Today is D.D. Meighen’s 78th birthday, but if you were thinking of, say, getting him a rocking chair – you may want to think again.
That’s because the minister, activist and videographer isn’t planning on breaking stride anytime soon.
Especially related to the latter.
“There are a lot of specials and documentaries that I still want to do,” he said.
If you live in Fairmont or the Marion County area, and you’ve been to any meeting or event of social import over the past decade, you’ve likely seen him there, with his ever-faithful video camera and tripod.
Or, if you haven’t been able to get out to such events, you’ve always been able to watch the proceedings on cable access anyway, thanks to the above work.
For the past 15 years, Meighen has been a one-man band, providing coverage of those meetings and interviews with public officials through his TV19 channel, plus other social media outlets.
Two weeks ago he was recognized by Fairmont City Council for his work. Council is now doing its own livestreaming, with Meighen stepping back a bit.
Scaling down one, though, just means picking up three or four more, he said, chuckling.
He’s recently catalogued some 3,000 past broadcasts, which include all those council meetings, sessions of the Marion County Commission and interviews of elected lawmakers from the full political spectrum.
The collections will now go to the county Public Library and the Frank and Jane Gabor West Folklife Center, on the campus of Fairmont State University.
It’s all about the civic history, said Meighen, who started taping his first events in the late 1960s, after divinity school.
Church league basketball tournaments.
Roundtables on the issues of note.
One-on-one interviews with state governors and other elected lawmakers.
Meighen, the former campus minister for WVU, has also turned his lens in the direction of Morgantown and Monongalia County.
Before the pandemic, he often taped the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at the Metropolitan Theatre.
He’s also written and produced documentaries on Scotts Run Settlement House and Thomas Bennett – the combat medic and conscientious objector from Morgantown who was recognized with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his battlefield bravery in Vietnam.
In 2022, he plans of setting up a “story booth,” of sorts, where people can drop by and record the moments and milestones in their lives that are important to them.
“We’re West Virginians,” he said. “Storytelling is what we do. It’s our Appalachian tradition.”
It’s his tradition, he said, to challenge himself with new technologies and new pathways, whether preaching from the pulpit or making sure the audio levels are good for his next interview.
“Don’t limit yourself by saying you’re ‘too old’ to try something. Look at Abraham in the Bible. He was in his 80s when he began his work.”
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