Former Board Members
Mary Ellen Griffith
Judge Mary Ellen (Meno) Griffith first came to ASFC for the Mountain Music Festival in 1970, when she was a Vista Volunteer in Eastern Kentucky. When she moved to West Virginia later that year she became a regular visitor at the Folklife Center, attending the many cultural and activist events that took place there. She was invited to join the Board of Directors in 1988 after she became active in the youth camping program that her daughter, Este, had started attending. She has served on the Board as President, Vice President and Treasurer.
Shalom Tazewell
Sept. 29, 1950-July 20, 2024
Shalom Tazewell, died on July 20th, 2024, and is survived by her husband Taze and three younger brothers. Her parents were active in the civil rights movement of the 1960's. This helped shape Shalom's awareness of injustice and all the damage it does and guided her actions throughout her life. She and Taze moved to West Virginia in 1993. Within a few years, she was employed by the library as the coordinator of the adult education program, from which she retired in 2016. She then organized the Summers County Huddle, a non-profit community advocacy group that promotes social and economic justice and provides opportunities for civic engagement. She was a member of many other organizations in Summers County and the surrounding area. Her influence on the community and how she went about it can best be told by those whose lives she touched. Shalom remembrances.
William Alden Griffith
July 25, 1947-April 2, 2024
Billy Griffith passed on April 2, 2024. He was born on July 25, 1947 in Tokyo, Japan. His father was an Army officer taking part in the Allied occupation after World War II. He grew up on a ranch in the Sand Hills of western Nebraska. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War and served in country for over a year. This experience left him a pacifist and battling PSD for the rest of his life. But, he was always up for adventure and fun and had endless stories to prove it. He had a button saying, “Damn Everything but the Circus,” to prove it In the early 1970s he came to West Virginia to visit his sister and attend a music festival at the Folklife Center. It impressed him so much that later he returned and bought a piece of land with his sister, where they both built homes. Bill was a residential carpenter the rest of his working life and was a supervisor for the Folklife Center's Work Camp Program for several years. He was committed to progressive social change throughout his life.
Jim Gill
Aug. 1, 1943-Nov. 14, 2023
Jim Gill passed on Nov. 14, 2023. He was born on Aug. 1, 1943 in Summers County, W.Va., on land that had been in his family for generations. When I met him in 1968, he was a local program director for a federal government War on Poverty program aimed at helping West Virginians become self-sufficient through co-operative businesses. He went on to start a farming co-operative in Mercer County WV in the early 70's. At many points in his life, he chose to fight for what he thought was right, even if it cost him personally. He was a proud mountaineer and the values of individualism, independence, and self-reliance guided his actions throughout his life. The last 30 years or so, he raised sheep on a farm in Summers County, W.Va., and with his wife Anne raised four strong and independent children.