Helen Kight Hamilton, Grantsville lady,
last of Hamilton family movin' on

By Bob Weaver

Grantsville's lady Helen Kight Hamilton, now 84, is leaving Calhoun after a life-time in the community, the last of the Hamilton family by name in the county, soon moving to Marietta, Ohio.

The Hamilton's are among the county's most historic families, lawyers, teachers, merchants, doctors, dentists, newspaper publishers, and politicians.

Growing up on White Pine, Helen graduated from Calhoun County High School in 1946, marrying attorney and long-time prosecutor Victor Hamilton. Victor was a veteran of WWII, serving in China, Burma and India during that great conflict. He died in 1998.

Helen recalls the hey-day of Grantsville, and fondly remembers her husband joining the local men for coffee every morning at the J & B Drug Store. "Each one had their own cup with their names," she said. "They gave me Victor's cup when he died."

In 1973 she and Victor built a house in south Grantsville on the hillside above the old Hope Gas Company office.

From her windows and deck she has a wide-view of the town. "I could look out and see when people came to work in the morning," she said.

Acknowledging that much has changed in her lifetime, she said the coming of the hospital to the county was a major improvement, named after Minnie Hamilton, a long time public health nurse. "I regretted the high school moving out of town. It brought much life," she said.

A longtime member of the Knotts United Methodist Church, she reveled about her church family, many who have passed. "It's been sad to see church membership decline," Helen said.

Helen's house has a birds-eye view of the
town where she has spent most of her lifetime

Tragically, son Victor Hamilton III was the victim of a car crash in 1979. She has a daughter, Janet Lynn Coberly and family living in Spotsylvania PA and a son, Roger living in Charleston.

Her sister, Peggy Hamilton lives in Parkersburg where she teaches at a community college.

Helen is still exuberant and optimistic about her life while making the move, but "I'll keep coming back."

"This has been a great place to live with lots of good neighbors," she concluded.

See also THE HAMILTONS OF CALHOUN - Remembering "Boxcar"

BEYOND THE CALL - Minnie Hamilton's Legacy, Down The Muddy Roads She Went

THE ILL-FATED COOKS OF GRANTSVILLE - Cook Hotel Early Landmark, Civil War Veterans Died Young