SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 24

(By Senators Wooton, Scott, Ross, Oliverio and Anderson)


Requesting the renaming of the West Virginia Rehabilitation Center, to the "F. Ray Power Rehabilitation Center".

Whereas, In the mid 1930s F. Ray Power had the remarkable foresight to propose to the Legislature that an agency be created solely to serve the needs of handicapped West Virginians, thereby prompting the creation of the Vocational Rehabilitation Division of the State Board of Vocational Education under the authority of the State Board of Education; and
Whereas, Following visits to the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, a former army hospital in Fisherville, Virginia, F. Ray Power recognized the need for a similar facility in our state to serve severely disabled West Virginians. This led to the utilization of abandoned facilities that formerly housed the West Virginia School for Negro, Deaf and Blind Children for that purpose; and
Whereas, With fortitude and the cooperation of the appropriate governmental bodies, F. Ray Power was able to open the West Virginia Rehabilitation Center in the few buildings that had been abandoned, and which stood on approximately thirty-three acres of land located at Institute. These facilities became an integral part of a statewide vocational rehabilitation program; and
Whereas, The Rehabilitation Center, which recently celebrated its fortithfortieth anniversary fo\of servixece to our citizens, was originally founded by F. Ray Power who, on May 3, 1998, will have been born one hundred years ago and who recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary of service to our citizens. This anniversary provides a fitting occasion to honor the many years of dedication and unwavering service of F. Ray Power to the disabled citizens of this state by renaming the West Virginia Rehabilitation Center the "F. Ray Power Rehabilitation Center"; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate:
That the Senate hereby requests that the West Virginia Rehabilitation Center, located in Institute in Kanawha County, be renamed as the "F. Ray Power Rehabilitation Center"; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the Governor, the Secretary of Administration and the Director of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.