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Miss Mary Hubbs
Teacher Extraordinaire
This page is a tribute to a great lady! Those of you who personally know Miss Hubbs will be pleased to see her honored but know that her life cannot be wrapped up into a couple of web pages. Miss Hubbs's life is reflected in the minds and hearts of her students and her friends. However, we will try to present a few highlights for the world to appreciate.
Mary was born here in Moundsville, at her lifetime home, 1014 Tomlinson Avenue. She and her sisters, Ethel and Irene, lived with her mother and father, Mr. & Mrs. Frank Hubbs. Mary attended Marshall County Schools until she moved to Morgantown so that her sister, who was at the time losing her sight, could attend school. Three years later the family moved back to their home on Tomlinson Avenue, where Mary continued to reside until her recent move to the Golden Towers.
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During Mary's 45 years of teaching elementary students in Marshall County, West Virginia, many Marshall County residents passed through her classroom. I meet these people all the time, and the impression I get from them is that Miss Hubbs was a gentle but firm teacher who developed a relationship of mutual respect with her students.
As more and more of Miss Hubbs's students meet with her in her current disability, it is clear that this respect graduated long ago into love. One such student is caring for her at Mound View Nursing Home. Everyone who spends even a few moments with Mary takes a seat in her "classroom" even today.
The stories I have heard from some of Mary's long time neighbors are descriptions of a little girl's dream. They would walk up the alley behind the Hubbs home on days that the Misses Hubbs would have their garden parties in the backyard. Card tables with stiffly pressed table cloths, cloth napkins, fresh flowers and "real" dishes filled the well tended yard temporarily inhabited with ladies. The scene was nothing short of fantastic to the eyes of the neighborhood children.
Mary is a community advocate whose life reflects the pursuits of a person who worked in many circles to make the community a better place. She founded the Moundsville Assembly, and was Mother Advisor to the Rainbow Girls for many years. She has been active in the Republican Woman's Club and wore the green of the Girls Scouts of America through the years as she lead troop after troop into life. She has been a good neighbor and friend to me and my family. More than once I've been looking for one of my daughters, only to find them sitting wide-eyed in Mary's "classroom."
Mary has been a life long member of Simpson United Methodist Church, and the congregation is only complete when someone pushes her into the sanctuary in her newly acquired wheel chair. Not very many years ago, Mary could be seen walking to the bank, the Post Office, and Courthouse all the time. I know the grief the loss of the use of her legs has caused her, but you won't hear her say it . . . you just know.
Since the creation of this page, Miss Hubbs has had a stroke and is recouperating at Mound View nursing home. She is still her bright, beautiful self and loves visitors, cards, and letters. With her good arm, she helps to feed those who are unable to do so themselves and never turns a deaf ear on the one who drones on and on about shadows and memories of the past. Mary has never ceased to be an inspiration and even an angel to those she meets.
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Picture of Mary with Jessica Hoffer on graduation evening.
Over the years, Mary has been a member of many
organizations whose purposes are to make better citizens and a better community, but she
needs no organization to achieve these goals. Anyone who knows her will tell you that she
always had someone else's best interest at heart . . . from the innocent child to the
erring adult, and not least of all the aging friend. Mary epitomizes the fulfillment of
the commandment to
"Love thy neighbor."