Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Executive Director Steve Catlett, Phil Martin of Bedington, Parks & Rec President Jim Welton, and Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation Executive Director Michael Whalton (L to R) recently met in Bedington to hang a banner announcing plans for the new Goldie Gibbons Park. A ceremony celebrating Virginia Gibbons’ life will be held at the Bedington Fire Hall on Saturday, October 8th beginning at 11:30 am. Family members, classmates and friends of Virginia’s will be on hand to honor her memory. The public is invited to attend.
Virginia Gibbons (Martinsburg High School Class of 1964) wanted to donate the family property across from the fire hall in Bedington to Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks and Recreation to be used as a park for several years. Thanks to the efforts of longtime Bedington resident Phil Martin, Steve Catlett of Parks & Recreation, and attorney David DeJarnett of Bowles Rice LLP, the plans came together early this year and Virginia Gibbons transferred ownership of the land to Berkeley County.
At the same time, Ms. Gibbons also established the Goldie Gibbons Park Fund at the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation to honor her mother and help cover some of the costs of converting the vacant 1.7-acre lot into a park that will provide a safe and fun place for dogs, kids, and families. We are delighted to have been chosen by Ms. Gibbons to provide stewardship for this lasting legacy in her mother’s memory, and we are grateful to David DeJarnett and everyone involved for helping move the project forward.
Virginia Gibbons passed away on June 15, 2016 and we are now working with her brother Tim, and other family members and friends, to make certain that her dream of creating the Goldie Gibbons Park in Bedington, West Virginia becomes a reality. A ceremony celebrating Virginia’s life will be held at the Bedington Fire Hall on Saturday, October 8th beginning at 11:30 am. Family members, classmates and friends of Virginia’s will be on hand to honor her memory. The public is invited to attend.