With COVID-19 dominating the proceedings in Monongalia County these days, Tom Bloom says he understands if you missed the news.
That’s why Bloom, who serves on the county commission and is active in community causes, wanted to remind you.
If you didn’t know Bob Bell or Shelby Leary, he said, but you live in Mon, you’re enjoying the benefits of their hard work and affection for the region.
Leary, a pioneering lawmaker from Blacksville who was the first woman to serve in Charleston as state Commissioner of Labor died last Friday.
Bell, who died Monday, was a 12-year member of the county commission and was a key figure in the construction of the Monongalia County Justice Building in Morgantown, completed after he left office.
“To lose them both in the same weekend was tough,” Bloom said.
“I knew them both, and I called on them a lot for their expertise. Shelby scared the hell out of me when I first met her.”
He laughed as he recounted the latter memory.
They met when Bloom was an educator in Monongalia County Schools and just becoming active in the teacher’s union.
Unions were right in the political wheelhouse of Leary, whose funeral services were earlier this week.
Her motivation was honed by hard work in factories: Weirton Steel, Owens-Illinois. Star City Glass and Davis-Lynch Glass.
Three terms in the House let to those pioneering appointments in Charleston, where she was committed to bettering the Occupational Safety and Health program, to make working conditions safer across West Virginia.
As a state delegate, any paper that crossed her desk was met with the same question: “Is this a little people’s bill?”
Translation: “Will it help the people who actually work for a living?”
Businessman, advocate
Monongalia County commissioners can’t sit still. It’s in the job description.
Bell’s incidental appointments included board posts in the county health department and county development authority.
He worked with homeless initiatives and helped found county’s Little Control Office and Canine Adoption Center.
There was that, plus all the intricate detail-work of being a county commissioner, with the tax increment financing deals, money dispensation, and the like.
It’s the business of Mon, and business was the province of Bell, whose funeral Mass is Friday at St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, in Star City.
He was an entrepreneur who launched grocery stores, car washes, auto supply stores and mobile home parks before his stint in public life.
That came after his days in the U.S. Army, where he garnered top security clearances in postings at the Pentagon and the American Embassy in Paris.
When Bloom was elected to the county commission, he knew just who to call.
“It was like, ‘OK, I don’t have a clue and Bob knows everything,’” Bloom said, chuckling.
People didn’t know about Bell’s sense of humor, the current commissioner added.
It was famously on display during the West Virginia Day celebration in downtown Morgantown in 2002.
A local band on the bill kicked into an impromptu version of “Country Roads,” and Bell, just as suddenly, found himself singing backup.
He was part of an improbable quartet including then-Gov. Bob Wise, then-Morgantown Mayor Frank Scafella, and north-central West Virginia radio personality Larry Nelson, who was the day’s emcee.
As a singer, the others said, Bell made a pretty good county commissioner.
Bell, though, was undaunted, and even came up with a name for the assemblage. “I say we call ourselves, ‘The Courthouse Squares.’ Whaddya think?
