A few days before his death, Larry Mallory received a pleasant surprise.
Three officials from Camden Clark Medical Center visited Mallory at his home in Cutler, Ohio, to tell him the Leadership Academy of CCMC had been renamed the Laurence B. Mallory Leadership Academy in his honor.
Mallory, who was in bed, weak from cancer, looked up at the three hospital officials and said, "how marvelous," according to Mike King, president and CEO of CCMC. Accompanying King on the emotional visit to see Mallory were Kathy Eddy, treasurer of the CCMC Board of Directors, and Dr. Terry Capel, board vice chairman.
Mallory, 63, passed away on May 12, but his dedication to Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital and Camden Clark Medical Center, formed from the merger with St. Joseph's Hospital and affiliation with West Virginia United Health System last year, won't soon be forgotten.
Mallory, a certified public accountant, was a member of the Camden Clark Medical Center Board of Directors since 1989 and was serving as board chairman at the time of his death.
"Larry had a huge interest in Camden Clark Medical Center," King said this week. King noted Mallory, as board chairman, helped guide the merger and affiliation with St. Joseph's and WVUHS.
"Larry was interested in the greater good," King said.
Mallory had a strong interest in the Leadership Academy, which has been teaching CCMC employees how to become better leaders for the past six years.
Mallory spoke at these leadership sessions and attended the academy graduations.
King said Mallory will be recognized by the medical center this year with a plaque in his honor placed on the South Tower's "Wall of Fame."
Mallory, a 1967 graduate of Parkersburg High School, followed his parents, Bill and Sue Mallory, as a volunteer at CCMC. The elder Mallorys were active in the Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital Auxiliary going back to the early 1960s.
Marie Mallory, Larry's widow, said it was a tremendous honor for husband's name to be attached to the Leadership Academy of Camden Clark Medical Center.
"Larry touched the lives of so many people," Marie said.
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Parkersburg native Anne Black Gray said she received an enthusiastic response to her new book, "The Devil's Son: Cap Hatfield and the End of the Hatfield and McCoy Feud," during a recent book-signing tour in West Virginia. One of the eight stops on the book tour was at the Gallery in Grand Central Mall, where Gray signed many books. Gray told me this week she felt fortunate her book came out around the same time as the History network's miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys," which attracted huge numbers of TV viewers this week. Gray described the miniseries as "quite a drama with powerful stars (Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton) ... full of action, a good show." She said the "Hatfields & McCoys" show took "some liberties" with historical aspects of the famous family feud in southern West Virginia and Kentucky, according to her research. The TV movie focuses on the deadly friction between Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy, while her book deals with Hatfield's son Cap and "goes beyond the feud," said Black, who lives in Los Angeles. As a child growing up in Parkersburg, Gray would visit her mother's relatives in Logan County, where members of the Hatfield family are buried, every summer. Gray is the daughter of former Wood County Circuit Court Judge Donald F. Black. Gray said she felt happy for her late father as she sat in the Blennerhassett Hotel dining room looking across Market Street at the Judge Donald F. Black Courthouse Annex.
Contact Paul LaPann at plapann@newsandsentinel.com
