Gov. Justice donates $2M to help restore almost 150 tombstones destroyed by severe weather

OHIO COUNTY, W.Va. ( WTRF ) — The Wheeling Mt. Zion Cemetery Association received a big donation to help with repairs after a storm-induced landslide took out a large portion of the hillside, wiping out an estimated 150 gravestones and monuments nearly a month ago.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice handed the $2 million check to Association Thursday afternoon. The governor said he was all too familiar with devastating weather events and their long-term effects.

Justice urged area residents impacted by flood damage to be patient while acknowledging that patience is quite a challenge in times like this.

“There’s thousands and thousands of people that visit and pay their respects to this cemetery,” Justice said. “And what’s happened here and everything, the washing away of these 150 gravesites – and thank goodness it just got the surface, for all practical purposes – but, it’s a tragedy, and it’s history, and we need to step up when we can and we gotta do all that we can to make things better.”

The governor said his heart goes out to the thousands of people who have loved ones buried in the cemetery, which will now be closed to all visitors for the foreseeable future– perhaps one to two years –while the landslide repairs take place.

“It’s gonna make a difference. It’s a good start,” said Charles Yocke, president and volunteer with Mt. Zion Cemetery. “I mean, it’s gonna take more, but this is a very good start to what he’s doing for us. When I got the call there, and it was amazing hearing those words – ‘helping with some money.'”

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