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Mabel Louise Starcher Chapman died on Saturday, October 23, 2010, on her farm in Ripley. Born on May 6, 1920, she was the daughter of Floyd L. Starcher and Ocie Mae Rhodes Starcher Dudgeon. A lifelong citizen of Ripley, Mabel was the great-great-granddaughter of Jacob Starcher, an early settler of Jackson County, who donated the thirty acres of land on which the original town of Ripley was established on December 19, 1832, by the Petition of Jacob Starcher submitted to the General Assembly of Virginia. That thirty acres of land included the eight acres of ground needed to establish the county seat and the Public Square and currently houses the Jackson County Courthouse and adjacent property.
Mabel graduated from Ripley High School in 1938 and went on to receive her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Morris Harvey College in 1974. In 1985, she was awarded a Master of Social Work from West Virginia University. She also received numerous certificates of achievement throughout her professional career.
In her professional life, Mabel was a Jackson County Deputy Sheriff from 1943 to 1956. In 1957, she became the first Executive Secretary for the newly created WV Department of Finance and Administration and was later appointed Assistant Comptroller, holding that position until June 1961. In 1966, Mabel was employed as a social worker by the WV Department of Welfare. She worked mainly out of the Jackson County office in adult services until late 1987, occasionally riding horseback to visit families in rural areas where vehicles could not travel. She was a Licensed Certified Social Worker for the State of West Virginia and later served as the Director of Social Services for Jackson General Hospital for a number of years before retiring.
Mabel had a love for all animals and cared deeply for their welfare; but her greatest passion was her horses. While working in Charleston in the late 1950s, during her off duty hours she became a riding instructor at Coonskin Park Stables in Charleston. From 1961 to 1963 she operated Mountain State Riding School in Dickinson, where 500 students from Charleston and outlying areas came to learn horsemanship. In the latter part of 1963, she moved the school to her family farm in Ripley, known as Willow Haven Farm, where she continued to instruct students, including her granddaughter Jennifer, well into the 1990s. She bred, raised, trained, sold, showed, and boarded horses for over 65 years. Her efforts earned her numerous trophies, ribbons and awards, including state and tri-state championships. Her knowledge of horses resulted in her selection as a horse show judge on many occasions. She was highly respected in the equestrian industry.
Mabel was a regular sight around Ripley and in 2002 she made the national news when then-President George W. Bush chose her farm as a landing site for his July 4th visit to Ripley. She was active in the Jackson County Community and was a member of a number of national, state, and local organizations, including, but not limited to, the National Horseman's Association; the National Association of Social Workers; the Jackson County Historical Society, on which she served as a member, director and past president; the Jackson County Concerned Citizens Group, where she served as Treasurer; the West Virginia Regional History Association; the WVU Alumni Association; the Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants; the Jackson County Commission on Aging, where she served as past chairperson and past secretary; and Active Citizens for Jackson County. She was also a member of St. John's Episcopal Church and Calvary United Methodist Church.
Surviving is her son, Ronald L. Chapman, and his wife Joyce and their son Robert; granddaughter Jennifer Chapman Gottlieb and her husband Robert. She will be greatly missed.
Funeral services will be Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 11a.m. at Waybright Funeral Home Ripley. Interment will follow at Pine Hill Cemetery, Ripley.
Friends may call at Waybright Funeral Home Wednesday evening from 5 - 8 p.m.
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West Virginia Pioneers
1920 - 2010 (90 years)
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