Tonight, by choice, I missed the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner honoring Sen. Jay Rockefeller. I was born into a political family, and he is such a part of my political life. I had missed him when I came to the House of Delegates in 1969. Rumors were rank about how he never had cash and was always borrowing money from pages. Was his Esso credit card really 0001? Writing the election returns on the board at the Fayette County Courthouse was a BIG deal. During my youth, I’d watched @Sharon Cruikshank’s aunt, Betty Blume, and some guy named Arthur do it for years. For some reason, Arthur wasn’t available in sometime in the late ’70’s. I got to write the numbers on the board. It was the highlight of my political life. Jay lost in the governor’s race. It was the first time I stayed up for 24-hours-straight. I came home and went to bed because I had to go to school the next day, and there was a Fellowship Dinner at the Fayetteville United Methodist Church. I missed school, and ABC—that’s ABC in caps—called me for election numbers. My future was made. In the late 1970’s, I worked for The Fayette Tribune. I’d make a request to interview then-candidate Rockefeller. He had some campaign office on the Boulevard. I interviewed him and took photographs I’d still like to have signed. It was the first time I met Sandra Lopinksy and Sally Richardson. You don’t want to be on the bad side of these women. While working for The Fayette Tribune, I followed the then-governor when he announced water lines had been laid to abandoned fields. (These abandoned fields later became industrial parks.) In1980, I worked in Pat Hamilton’s unsuccessful congressional campaign. How my life would have changed if he had won. Jay told his Eastern Panhandle office manager, Carolyn Snyder, she could help in the campaign. Carolyn and I worked closely together before Pat lost. We’ve run in and out of each other’ s iive’s for years. Since he’s gotten elected to the Senate, Jay and I’ve intermittently seen each other. When I worked for Paul Nusbaum—a big contributor—we actually got to go to Jay’s office. While seated there, I noticed one of the still-life’s hanging on the wall. “That was in my art appreciation textbook,” I thought to myself. “That’s the original.” That’s what Jay is—an original. He’s given up a lifetime of attending lunches and cashing coupons to make West Virginia a better place. We’ll miss him.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 03:51:54 +0000
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