Tag: Gallipolis Ohio

Us & Them: To Friend Or Unfriend? That Is The Question

Over the past few years, some people have severed their digital lifeline with friends and family because of political differences. With the click of a single button the social media connection is gone. Click – buh-bye! The decision can mean you’re out of touch and cut off from that person’s life. But two childhood friends from Gallipolis, OH — who vote very differently — have committed to doing just the opposite.

Many Americans are getting good at ignoring friends and relatives who disagree with them. Roughly four in ten registered voters say they don’t have a close friend who supports the opposing party’s candidate, according to a Pew Research study. 

Think how often you’re tempted to unfriend someone on social media. However, some lifelong friendships seem to beat those odds and the people in them say it enhances their understanding of the world. 

On this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay hears two childhood friends from Ohio explain how their connection reminds them how much they have in common. They do that, despite agreeing to disagree on some pretty important things along the way. They do it, in the name of their friendship.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Brian Griffin and Us & Them host Trey Kay have been friends since their days at Ohio University back in the early 1980s. These days Griffin is the Executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council.

Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Lynn Angell has lived in Gallipolis, OH all of her life. She is a CPA and the owner of Angell Accounting, where she works barefooted as she prepares more than 3,000 tax returns each year. When she’s not crunching numbers, she raises sheep at her farm just outside of town. She also serves on the Gallia County Board of Education and is an executive member of the Republican Central Committee. Angell has known Brian Griffin since their high school days. They don’t see eye-to-eye on politics or the direction of the nation, but they are committed to their friendship and respectfully hearing each other out.

Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Brian Griffin as senior in Gallia Academy High School’s Class of 1978.

Credit: Gallia Academy High School Yearbook
Lynn Smith Angell as senior in Gallia Academy High School’s Class of 1978.

Credit: Gallia Academy High School Yearbook

The Silver Bridge Collapses Killing 46: December 15, 1967

December 15, 1967, was one of the darkest days in West Virginia history. Sadly, it was only the first of many tragic days that West Virginians would suffer.

The Silver Bridge, which connected Point Pleasant with Gallipolis, Ohio, had opened to traffic in 1928. It was the first bridge in the nation to use an innovative eyebar-link suspension system rather than a traditional wire-cable suspension.

But one of those eyebars had a small, unseen defect. The faulty eyebar eventually cracked and began to corrode, out of sight from the public or bridge inspectors. At about 5 p.m. on December 15, the eyebar failed, setting off a series of other failures that caused the bridge to collapse.

It was rush hour, and the bridge was packed with cars. Thirty-one vehicles plunged into the icy waters of the Ohio River. Twenty-one people survived, but 46 died in the disaster.

The Silver Bridge tragedy led to national changes in how bridges were inspected. At St. Marys—some 100 miles upstream from Point Pleasant—another 40-year-old bridge of the same design was immediately closed and later demolished.

November 22, 1825: Kanawha Valley Pioneer Anne Bailey Dies

Kanawha Valley pioneer Anne Bailey died in Gallipolis, Ohio, on November 22, 1825, at about age 83. It’s not clear when the native of Liverpool, England, emigrated to America. However, she was living in Staunton, Virginia, by 1761.

After her husband was killed by Indians in the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant, she swore to avenge his death. She taught herself how to shoot a gun and became a scout. Some say this is when she earned the nickname “Mad Anne.”

She roamed the Western Virginia wilderness for 11 years, relaying messages between frontier forts. About 1785, she married Greenbrier County soldier John Bailey but continued scouting. In addition, she supposedly drove livestock from the Shenandoah to the Kanawha Valley.

A frequently quoted legend says that Anne Bailey carried gunpowder from Lewisburg to relieve a 1790 siege on Fort Lee at the present site of Charleston. Writers of that time didn’t mention the incident, so most historians consider the story to be fiction. Regardless, Anne Bailey’s services to frontier settlements were invaluable and remain a powerful symbol of the fortitude of pioneer women.

November 22, 1825: Kanawha Valley pioneer Anne Bailey dies

Kanawha Valley pioneer Anne Bailey died in Gallipolis, Ohio, on November 22, 1825, at about age 83. It’s not clear when the native of Liverpool, England, emigrated to America. However, she was living in Staunton, Virginia, by 1761.

After her husband was killed by Indians in the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant, she swore to avenge his death. She taught herself how to shoot a gun and became a scout. Some say this is when she earned the nickname “Mad Anne.”

She roamed the Western Virginia wilderness for 11 years, relaying messages between frontier forts. About 1785, she married Greenbrier County soldier John Bailey but continued scouting. In addition, she supposedly drove livestock from the Shenandoah to the Kanawha Valley.

A frequently quoted legend says that Anne Bailey carried gunpowder from Lewisburg to relieve a 1790 siege on Fort Lee at the present site of Charleston. Writers of that time didn’t mention the incident, so most historians consider the story to be fiction. Regardless, Anne Bailey’s services to frontier settlements were invaluable and remain a powerful symbol of the fortitude of pioneer women.

  

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