Margaret Ann & James A. Grafton Fund
Margaret Ann & James A. Grafton Fund
TYPE OF FUND: Scholarship
DATE ESTABLISHED: August 15, 2001, approved by the TCF Board of Directors Sept. 27, 2001.
Amended May 7, 2003 to include son’s name (James A.).
PURPOSE: To provide an annual scholarship for nursing and forestry students; and/or for those seeking a major in occupational safety.
DISTRIBUTION: To be awarded to students of West Virginia University School of Nursing and/or WVU School of Forestry and/or persons seeking a major in occupational safety. It may be given to seniors at Tucker County High School or from Barbour County, or to older students entering one of the designated schools at WVU. Upon the recommendation of the Scholarship Committee and the approval of the TCF Board of Directors.
VARIANCE POWER: If, in the judgment of the TCF Board of Directors, the restrictions and conditions of the fund become unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the TCF Board of Directors maintains the right to modify the terms of this fund.
FUNDING: Initiated by the husband, James E. Grafton. The name revision was also requested by him.
BACKGROUND: “Margaret Ann wanted to be a nurse all her life,” her husband said. “Then she had a houseful of kids and spent the rest of her life doing just that.” Margaret and Jim Grafton were the parents of seven children. She died at the age of 46, on April 29, 1981 as a result of cancer. An active member of First United Methodist Church in Parsons, Margaret was also a member of the 4-H All Stars and for 12 years was leader of the Four Seasons 4-H Club. She was the 1981 recipient of the coveted Community Service Award presented annually by the Tucker county Chamber of Commerce; awarded posthumously. A graduate of the former Pax High School in Fayette County, she met and married James E. Grafton on July 11, 1954.
Jim, a graduate of Nuttall High School, also in Fayette County, attended Officer Candidate School in Ft. Bliss, TX, and earned the rank of lieutenant in the US Army, serving a tour of duty overseas during the Korean War. He then attended West Virginia University in Morgantown, earning a BSF degree. His first assignment was on the Cumberland National Forest (now the Daniel Boone Forest) in Kentucky; then was assigned to the Monongahela National Forest with offices in Parsons, in 1961. They chose to remain in Tucker County and rear their family. He had attained the title Other Resources Assistant, “everything but timber,” before retiring in l988.
A daughter of the late John Carson Shorter and Pearl Lillian Williams Shorter who in 2001 was making her home with her son-in-law, Margaret was born March 22, 1935. In addition to her mother and her husband, Margaret was survived by three sons, James A., John Albert and Kevin Scott Grafton; four daughters, Kristina Lynn Wamsley, Marie A. Grafton, Catherine L. Stemler and Kimberly Sue Lanham; and a brother, James C. Shorter. In 2001, there were ten grandchildren. In addition to her father, Margaret was preceded in death by a sister.
James A. Grafton, the oldest of the seven children of Jim and Margaret Grafton, was born Sept. 20, 1955 in Kentucky. At the time of his death, Dec. 12, 2001, he was the husband of Kathy J. Grafton of Williamsport, MD. He was also survived by a daughter, Trisha Rudolph of Martinsburg, WV and two sons, James Robert Grafton of Hagerstown and Dustin Grafton of Parsons; and a step-son, Patrick Waldron of Williamsport, MD. Jim was a 1973 graduate of Parsons High School, and West Virginia University where he received a master’s degree in occupational safety. He was a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers.