, class AAA

Henry Lake Dickason retired as president of Bluefield State Teachers College (now University)

The Lilly Brothers of Raleigh County relocated to Boston

Widen was scene of fatal labor confrontation

Consolidated Bus Lines traveled 5,873,468 miles

Virginia Ruth "Dagmar" Egnor began own variety show, Dagmar's Canteen

John W. Davis argued for the continuation of racial segregation in South Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court Briggs v. Elliot, later Brown v. Board of Education

John Warren Davis accepted a U.S. government appointment in Liberia

A wing to the Denmar Hospital building was completed

Fairmont State College president George W. Hand lost his position by refusing to fire Luella Raab Mundell

Ann Kathryn Flagg resigned her teaching position at Dunbar High School in Fairmont and became director of Children's Theater in Cleveland

U.S. Forest Service published reports on West Virginia Forests

Report stated that 64% of the state was forested

Gunner Gatski earned All-Pro honors in football

The Health and Physical Education Building at Glenville State College was dedicated

Original Mound Museum opened at Grave Creek Mound

K. K. Hall became circuit judge of West Virginia's 25th Judicial Circuit

Joseph Hodges was made an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Richmond

Johnnie Johnson moved to St. Louis and hired Chuck Berry to be in the Johnnie Johnson Trio

The 167th Fighter Squadron returned to West Virginia

The current number of members was established for the House of Delegates

The Wheeling Downs racetrack and other assets of Big Bill Lias were seized by the federal government

Library service was improved with creation of regional library systems

Hobert Skidmore wrote The Years Are Even

Lock No. 1 on the Big Sandy was closed

Walter Martens became a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a distinctive honor

The Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad was merged into the New York Central System

Walter Reuther was elected president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations

Jack Rollins wrote "Smokey the Bear"

WVU's Mark Workman became All-American in basketball

Jim Sprouse began serving with the Central Intelligence Agency

Spruce Knob Lake was constructed as a fishing lake

P. D. Strausbaugh published Part One of Flora of West Virginia

Planning for Sutton Dam was suspended because of Korean War

WSAZ-TV in Huntington became channel 3

S. A. Abram began redevelopment of the old seminary grounds at Hilltop, near Oak Hill in Fayette County

The Bluestone Dam and Lake was completed

A strike at Widen occurred

Colors antique gold, turf green (avocado) mango red and original red were introduced in fiestaware

Francis Ford Coppola filmed The Rain People

Davis Grubb published Fools' Parade

The Overseas National Airway acquired the Greene Line packet service

Alberta Pierson Hannum wrote memoir, Look Back with Love: A Recollection of the Blue Ridge

Logan Grade School was constructed on Hatfield Island

The federal government recognized pneumoconiosis, black lung, as an occupational disease

William Hoffman wrote The Dark Mountains

Legislature enacted a new Municipal Code that modernized regulation of cities and towns

Ivor Boiarsky helped pass a reorganization of the higher education system

Island Creek Coal Company was sold to Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum Company

John Knowles wrote Phineas: Six Stories

Howard B. Lee wrote Bloodletting in Appalachia

Maryat Lee published Four Men and a Monster

State legislation was passed to allow the Library Commission to make direct grants for operating expenses to libraries complying with its administrative rules

James G. Linger sold the Linger Chair factory to the Upshur County Chair and Craft Cooperative

Hobert Skidmore died

Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company stopped painting new barn signs

Jack Maurice became editor-in-chief of the Charleston Daily Mail

The Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College began as a branch of Marshall University

Greasy Neale was inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame

Treasure Mountain Festival was inaugurated

The U.S. Navy began operating a major communications center at Sugar Grove

An 18-hole golf course opened at Pipestem Resort State Park

Public television stations began broadcasting

The American Public Health Association conferred its Presidential Award on Donald Rasmussen for exceptional service in the fight against black lung

The nursing school at St. Joseph's Hospital in Parkersburg closed

A new dormitory was completed at the state police academy

A P.E. Building was built at Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston)

Adjutant General Department estimated West Virginia suffered an estimated 2.75 death rate per 10,000 citizens due to the Vietnam War

WCHS-FM went on the air

Robert B. Erwin was name director of the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey

West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company changed its name to Westvaco

Harness racing at Wheeling Downs resumed

The Luther Elkins Petroglyph was studied

Warren McGraw was elected to the House of Delegates

Frankie Yankovic was one of the first two people inducted into the International Polka Association Hall Of Fame in Chicago

Nick Saban graduated from Monongah High School

Clyde Ware's first novel, The Innocents was published

Governor Rockefeller gave Roy Lee Harmon emeritus status s poet laureate

The Huntington Advertiser ceased publication and merged into the Herald-Dispatch

Boar hunting began in West Virginia

The Allegheny Indian Council and Cultural Center was founded in Phillipi

The court ruled that unequal per pupil funding among West Virginia counties violated the state constitution's mandate for a "thorough and efficient" school system in Pauley v. Kelly

Maryat Lee wrote John Henry

The military program was discontinued at Linsly School

Jack Maurice became a contributing editor and columnist to the Charleston Daily Mail

Jon McBride became an astronaut

Louise McNeill was appointed poet laureate by Governor Rockefeller

Arnold Miller resigned as president of UMWA

State Supreme Court ruled on Morningstar v. Black and Decker, which held that the court had the ability to create common law

State Supreme Court ruled on Bradley v. Appalachian Power Co., where the court abolished the comparative negligence rule

A second Mormon "stake" was organized in Fairmont

Deadly riots prompted Arthur Recht to place Moundsville Penitentiary under judicial control

The WVU Personal Rapid Transit system was completed

Jayne Anne Phillips published Black Tickets

Gov. Jay Rockefeller persuades legislature to gradually eliminate the 3% sales tax on food

Jim Sprouse was appointed a judge of the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by President Jimmy Carter

Building C was added to the state police academy

Sam Church Jr. became president of UMWA

Marshall Buckalew was elected president of the West Virginia Historical Education Foundation

The West Virginia Historical Society ceased publication of West Virginia History

West Virginia Independence Hall was opened as a museum by the Department of Culture and History (now Arts, Culture & History)

The West Virginia Juried Exhibition was first held at the Cultural Center

Mack Samples began serving as festival president of the West Virginia State Folk Festival

The Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

Meredith Sue Willis wrote A Space Apart

Tom Wolfe published The Right Stuff, celebrating Chuck Yeager

Actor Bob Denver married Dreama Perry of Bluefield