Woman
in the Wings / November 2006
Woman in the Wings features women who live life not in the spotlight, but behind the scenes, where applause doesn’t reach. Women in the Wings shine as brightly as any star; they just never stop working long enough to take a bow. Meet Sally Holliday, a Woman in the Wings whose spirit, vision and grace have left an enduring imprint on the quality of life in Putnam County.
 Sally Holliday
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By Pat Lawrence
During 1940s and early ‘50s, polio crippled thousands. With no known cure and all four of her children exposed to the virus, one young mother from St. Albans whisked her family to Minneapolis where the latest polio therapies were just bing introduced by an innovative Australian nurse.
That all-embracing decision making, pursuit of practical solutions and reliance on research were characteristics Sally Holliday would make her own.
When the family returned to West Virginia, Sally entered ninth grade. She attended Carlton College and WVU. “I ways thought I’d go to med school and enter the mission field-I’d worked at a mission hospital in Alaska between semesters, but, I met my husband before graduation, we married and I ended up with a degree in home economics.”
The couple had five children in nine years. “We lived in Teays Valley, I had five kids, all in school and there was no place close the family could go for picnics or outings, no playing fields or tennis courts. We had to go to Huntington to enjoy a park. I thought that was a shame.”
So, Sally began talking to people, gathering facts, getting ideas and sharing plans. “It took a while to convince the City we could have something of quality.” Then, she went to the capital. “Some proposed park sites were on school property, some on private property-we needed legislation that allowed us to use county money on city property.” She came back with a $10,000 grant, the first of many, to help create eleven community parks that the Commission eventually established. Although she started work on the first park in 1969, the commission wasn’t created until 1973.
Sally was it’s first, and for 37 years, only, president. The position involved hours of meetings, travel, research, conversations with city, county and state officials, park personnel, legislators, and recreation specialists. She met hundreds of people and learned from everyone. “It was a wonderful education!” Sally negotiated leases, raised money, got grants and made public parks in Putnam County a reality. She is especially proud of the 300 acre County Park in Eleanor, site of “the first pool we built!”
Through her friendships, effort and the support of hundreds of people she brought together, the Parks and Recreation Commission was able to hire the former director of West Virginia’s State Parke system, implement the newest ideas and expand amenities despite a per capita funding of just $3.15. In nearby Huntington, the Parks District spends over $15 per person on parks and recreation Charleston spends over $45, South Charleston spends well over $100. Sally’s energy, diplomacy and dedication generated dollars that the small county could never have anticipated. As President of the Parks and Recreation Commission, she never received salary or stipend.
Her latest contributions involved the addition of a wave pool, a two mile walking trail and a new 200 seat shelter at Valley Park. Sally says, “People weren’t sure about it, but the proceeds from the wave pool helped fund all the other water features of the park.”
Her ability to predict what kids would enjoy may be experience as much as vision. “We live on a farm and have thirteen grandchildren. Three of our grown children and nine grandchildren, from ages 5-17 live on the farm, too. The kids have four horses, a donkey, and many dogs and cats!” Sally’s mother lived on the family complex for four years, until she died at 91. “She was an amazing woman. She got her college degree after I got mine!”
After years of smooth operation, gratifying growth, recent grants of over a million dollars plus $750,000 earmarked for a kiddie pool, county politics took a nasty turn and headed for the Parks and Recreation Commission. In a series of financial and personnel decisions still being questioned, the three-man county commission removed Sally and six long term board members from their posts. The kiddie pool is canceled and an inexperienced new Parks commission struggles under a cloud of public scrutiny.
It isn’t how she would have liked to leave, but Sally has no regrets about what she has accomplished and believes that her efforts made more than a little difference in the quality of life for her community. She was an invaluable resource and indomitable fighter in creating public spaces and facilities of excellence in Putnam County. Today, she juggles the family activities, serves on the board of her church’s conference center and is writing a book about her sister, the second American polio patient of the famed polio therapist, Elizabeth Kenny. Sally says, “Sister Kenny was our neighbor. Three of us recovered completely, but my sister Betsy Rea contracted bulbar polio and lived most of her life in a wheelchair. She was a wonderful person who had an amazing life.”
A wonderful person, an amazing life, a generous spirit and the courage to face insurmountable obstacles–they all seem to run in the family.
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