BETTY WALKER AWARD RECOGNITION 2024
Staff were recently recognized for the Betty Walker Award at our opening meetings for the 2024-2025 school year.
Who was Betty Walker? Why do we celebrate her? Betty was an elementary school teacher in Mineral County for 26 years. She taught at Keyser Primary, St. Francis, and Fort Ashby Primary School. People who knew Betty described her as energetic, passionate, giving, loving and someone who was always laughing. It was well known that Betty loved her students. She went above and beyond daily to ensure they were well cared for. It’s safe to say teaching was her calling. Her other passions in life were family and missionary work. She was married to her husband Dwight for 29 years and together they had 3 sons. Betty and Dwight were very active in their church and traveled through the United States and Guatemala to participate in missionary work. It was while on one of these trips to Guatemala in 2015 that Betty lost her life in a car wreck. She was 48 years old.
In her memory, we honor outstanding employees each year. These employees were nominated by their administrators for displaying the characteristics exemplified by Betty – passionate, energetic, and going above and beyond for the kids. The 2024 winners are as follows:
Margaret Bean – Cook Elk Garden Primary School, Jill Blacka – Special Education Teacher Keyser High School, Charles “Chip” Bolyard – Social Worker Keyser District, Rebonica Davis – Business/Marketing Teacher Frankfort High School, Brandy Fisher – Mineral County Schools Attendance Director, Kara Griffith – School Nurse Frankfort High/Frankfort Middle Schools, Thelma Grogg – 5th Grade Teacher Frankfort Middle School, Jason Hartman – Teacher Options Pathway Program at MCTC, Amanda Harvey – School Secretary Fountain Primary, Richard Jackson – Custodian Minco Technical Center/Board Office, Michelle Jamison – Teacher’s Aide Frankfort Elementary, Ashley Keplinger – Substitute School Secretary Burlington Primary, Debbie Kitzmiller – LPN Keyser Primary School, Chelsea Leatherman – School Secretary Keyser Middle School, Joel Knotts – Bus Driver Frankfort District, Amanda Mayhew – Aide Mineral County Alternative School, Cindy Mills – Executive Secretary County Office, Jennifer Oates – Kindergarten Teacher Burlington Primary School, Amy Riggleman – Cook Keyser Middle School, Catherine “Kitty" Savage – Occupational Therapist New Creek Primary School