Few people may know that the tale of "Frosty the Snowman" came to life in West Virginia. While the story by Walter E. “Jack” Rollins, who was born in Keyser, West Virginia, doesn't specify West Virginia as location, the song he co-wrote in 1950 originated here among the peaks of the Allegheny Mountains.

 

While growing up in Mineral County, Rollins had to care for his mother, who had been blinded by glaucoma. She wrote poetry, and so did he, Rollins’s grandson James Busemeyer recalled in an interview with journalist Doug Imbrogno. After hearing her son’s poetry, Imbrogno says Rollins’s mother suggested he might put some of his words to music.

 

“It was her who said ‘Maybe you ought to put some music to it," Busemeyer said of his grandfather. "She always encouraged him quite a bit. He felt very close with her.”

 

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Editor's Note: Historian, real estate agent, and proponent of inventive economic development in West Virginia, David Sibray is the founder and publisher of West Virginia Explorer Magazine and, as noted above, the author of this article. We encourage you to visit their Web site to read more wonderful articles about West Virginia.For more information, he may be reached at 304-575-7390