WVVA TV Bluefield website posted news of the death of Mayor Martha Moore today, October 13, at noon at the Emory University Medical Center in Atlanta. Mayor Moore had been fighting cancer. She began serving as mayor in 1986 and provided courageous leadership for the city in overcoming tremendous hardships related to dramatic losses of jobs and income from the local coal industry--especially related to the exit of US Steel and the loss of all the Gary mines in 1986.
She was a lifetime member of First United Methodist Church of Welch, and one of the finest graduates of Welch High School. May God bless her family and all the people of Welch who have lost a great friend and a trusted strong leader.

There is so much more to say about Martha's gifted personality and character, and what she did for Welch.
In addition to seeing the city through economic struggles, she helped the city rebuild from catastrophic floods. She brought in the new movie theater and worked through the demolition of numerous aging and damaged buildings. She welcomed the costruction of new prisons to support the local economy, and led a major plan of beautification and renewal for the historic downtown. She has been a personal force in keeping the whole city fighting for its dignity and its better future. She leaves a tremendous legacy of gifts to her hometown community and to all of us who were better off for knowing her.

A sad day indeed for the City of Welch and all who knew and loved Martha. Having known her all of my life, I can truly say how proud of her we Summers St. alumni were, and my Dad, Jack Christian, was also. probably the only Republican he ever voted for!! Martha , you will be missed by many, but your legacy lives on in your children and in all that you did for your beloved City.

Any words I could say on behalf of my wonderful first cousin Martha Hurt Moore would pale in comparison to the obvious heartfelt words of pride, sadness and kindness displayed in the above writings by Ray and Judy. I did, however, find an article in the link below that was published 2 years ago this month which best describes the true 'spirit' of Mayor Martha Moore and the "hope" she so strongly held for her and our beloved town of Welch.

http://www.createwv.com/news/quality-place/town-welch-refuses-defeat

My sincere condolences to Butch, Susan, Bill, Natalie, Meredith, Lois, Rose and all of the Moore/Hurt family. Our thoughts are with you now and in the days just ahead. Paulette and I pray the Lord will grant Martha and you peace & comfort now and always.

Thank you Bob, and blessings to all Martha's family. The link you cite is so characteristic in revealing Martha's sheer tenacity, her fighting-the-good-fight attitude, and gritty hope. I have been overwhelmed at the sense of loss I feel especially for our beloved hometown, and I pray that Martha's "never-accept-defeat" spirit will be honored and will live on among those who will be called on to follow her. I grew up knowing Martha and her family in church at First Methodist. Her father and mother were like extended family to me. Lois Hurt was one of the dearest and most devoted souls in that church. Martha and Butch were wonderful together. They followed the Hurts as a new generation of pillars for the church and for the city. The kind of leadership Martha provided Welch in the face of nearly devastating challenges inspires me regarding the kind of pastor I pray to be for the people I serve. Thank you God for the gift of Martha Moore, and may her spirit of fiery determination and persistent faith carry on among us.

October 18, 2010

MOORE UNDERSCORES VIRTUE OF OVERCOMING CHALLENGES WITH THE HELP OF FRIENDS

By BILL ARCHER
Bluefield Daily Telegraph The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Mon Oct 18, 2010, 05:00 AM EDT

Back in the fall of 1986, when the leadership of the Twin-State Marketer was transforming the weekly shopper into a weekly newspaper, I was on the hunt for stories that I could write to highlight some of the things that make the region truly unique. In November of that year, I spotted a story in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that caught my attention. It was a little story about Martha Moore becoming mayor of Welch. At the time, Cecile Barrett was mayor of Bluefield, Va., and I had worked with her when I was the PR guy at (then) Bluefield Community Hospital. I thought it would be cool to do a story about the fact that the mayors of two significant cities in the Marketer’s service area were females.

My first choice would have been to bring all the local mayors together for a meeting, but the Marketer was in its infancy and nobody knew who we were or what we were up to. Instead of bringing the mayors to Bluefield, Va., I decided to go around and interview each of them on their home turf. Jim Cannon was mayor of Princeton at the time, Paul Cole was Bluefield’s mayor and Donald Surface was the mayor in Tazewell, Va. I visited with each of them for the story. I interviewed Mayor Barrett, then drove to Welch and interviewed Martha Moore. During that meeting, she told me that Jeannie Snodgrass had just been elected mayor in War, so I interviewed Mayor Snodgrass as well.

I asked all six mayors to extend their arms in front of them as though they were part of one team ready to break a huddle, and I could photograph each of them. Michelle Williams put all of the photos together in the cover photo on that week’s Marketer. It was a little strange, but we were striving to make the Marketer a different kind of publication.

At the time, I was 24 years younger and I was finally living my dream of making a living at being a newsman. While I really wanted to be a professional baseball player when I was in seventh grade, my second choice was to be a writer/newsman. It took me a quarter of a century of schooling, real-life experience and hard knocks to arrive at the point in my life that I could be a writer. Once I was there, I was emotionally celebrating that dream coming true.

Dreams can turn nightmarish, and my path hasn’t been unencumbered along the way in terms of the health of my family, my personal health and the context of local and national challenges that I report on every day. I’ve been blessed to have an understanding wife who serves as a constant source of support and allows me to continue a mission of community service. We both make sacrifices, but while I’m the one with my name in the paper, my wife is the one who keeps the ship from sinking.

When I had my big heart attack in the spring of 2006, I was under contract to Arcadia Publishing to meet an early summer deadline for photos and text for my “Welch, W.Va.” book. The publisher was bend-over-backwards nice to give me some extra time if I needed it, but I still wanted to meet my commitment if I could. The day after I got out of the hospital from getting six stents in my heart, I came here to work and wrote a column about how my heart had been touched, literally, by a four-foot-long wire. I sweated out bullets of perspiration writing that piece, and barely had enough strength to get back home. I quickly learned to become less stubborn.

After that, I followed my doctor’s orders to the letter, started walking a little bit every day to build up my strength and spent a lot of time resting on the couch. My first long trip after coming home from Roanoke, Va., was a couple of weeks later. Evonda drove me home from Roanoke and two weeks later she drove me to Welch, where Martha Moore had already gathered some of the pictures I would need for my book. I got several photos that day, and after getting more photos in the next few weeks, I was able to assemble and write the book without missing my deadline. I was already back at the Telegraph then, meeting my daily deadlines.

Martha loved her city so much. She was enthusiastic about Welch’s post-floods renaissance and was always eager to share new developments in that regard with me. I’ve always considered Martha and her husband Butch to be good friends. Martha helped me when I was recovering from my personal health challenge, and she helped her city of Welch when it really needed her help. Martha passed away on Oct. 13, but her legacy of caring will continue to touch this region for generations to come. Still, I know I’ll miss my friend.

Bill Archer is senior editor at the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at barcher@bdtonline.com.

In September, 2002, a couple of staff writers for the Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas daily newspaper), Bill Bishop and Mark Lisheron, did an in-depth story about Welch and McDowell County in the context of a series about our nation's changing economic base. One of the writers knew about McDowell County from time spent living in Kentucky. They quoted many local citizens including Jean Battlo, Frankie Rutherford, and then War Mayor Tom Hatcher.

Here is their comment on Welch Mayor Martha Moore:
"In Welch, the county seat, Martha Moore, the town's bright-eyed mayor, supervises the cleanup of a town that in May was bobbing in six feet of water. She's direct, quick, smart, committed and completely without the ability to give up. Surrounded by beautiful old brick buildings, Moore says with considerable hope, 'I can see Welch becoming the historic community it deserves to be.'

"This is a hard region to count out. The people here, after all, were creative enough to find a way to rip coal from underground seams no higher than the space under a kitchen table."
(Austin American-Statesman, Wednesday, September 4, 2002, section A, page 10)

Martha's photo in the middle of downtown Welch was featured on page 1 of that day's issue. The page 1 caption under her photo: "The town of Welch, W.Va., declined along with the industrial age. But Mayor Martha Moore has high hopes for the town and its old brick buildings."

I am really sorry to hear about MArtha. She was a treasure and a great Mayor for Welch, She really made the town beautiful. She will be missed. I belong to the United MEthodist church also. I am not good at words but I wanted you to know that I am parying for your family. May these words comfort you. He Only Takes The Best

God saw they were their happiest and
someone would not let that be.
So He put his arms around them and whispered
"Come with Me".

With tear filled eyes we watched them,
suffer and fade away. Although we
loved them deeply, We could not
make them stay.

A golden heart stopped beating,
hard working hands put to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us,
He only takes the best.

The memorial service honoring the life of Mrs. Martha Ann (Hurt) Moore is scheduled for 1 p.m., Saturday, October 23, 2010, at the First United Methodist Church of Welch. Visitation with the family will begin that same day at FUMC Welch at 11 a.m. Our love and prayers for God's comfort to Butch Moore and all the Moore and Hurt family as we thank God for the life of Martha and the many wonderful blessings we have received through the gift of her life. May God's resurrection victory in her raise us up as well in peace, assurance, and joy. God bless you Martha, and your loved ones, and thank you for the great inspiration you are to us!

Please see the obituary notice posted on this site by Bob Greene, also published with a photo of Martha in the October 19 editions of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and the Charleston Gazette--can be found in the obituary section at either newspaper website under Martha Ann (Hurt) Moore....The story of a wonderful life offered to the glory of God.

I would not want anyone who was unable to copy and paste the previously referenced October, 2008 "Create WV" article regarding Martha Moore to not be able to read it. So, I'm posting it here. As stated in my previous posting, I believe this brief article captures the true SPIRIT of the Mayor of Welch, along with her love and vision for the city that Ray Kiser so eloquently described above.

May Martha Ann (Hurt) Moore finally rest in peace as we honor her memory and celebrate her wonderful, but all too brief, life. Here is the article:

TOWN OF WELCH REFUSES DEFEAT

The City of Welch got a lot of press in July when Mayor Martha Moore announced plans for a riverfront park.

A park on the Tug River? In Welch?

The mayor can be excused if she gets a little testy when people outside McDowell County suggest that maybe everyone who’s still there should pick up and leave.

She grew up there when the population rivaled Kanawha County’s, and she still sees beauty in Welch’s grand old downtown buildings. A wife and mother who entered town government in 1984, she and a few stalwart citizens have kept the town from sinking after floods, fires, and Big Coal’s pullout.

“When I was elected to town council in 1984, I thought I was going to plant flowers and put out park benches. Ha,” Moore says. “It was a rude awakening.”

Through tireless, creative wrangling she secured a Marquis Cinema, funding to address critical water and sewage problems, and a federal prison that will bring in 40 percent of its needed employees. She has great ideas for the housing she needs, but she needs more believers.

“We’re still struggling with issues of how things have always been done,” she says. “Why don’t we quit? It’s tempting sometimes, but we’re not quitters. We’ll keep working to make things better.”

She envisions tree-lined streets, upscale housing, shops and restaurants in those grand downtown buildings, and friendly folks enjoying the riverfront park. The architect’s rendering shows kayaks on the river.

“Why don’t we leave?” she asks. “We’re Welch. We hope. There are people here who want to take a chance on doing things. This is our home.”

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