The Class of 2017 has already graduated from Bridgeport High School. However, a new set of graduates will be in place at the school come next month.

 

On Sept. 30, four individuals will officially be inducted into the Bridgeport High School Hall of Fame. The event is held annually by the Bridgeport High School Alumni & Friends Foundation.

 

“We’re thrilled every year to announce our honorees and this year is the same as the year’s past,” said Foundation President Chuck Steele. “We have four quality people that will be inducted, including two friends of the high school and two who are alumni. The friends have done great service work for the high school, while the alumni have distinguished themselves in their careers.”

 

The 2017 Hall of Fame Inductees are Barbara Judy, Marie Tyler-McGraw, Robert Edward Reep, and Paul Smith. Reep and McGraw are both BHS alumni, while Judy and Smith have contributed to the school directly.

 

Barbara Judy was a long-time counselor at Bridgeport High School, working there full-time from 1989 to her 2006 retirement. She began her educational career in 1975.

 

Judy, a former city resident, was known for her involvement in academics beyond just counseling. She coached the high school’s academic teams from the Quiz Bowl to the Science Bowl and many others. Not only did Judy’s teams compete, but they won. In fact, Barbara Judy has coached more state championship teams than any other individual in Bridgeport High School history with more than 20 – and those came at both the Class AA and Class AAA divisions. She coached the academic teams for several years after her retirement.

 

McGraw, now retired, is a 1957 graduate of Bridgeport High School who attended West Virginia University aided by a Benedum Scholarship. Her focus of study, that includes education, is in history where she ended things with a PhD in American Studies from George Washington University.

 

After school, she began want has become an impressive career involving history. She’s been an academic and public historian, teaching at the college level on the academic front. On the public front, she’s been involved with National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution as well as work with the National Park Service. McGraw, who focuses her writing and research on African American history and the history of West Virginia and Virginia, has produced numerous books, articles, museum exhibits and more.

 

Robert Edward Reep passed away at the age of 71 in 2011. However, the Bridgeport High School graduate who also was a graduate of the WVU School of Pharmacy left behind an impressive legacy to the Bridgeport community and beyond.

 

While he was known extremely well on the business front by establishing Reep Pharmacy and then later Reep Graphics, which operates to this day. Reep’s inclusion is based on his civic contributions that saw him become an elected official and civic club president and an artist that was a near master at fine-hand lettering. Many items featuring the Indians’ logo or an Indian headdress in the area were often done – and at no cost – by Reep, who was a charter member of the Bridgeport Jerry West Basketball League.

 

Paul Smith is a resident of Bridgeport. His inclusion into the Hall of Fame comes from being one of the school’s benefactors, particularly on the athletic front.

 

The contributions by Smith, who is president of Precision Oil and Gas, on several projects have helped upgrade and improve a number of Bridgeport High School facilities. Among the projects Smith has funded either entirely or partially include the new BHS boys’ basketball locker room, the scoreboard at Wayne Jamison Field, the new track building, the BHS press box and concession stand and numerous other upgrades for the baseball field.

 

“This event is definitely a celebration of the inductees,” said Steele. “For those that have been in the past, they know it is also a celebration of the school and the community as well.”

 

The Foundation began the Hall of Fame in 2007. The members inducted since that time include Dr. John H. Lodge, Maxine Moose Bruhns, William Dunkin Lodge, Charity Nelson Johnson, Harry L. Green Jr., James W. Frush Sr., Steve and Linda Williams, David Alvarez, Joseph Manchin Jr., Stephanie Chang, Christine Chiodo, Dr. Kelly Nelson, Dr. Robert Hess, Lt. Col. Curt Burner, Bill McCartney, Doug Van Scoy, Mike Corder, Mike Martin, Woody Thrasher, Alice Rowe, Janice Lough Warder, Tom Mace, Wayne Jamison, Marcia and John Conley, Lindy Bennett, Julia Jarvis, John Cecil Murphy, Curtis Fleming, Dan McNamee, Jim McDonald, Pam Hotsinpiller, Phil “Sonny” Nicewarner, Nancy Camp Jacobs, Mary E. Reppert, Dr. Michael Hess, Walter Barth, Marilyn McClure-Demers, John Ebert, and Hugh Gainer.

 

The community is invited to attend the event on Sept. 30. It will be held at the Bridgeport Conference Center at Charles Point beginning at 6 p.m.

 

Individuals wishing to buy tickets can contact any BHS Alumni and Friends Foundation board member or call Darletta Stout at 304-203-8300 or Cookie Compton at 304-842-6365. Stout and Compton are also board members.

 

Editor's Note: Pictured in second photo are the members of the BHS Alumni and Friends Foundation Board. Pictured, back row, Cookie Compton, Brooke Cunningham, Caryl Trippett, Pam Pinti, Hannah Edwards, and Darletta Stout. Front row, Alice Rowe, Chuck Steele, Mark DeFazio, Don Baldini, Sonny Hoskinson, and Fay Jamison. Not pictured, Lisa West Cook and Ann Nicewarner.