Departments

Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation
text & photos by Region 8 Webmaster John Davis

The Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation played a pivotal role in bringing the Reuther Memorial to fruition. Executive Director Hydie Friend, Program Manager Jeremy Morris and Executive Assistant Chris Villamagua handled the project working with UAW Region 8 CAP Representative Jim Rogers who had been assigned to see the project through.

“Hydie Friend is truly a “friend to the UAW,” states Jim Rogers. “Hydie and her staff and have been there with us every step of the way to make certain this memorial played fitting homage to a great American. Without their efforts, this program would have been much more difficult to bring about.”

The Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation leads community efforts to recognize, communicate and preserve Wheeling’s heritage. Through a focus on the core of the Heritage Area and its unique Heritage Port, they serve as a catalyst for economic revitalization, acting in public/private partnerships, which offer the citizens of Wheeling the opportunity to actively participate in the benefits of their activities. Other of their projects includes the Wheeling Artesian Center where exhibits teach Wheeling’s vital role in the industrialization of a nation. One of the featured individuals in the exhibit is Valentine Reuther, teamster member at a local brewery who became the President of the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly. Nightly discussions around the dinner table inspired his children, including Walter, Victor and Roy Reuther to carve their own legacy in the history of labor and the rights of working people.

“It is very fitting that we should honor Walter Reuther, for he his widely considered the father of the middle class,” states Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation Executive Director Hydie Friend. “Walter Reuther is one of Wheeling’s most notable sons, for he held the ear of presidents, played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement and took a courageous stand for working people everywhere. His work was filled with hardships and many times he was beaten and his life threatened, but this never deterred his resolve. It is important the children and citizens of West Virginia know his story and it is our hope that all who stop by the Heritage Point park will be inspired by the life and times of Walther Reuther.”

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