Jennings Boyd

Eleanor Roosevelt traveled to coal camps in northern West Virginia

The United Methodist conference merged the Andrews Methodist Episcopal congregation in Grafton with St. Paul's Methodist and West Main Street Methodist churches, forming the Church of the Good Shepherd.

The facility later housing the Anthony Correctional Center was completed and first used as Job Corps Center

Wendell G. Hardway became president of Bluefield State College (now University)

A new gymnasium was finished at Bluefield State College (now University)

Cathedral State Park was entered in the National Registry of Natural Landmarks

Bernard Coffindaffer divorced his wife

Keith Ham met Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Glade Creek gristmill completed

The spring pavilion was renovated at Barger Springs

Girls' state high school basketball tournament revived after dying off in the 1920s

Beckley Newspapers Corporation was sold to Clay Communications

J. Wade Gilley became president of Bluefield State College (now University)

Cabell Huntington Hospital expanded for the second time

Gaston Caperton was elected president of the McDonough-Caperton-Shepherd insurance company

Shelley Moore Capito earned M.A. from University of Virginia

Lou Austin died

French Carpenter record Elzic's Farewell is released

Shenandoah Downs closed

Buildings of McMillan Hospital were demolished in Charleston

Picnic shelters, restrooms, restaurant and amphitheater were added at Chief Logan State Park

Bernard Coffindaffer married June Woodrum

Cogar Arden set the world record for standing chopping a 10-inch yellow poplar in 16.2 seconds

Merger of Bluefield State College and Concord College ended

The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) was created

Phyllis Curtin was invited to White House to sing for West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt

Julius DeGruyter wrote a second volume of the Kanawha Spectator

George Snyder received a MFA from University of North Carolina

Augusta acquired and hosted by Davis & Elkins College

First bald eagle nest documented in West Virginia

West Virginia Baptist Historical Society occupied a vault and adjoining room of the West Virginia Baptist Conference Center at Ripley

Governor Rockefeller converted old Morris Harvey College buildings in Barboursville into state's first and only veterans home

President Jerold O. Dugger ended the football program at Bluefield State College (now University)

Braxton County Memorial Hospital opened

Operation of the Bretz Coke Ovens in Preston County ended

Charleston National created bank holding company, Centurion Bancorp

Rabbi Samuel Cooper retired from B'nai Jacob

Richard Currey published his first short story

Daniel Boone Hotel was closed

Hazel Dickens released Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People

Henry Louis Gates received the MacArthur Fellowship or the "genius award"

The Glen Ferris Inn was sold to Elkem Corporation

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fenced the entrance sink of Hellhole Cavern to prohibit unauthorized entry

Homer Hickam went to work for NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center

The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia was founded

An experimental liming device was installed on Laurel Run to neutralize the stream's acidity

Jeff Hostetler transferred from Penn State to WVU

Jennings Randolph Lake and Dam was completed

John Knowles wrote Peace Breaks Out

Dale Colyer of WVU College of Agriculture and Forestry wrote report for Mountaineers for Rural Progress

Richard Virship stopped making chairs and put the Linger Chair Factory up for sale

Comprehensive state gazetteers were published by the U.S. Geological Survey

M. Blane Michael joined Jackson & Kelly law firm

Gray Barker published MIB, The Terror Among Us

Former Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company was bought by Helme Tobacco Company

Bramwell was named to the National Register of Historic Places

Charles Town Race Track sold to Rapid America Corporation

Huttonsville Presbyterian Church celebrated its 100th anniversary

W. E. "Ned" Chilton III gave a speech to Southern Newspaper Publishers Association

Columbia Gas of West Virginia became Mountaineer Gas Company

Little Jimmy Dickens was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame

Running buffalo clover was rediscovered in West Virginia

Even the Heavens Weep documentary was released by WPBY

Fostoria Glass was sold to Lancaster Colony Corporation

Greenwood Chapel was added to the Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling

Elizabeth Hallanan was appointed federal judge by President Ronald Reagan

Farming ends within the original Irish Tract

State Supreme Court ruling Pittsburgh Elevator Company v. West Virginia Board of Regents permitted the legislature to waive the state's sovereign immunity

A study commission made its recommendation regarding legislation addressing the Mandolidis Decision

A group of volunteers led by a West Virginia University professor George Longenecker formed West Virginia Botanic Garden, Inc.

Appalachian Regional Hospitals changed its name to Appalachian Regional Healthcare

Pinckney Benedict received B.A. from Princeton University

The East Huntington Bridge connecting Huntington and Proctorville won the Federal Highway Administration's award for design excellence

Most of Union Carbide Institute plant sold to French company, Rhone-Poulenc

Clay Foundation was established

Stephen Coonts published Flight of the Intruder

Hazel Dickens released It's Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song

Electioneering was prohibited within 300 feet of the polls

Production of Fiestaware began again with white, pink (rose), black. Cobalt blue, and apricot were introduced

Fostoria Glass plant in Moundsville closed

Per capita personal income in West Virginia rose to 86% of national average

A study estimated that as many as 764 men died from silicosis from the Hawks Nest Tunnel

Homer Laughlin China Company revived Fiestaware

A complete restructuring of the prison system was required by the Crain v. Bordenkircher court decision

Kanawha Valley Memorial Hospital merged with Charleston Area Medical Center

John Knowles wrote The Private Life of Axie Reed

State Supreme Court ruling Crain v. Bordenkircher found that conditions at the state penitentiary failed to meet constitutional standards and led to the construction of a new prison

Louie Glass shipped $24 million worth of glass and employed 525 people

The pygmy shrew was first reported in Canaan Valley