HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 22

(By Delegate Pino)


[Introduced January 19, 2006; referred to the

Committee on Rules.]



Requesting the West Virginia Division of Highways to name U.S. Route 16 from the Fayette - Raleigh County line to the city of Oak Hill the "General C. Shirley Donnelly Memorial Road."

Whereas, C. Shirley Donnelly was born in Jackson County, West Virginia on February 2, 1895; and
Whereas, C. Shirley Donnelly was raised in frugal circumstance similar to most West Virginians of the era; and
Whereas, C. Shirley Donnelly attended a one room school at Cedar Point until his family moved to Charleston, West Virginia, where he graduated from Charleston High School in 1915; and
Whereas, C. Shirley Donnelly decided to go into the ministry at an early age and fulfilled that desire by completing graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia; and
Whereas, Reverend C. Shirley Donnelly pastored at Oak Hill Baptist Church for twenty-one years and at the Crab Orchard Baptist Church for twenty-five years after returning from World War II; and
Whereas, During Reverend Donnelly's military service, he was Head Chaplain over six hundred army chaplains of all faiths; and
Whereas, At the age of thirty-four, C. Shirley Donnelly was promoted to the rank of Captain, fulfilling a goal he had set for himself as a youth, and eventually he was promoted to the rank of full colonel; and
Whereas, During C. Shirley Donnelly's military service, he lived in seventeen countries on four continents; and
 Whereas, Colonel C. Shirley Donnelly was a friend and acquaintance of Colonel James H. O?Neil, army chaplain, who was told by General Patton to do something to stop the rain which had bogged down the efforts of Patton?s army, thus stirring Chaplain O?Neill to compose the famous prayer printed on the back of General Patton?s Christmas card as Patton credited the prayer with stopping the rain; and
 Whereas, Colonel C. Shirley Donnelly was with General Patch in Augsburg, Germany when the surrender note of Goering was placed in the General?s hand thus placing him in the archives of history un-matched by any Fayette Countian of note; and
 Whereas, After the war, C. Shirley Donnelly was promoted to the highest rank of General as a Chaplain in the National Guard in the United States on his eighty-fifth birthday; and
 Whereas, In his spare time, C. Shirley Donnelly delighted readers in West Virginia and elsewhere by his prolific writings in book form and newspapers on a host of subjects and experiences; and
 Whereas, Jim Comstock noted historian and publisher, once remarked that Fayette County and all of West Virginia should be thankful that C. Shirley Donnelly preserved so much local and state history; and
 Whereas, C. Shirley Donnelly departed this life on August 31, 1982 and is interred at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Prosperity, West Virginia; and
 Whereas, C. R. Hill chronicled the many achievements of C. Shirley Donnelly as Historian, Minister, Soldier, Farmer and Banker in book form, giving clear and convincing evidence that the contributions of C. Shirley Donnelly should not soon be forgotten; and
 Whereas, Those contributions make C. Shirley Donnelly worthy and deserving of having his name set before his fellow Fayette Countians and the motoring public, commemorating his exemplary life in the hope that it might be emulated; and
 Whereas, C. Shirley Donnelly frequently traveled over a portion of U.S. Route 16 as he pastored at the Crab Orchard Baptist Church and as he wrote countless articles for the Beckley newspaper; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the West Virginia Division of Highways is hereby requested to name the portion of U.S. Route 16 from the Fayette - Raleigh County line to the city of Oak Hill the "General C. Shirley Donnelly Memorial Road," and that the Division of Highways is hereby requested to erect appropriate signs so designating that portion of U.S. Route 16; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Highways.