James Brodie Stone

James Brodie Stone, 96, went home to be with his Lord on November 16, 2016, surrounded by his daughters at the Country Club Retirement Center in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The most important thing in Jim’s life was the Lord Jesus and his own relationship with Him. Second only to Jim’s relationship with the Lord was his love for his wife, Lib, and his four daughters. Born in Cranberry, West Virginia, James lived most of his life in St. Albans, West Virginia. James was preceded in death by his wife, Elisabeth Ann Ballard Stone of St. Albans, WV; parents Albert and Elizabeth Stone of Mount Hope, WV; his brother, Sanford Stone; and his great-granddaughter, Hannah Mitchell. Surviving James are his four daughters; Bonnie (Lyman) Russell, of St. Albans, WV, Jean (Thomas) Eckblad of Columbia Heights, Minnesota, Rosemary (Mervin) Ziegler of Mt. Vernon, Ohio and Sarah (Rex) Rogers of Alto, Michigan; 14 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren. James was a graduate of Mount Hope High School in Mount Hope, WV. He worked in the coal mines for a year, attended Concord College, and went to work at Union Carbide in Charleston, WV, in 1940. Within a month of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, James was on Parris Island in the U. S. Marine boot camp. He was placed in G-2 Intelligence School and, after further training, was en route to the Solomon Islands in June of 1942. On August 7, 1942, the Marines of the 1st Division landed on Guadalcanal where James was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Tenaru River sustaining permanent injury to both ears from a bomb falling in his foxhole. He was returned by ship with other wounded men to the United States in 1943. For his service, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. He stayed at Quantico, Virginia, to teach combat training to Marine photographers who accompanied the troops to the islands of the Pacific. He organized the PCIS, Photographers Combat Intelligence School. In 1946, with wife and two daughters, James moved to St. Albans, WV, and resumed his work at Carbide. He enrolled in Morris Harvey College, now the University of Charleston, receiving the B.A. in Social Science, cum laude, 1951. He also attended Marshall University in Huntington, WV, and obtained the MA in Political Science. Due to injuries to his hearing, a Navy doctor cautioned Mr. Stone to “learn a trade and work with his hands as he would not be able to make it in the working world.” Jim, however, was Safety Director at Union Carbide, 1958-1971; worked for many years with the West Virginia Department of Labor in many areas of Occupational Safety and Health; and taught for years as Marshall University Instructor, Industrial Safety. Mr. Stone was St. Albans Civil Defense Director, 1951, and Chief of Intelligence Services Division, WV Department of Civil Defense, 1959-1967. He trained in and taught many Civil Defense classes throughout the Tri-State area. He was Occupational Safety and Health Program Director, 1971-1973; Acting Deputy Commissioner, WV Dept. of Labor, 1972-73, working with many organizations in training programs with OSHA. Mr. Stone worked with the Kanawha Valley Industrial Emergency Planning Council (KVIEPC), the American National Red Cross, and numerous other agencies to better prepare for industrial disasters. He was pastor of Sattes Community Church for eleven years, taught many Bible classes, was a member of Cross Lanes Bible Church in Cross Lanes, WV, where he was on the Board of Deacons and was Chairman of the Cross Lanes Christian School. The memorial service will be led by his son-in-law, Mervin Ziegler, at Grace Baptist Temple, 1901 MacCorkle Avenue, St. Albans, West Virginia, at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 19, following visitation with the family from noon to 1:00. Interment will be at Cunningham Memorial Park, 815 Cunningham Lane, St. Albans, West Virginia, with his son-in-law, Lyman Russell, officiating. Funeral arrangements are by the Dowds-Snyder Funeral Home of Mount Vernon, Ohio, and the Bartlett-Chapman Funeral Home of St. Albans, West Virginia. Visit ChapmanFuneralHomes.com to leave memories or condolences with the family.

James Brodie Stone

July 1, 1920 - November 16, 2016