Pictured from the inaugural year of the annual Silver Bridge Memorial Ceremony in 2015, are the lighted trees and the Silver Bridge plaque at Sixth and Main streets in downtown Point Pleasant, W.Va. (OVP File Photo)
Victims of the Silver Bridge Disaster
Adler, E. Albert “Bert”, Jr.
Bennett, Julius Oliver “J. O.”
Blackman, Leo H.
Boggs, Kristy Ann
Boggs, Marjorie S.
Byus, Catherine Lucille “Cathy”
Byus, Hilda Gertrude
Byus, Kimberly Lynn
Cantrell, Melvin Aaron
Cantrell, Thomas Allen
Casey, Donna Jean
Counts, Cecil Clyde
Cremeans, Horace “Donald”
Cundiff, Harold D.
Darst, Alonzo “Lonnie”
Duff, Alma L.
Hawkins, James W.
Head, Bobby Lee
Higley, Forrest Raymond
Lane, Alva Bernard “Bud”
Lee, Thomas Howard “Bus”
Mabe, Gene Harold
Maxwell, James Richard “Dicky”
Mayes, Darlene K.
McManus, Gerald
Meadows, James F.
Meadows, James Timothy “Timmy”
Miller, Frederick “Dean”
Moore, Ronnie Gene
Nibert, Nora Isabelle
Northup, Darius E.
Pullen, James Otto
Sanders, Leo Otto “Doc”
Sims, Ronald R.
Smith, Charles Thomas
Smith, Oma Letha
Sturgeon, Maxine Ellen
Taylor, Denzil
Taylor, Glenna Mae
Towe, Robert Eugene
Turner, Victor William “Vic”
Turner, Maxine
Wamsley, Marvin L.
Wedge, Lillian Eleanor
Wedge, Paul D.
White, James Alfred
POINT PLEASANT — The annual Silver Bridge Memorial Ceremony is canceled this year due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in the area.
Kenny Grady, event organizer, said he felt it was necessary to cancel the event because of the “seriousness” of the pandemic and the county turning “red” on the state’s county alert system map.
Although the ceremony is canceled, Grady said they will still be putting the crosses by the courthouse on Sixth Street and Main Street in Point Pleasant. The names of the 46 victims will be on the crosses and there will a lighted wreath will also be at the memorial site.
Grady said the memorial will be set up before Dec. 15 and will remain in place for visitors to view until the first of the year.
“We still want to remember them,” Grady said.
Grady said he and other organizers felt it was best to canceled the event, even though attendees will be outside. Grady referenced that nearly all other events have been canceled in the last several months and organizers felt doing the same would be safest.
This year is the 53rd anniversary of the Silver Bridge Disaster, which happened on Dec. 15, 1967.
In typical years, the annual remembrance ceremony is at the site where the bridge formerly entered the city, which is at the corner of 6th and Main.
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Kayla (Hawthorne) Dunham is a staff writer for Ohio Valley Publishing. Reach her at (304) 675-1333, ext. 1992.
