New Cumberland will hold its annual Hall of Fame Ceremony Sunday, Feb. 4 at 1 p.m. The entire community is invited to the New Cumberland Christian Church as the induction ceremony will be held for one living and one deceased member of the community is conducted.
Edwin F. Flowers will be inducted into the New Cumberland Hall of Fame for his commitment and dedication to New Cumberland and the State of West Virginia during his lifetime.
He was born April 24, 1930 on the family farm in New Manchester, West Virginia as the eldest of three sons to Walter Edwin Flowers and Stella Marie Albright Flowers.
His list of accomplishments began accumulating early in life. At the age of three, Ed could recite the Pledge of Allegiance so well that his grandmother, Lucy Flowers, dressed him in an Uncle Sam suit for a recitation before members of the DAR. By age eight, he enjoyed expertly planning and leading parades around the farm with his two brothers, Ronald and Dale, along with neighboring children.
Life on the farm had chores for all three of the boys including caring for the animals. Ronald chose the horses; Dale tended to the dogs; and Edwin was the poultry expert.
At age 12, Edwin became a member of the Hancock County Pioneer 4-H Club, serving along the way as treasurer, reporter, game leader, and president of the club. From 1942 to 1948 he raised 843 chickens, mostly white Plymouth Rocks, winning both county and State prizes.
At age 18, Ed was named West Virginia State 4-H Poultry Contest winner. As a State winner, Dearborn Motors Corporation provided him with an all-expense paid trip to the National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago. He also earned the 4-H charting pin, the highest award available to a West Virginia 4-H member or leader, only obtainable through peer recognition.
Some of Ed’s lesser-known achievements include the award of the Best Boy Actor at a regional play festival in Wheeling and a term as president of the Hancock County Folk Dancers organization in 1946.
As a member of the First Christian Church of New Manchester, Ed sang in the church choir, was a deacon, an elder and chairman of the Board. He was assistant superintendent of Sunday School and president of the Sunday school class.
While an honor student at New Cumberland High School, Ed was a member of the school band, playing clarinet. He was also the president and student director of the band, president of the sophomore and junior classes, a member of student council and president of the stamp club his junior year. As another extra-curricular activity, Ed was business manager of the Pebble, his high school yearbook. He graduated from New Cumberland High School in 1948.
Edwin earned a bachelor of arts’ degree as a Phi Betta Kappa graduate of West Virginia University in 1952 and his law degree in 1954. While attending WVU, he served as president of the student body, was president of his Sigma Nu chapter, Cadet Colonel of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Wing, member of the WVU Championship debate team, member of the WVU Marching Band and active in numerous honorary organizations including Mountain, the highest honor given to WVU students and graduates. He was awarded the Most Loyal Faculty & Staff Mountaineer in 1999 and was inducted into the Order of Vandalia, an award for the most loyal servants to West Virginia University in 2000.
After college, Ed was assigned to active duty in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps at Nellis Air Force Base in 1954. The following year on April 9, 1955, he married Eleanor (Ellie) Ellis, his loving and supportive wife of 66 years. At the conclusion of his military service, Ed returned to the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia to practice law. During this time he served as commissioner of the Tomlinson Public Service District which built Hancock County’s first rural water system and President of the Lions Club.
In 1969, the late Governor Arch Moore appointed him as Commissioner of Welfare for the State of West Virginia. He accepted the position citing his compassion for the people in need and his desire to contribute something to the State. At 38-years-of-age when he first took office, he was one of the youngest administrators in State history.
He and his Department of Welfare team became national leaders in welfare reform. In 1972, the West Virginia Welfare Department was recognized nationally as the finest welfare program in the nation, by US News and World Report magazine. He was so proud of the people and the work they accomplished, that he invited his “welfare family” to gather many times to celebrate their friendship and accomplishments. Upon leaving his position as Commissioner he was presented with the Distinguished West Virginian award.
In 1975, Ed was appointed to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and in 1977 became United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. In 1983, Ed was selected as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and public relations of the University and coordination of its communications, publications, alumni relations and fund raising efforts of its independent foundation. It was due to his efforts that the University adopted the Flying WV at its symbol.
In his retirement, Ed enjoyed writing and publishing books, attending WVU football and basketball games, being actively involve in the WVU alumni organizations, studying the Civil War as a member of the Mason-Dixon Civil War Roundtable and mentoring WVU students. Through all of his years, he remained immensely proud of his Hancock County roots.
Portions excerpted from “The Making of a Supreme Court Justice” Hancock County Courier, by Jane Cowey.
