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Ross William Conley
b.29 May 1909 Kingwood, WV
d.26 Dec 2002 Preston Memorial Hospital, Kingwood, WV
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m. 24 Sep 1908
Facts and Events
_PHOTO: Ross Aldrich Conley was born on Murdock Street in Kingwood, WV, next door to his grandfather, John Allen Conley. (He changed his name to Ross William Conley at a later date.) He attended Kingwood Elementary School and graduated from Kingwood High School in May,1928, where he was on the school football and basketball teams. During his senior year, he served as President of the Senior Class. While in school, he worked parttime on weekdays and fulltime on weekends at the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The following year (1929), he contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized at Hopemont Sanitarium, near Terra Alta, for one year. In 1932, during "The Depression," with his own $600, and $750 from his father that had been kept hidden inside a "Wheeler's Graded Reader," they financed and opened Conley's Grocery, a small store on Tunnelton Street in Kingwood. This initial store was moved, 20 years later, to the intersection of Murdock and Chestnut Streets and was remodeled into a house. In 1941, he bought the West Side Planing Mill located at the intersection of Main and Tunnelton Streets, and built a service station on this lot with the grand opening on August 14, 1941. It was known as the Conley Brothers' Service Station. The following year, he was drafted into the U. S. Army on October 20,1942, and was sent to Kentucky for basic training. During World War II, he served with Company D, 44th Tank Battalion. He received a commendation for outstanding service in the supply division of the company. While overseas, he fought in New Guinea, Leyte, the Luzon Campaign, and in the initial occupation of the island of Hanshu, Japan. While stationed in the Pacific, he was awarded four battle stars for his efforts: New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipeligo, Southern Philippines, and Northern Philippines. His batallion also assisted in the liberation of the Santa Tomas University in Manila and freed a large number of prisoners held there by the Japanese. On his return to the United States, he developed malaria and was honorably discharged on October 20,1945. The 44th Tank Batallion was stationed at Camp Campbell, near Clarksville, Tennessee. (This was "fondly" known by the servicemen as "the Alkatraz of the Army.") During that time period, Ross and some Army buddies had been on a weekend leave to Chattanooga. A very attractive, 19 year-old young lady, named Tiny Pearl Edde, just happened to be on the same train. She had been home to Lynchburg for the weekend and was returning to Nashville Businesss College where she was enrolled. Ross quickly spotted her and moved to the seat just behind her. When she attempted to swat a bee that had entered the train car, Ross cautioned her that she might get stung if she wasn't careful. Thus began a conversation that lasted over 59 years. Ross and Tiny spent the next weekends together seeing the sites of Nashville. Within a short period, they were to be wed. And on October 22, 1943, that lovely girl from Tennessee became Mrs. Ross Conley in the Central Church of Christ, with the Rev. R. E. Haldon presiding. In November 1943, Ross was tranferred to Camp Barkley, near Abilene, Texas, preparing for overseas duty. At Christmas that year, Tiny came out for the holidays and they both spent a week in the dormitory of Abilene Christian College. Later, Tiny rented a room from a wonderful older Texas couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Allen. Mr. Allen was a trustee of the college. After discharge, Ross came home to his wife and a new son, Donald Ross, that had been born on November 18, 1944. During his military service, the Conley Grocery had been leased to Hilton Anderson to manage. After a short rest period, Ross was ready to return to the grocery business and resumed management. Under his supervision, he guided the small store until it became the largest grocery business in Preston County. In December 1952, a new grocery store was opened on Tunnelton Street and was called "Conley's Market." (The earlier store had been moved one hundred yards north up Chestnut Street and was remodeled into a home.) Due to rheumatoid arthritis, he was forced to retire in 1964. At that time,in addition to the owners, the store employed ten fulltime and three parttime employees. For the next ten years, the store was leased to the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, the "A & P," where he first started his grocery career as a young man. When the lease expired, Ross sold the building, which currently houses the Magistrate Court for Preston County. In 1964, Ross bought a home in Miami, Florida, and spent winters there. In 1968, he purchased a new home in Hollywood, Florida. He was active in Rotary and was a member of the Committee of 100, a business and social group, and the Metropolitan Dinner Club, a social club for invited prominent speakers. He attended the Hollywood Hills Methodist Church and taught the Adult Sunday School Class for several years. In 1998, Ross and Tiny sold their home in Florida, and bought their current home on Miller Road in Kingwood. During his business career, Ross participated in most community undertakings. He served as President of the Kingwood Area Chamber of Commerce, President of the Preston County Grocer's Association, President of PenMarVa Wholesale Grocery, a director of the former Albright National Bank, Treasurer of Wesley United Methodist Church, a member of the West Virginia-Pennsylvania Turnpike Association, Preston Lodge #90 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Kingwood Rotary Club, and the Preston Country Club. I have many fond memories of Uncle Ross and my Dad, Fred, keeping all our family members entertained with their hilarious stories of growing up in Kingwood. Each would try to "out do the other" with tales of the infamous Conley boys! To my recollection, Uncle Ross appeared to remain on top as the older and wiser boy, but of course my father would never agree. Dad loved to tell about the time Uncle Ross had been out late one night during his high school years. Their father had already gone to bed since he had to arise at an early hour to work around the mines. Ross had unfortunately been locked out and chose to climb through his father's window to get inside. Just as he was halfway inside, his dad awakened abruptly. Fearing an intruder was in the room, Dad Conley grabbed an alarm clock nearby. With great accuracy, the clock was thrown and struck Uncle Ross in the head! Needless to say, Ross remembered the key in the future. Uncle Ross invested in a farm on Gregg's Knob, the highest point in Preston County. This farm included a farmhouse, a barn, and a milkhouse. Unfortunately, it also came with numerous snakes, including some of the poisonous variety. To make it worse, Uncle Ross had a true "snake phobia" and saw snakes nearly everywhere on the property. On one particular summer day, Ross and Tiny were sitting on the farm porch enjoying the peace and quiet. Uncle Ross had dropped his cap in the yard near the porch. As he was considering retrieving his cap, he noted some motion in the grass just as a large copperhead decided to crawl into Ross' cap and make himself at home. On another occasion, Ross was going into the barn to get some equipment. An old feed bin was near the door. As Ross entered, the head and neck of a black racer came up out of the feed bin like a cobra coming out of a snakecharmer's basket. On both these occasions, Ross used some appropriate words he learned in the army and tried to recall what had possessed him the day he bought this farmland! We all enjoyed the holiday meals we spent together. It wasn't a picnic without Aunt Tiny's potato salad and Uncle Ross grilling steaks or hamburgers. He was the self-proclaimed "Steakman" and loved to grill outdoors. On one summer day, I was videoing the process of hamburgers being roasted on the grill. One accidentally slipped from the tongs and fell onto the ground. Uncle Ross must have forgotten that the camera was watching. He quickly looked around, picked up the hamburger, and returned it to the grill. This was one time he couldn't deny what had happened since his cooking skills were recorded on tape. |