Shep's Place Family Tree

You are most cordially invited to go on a hay ride.
We will meet at the home of Hartley Burton.
Thursday evening at 7 o'clock sun time.
Committee Invitation

Katie and Will Foglesong bought the Foglesong Funeral Home on the main street of Mason, West Virginia in 1918 from the Edward Johnson family. When Will finished his undertaking studies in Bluefield, WV and Buckhannon, WV, he and Katie lived with Papa Ruttencutter in his home, where Katie cared for her mother until Sadie died in 1912.

After Sadie Ruttencutter's death, they stayed on with Katie's father Will until 1918. Evelyn writes, "I must add this note, for the Funeral Home contains all my childhood memories. I was eight years old when we moved there. My first memory of the house was no grass in the yard, and a rope with an innertube tied to it hanging on the front porch for a swing."

In the 1920s the third floor rooms and one room on the second floor were rented to Mrs. Florence Parker, principal of Mason High School, and to several girls from New Haven who attended the high school.

After that there were workers who need housing in the district while they built the new T.N.T. plant just north of Point Pleasant.

"From 1918 until his death in 1948, Will Ruttencutter, my mother's father, lived with us. My father's mother and his Aunt Betty lived there a number of years, too. My Aunt Mabelle Foglesong Casto stayed with us when she taught at Wahama High School. A native of Mason and former teacher, Miss Sarah Welton, came from California to see the town before she died, and stayed with us for three years! During the 1937 flood, two families lived with us until they could return to their homes."

"After the flood, Ray and I moved from Point Pleasant to Mason. We stayed at my parent's home until our house on Pomeroy Street was ready for occupancy. Our first child, James Ray Proffitt, was born at the funeral home in July 1937. As far as I know, he is the only person to have been born there."

"Tramps and hobos had the home marked as a place they could get a hand-out. No one who had a need was ever turned away."

"Our immediate family-- my mother and father, my brothers Donald and Samuel and I-- never lived there alone."

One day about the summer of 1927, Katie Foglesong received a note brought by a boy from the railroad station which asked someone to come down to get Miss Sarah Welton, for she would like to see her. Katie Foglesong was not expecting a visitor, but sent a car to get her and her baggage. Miss Sarah stayed with the Foglesongs for three years!

Miss Sarah taught her to tat, an art which she has never forgotten. Also, Miss Sarah had been a school teacher in Mason for many years. After her sister Ella Earhart's tragic suicide, Miss Sarah moved to Roseville, California, to look after her sister's four children. While in California she taught English to Mexican children. ‎(Miss Sarah Welton died in Roseville on May 1, 1931. She is buried in East Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, California. She was 86 1/2 yrs old.)‎

At the time that Miss Sarah lived with the Foglesongs, Evelyn had graduated from high school, and her brother Don was still in high school. On Saturday evenings a popular pastime was to drive to Pt. Pleasant to "see and be seen" by driving around and around the two-block business section.

One night Miss Sarah decided that she wanted to go with the young ones, which cramped their style; but Katie Foglesong made them take her. After Donald had driven around the block half-a-dozen times, Miss Sarah said, "I'm getting dizzy. For Christ's sake, set me down on the curb and pick me up when you are ready to go home." Evelyn, Donald and their friends just couldn't understand why their mother would let Miss Sarah use such language, which they wouldn't dare to use. Apparently, Miss Sarah could swear like a trooper.

One day Miss Sarah asked Evelyn to dress her up in one of her outfits and take her photograph. Evelyn dressed her in a short dress and a fuzzy cashmere tam, which was the style then. She posed with her dress pulled above her knees, and we had copies made to send to her friends in California to show them how much West Virginia agreed with her, for she looked so much younger there.

At one point the Foglesongs were on the point of bankrupcy because people couldn't afford to pay for funeral services after the Depression. Dad ‎(Will Foglesong)‎ called us all into the kitchen where we all sat down around the table. He said that the situation was hopeless. Katie, his wife, said, "Daddy, there will be a way, I know it, provided we do not give up." Then there was a knock on the door, and when Dad came back his hands were full of money, $600 or so.

Born Feb. 24, 1886, in Mason, she was a daughter of the late W.E. and Sarah Frances Ruttencutter. Her husband, W.H. Foglesong, died in 1962. She was a member of the Mason United Methodist Church and organist there for more than 50 years, a member of the Women's Society of Christian Service and a member of the SFR ‎[Sarah Frances Ruttencutter]‎ Class. Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Evelyn Proffitt of Mason; two sons, Samuel Foglesong of Mullens, W.Va., and Donald Foglesong of Mason; a sister, Mrs. Miles O. Brown of Mason; a brother L. J. Ruttencutter of Mason; 10 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Friends may call at the Foglesong Funeral Home at Mason after 3 p.m. today.