CALHOUN MONUMENT WAS ERECTED GOV. CECIL AND HOVAH HALL UNDERWOOD

(10/25/2023)

Two monuments have been erected in memory of the late Gov. Cecil Underwood and his wife, Hovah Hall Underwood.

One in Tyler County, the governor's birthplace, and one in Calhoun where Mrs. Underwood was born and spent her early life.

The monument was set in the Betts Cemetery at Cabot Station, a short distance west of Grantsville.

Hovah Hall Underwood, 85, died in 2004, after suffering a stroke.

She was born in Grantsville, the daughter of the late Roche C. and Docia Betts Hall.

Gov. Cecil and Hovah Hall Underwood

She earned an AB degree from Salem College and a Certificate in Social Work from West Virginia University.

She taught at Grantsville Grade School, worked in a defense plant during World War II, and served 10 years as a child welfare worker in northern West Virginia.

She had been married to Cecil Underwood for 56 years at the time of her death.

Gov. Underwood was the youngest and oldest person to serve as governor of the Mountain State, serving two terms.

While at Salem College, he met Hovah Hall through her two sisters when they were classmates. They were wed on July 25, 1948 at Knotts Memorial Methodist Church in Grantsville.

The governor died in 2008 at age 86.

Both Governor and Mrs. Underwood contributed extensively to the State of West Virginia and its' people.

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