C. W. Pell Fund
The C. W. Pell Fund provides ongoing support for the construction and maintenance of a park in Davis, honoring a beloved teacher and coach through the generosity of his former students.
TYPE OF FUND: Designated
DATE ESTABLISHED: 1997
PURPOSE: To provide funding for the construction and maintenance of a park in Davis.
DISTRIBUTION: Upon the recommendation of the Grants Committee, and approval by the Board of Directors of TCF, funds will be distributed to the Davis Renaissance Group for the intended purpose.
VARIANCE POWER: If, in the judgment of the TCF Board of Directors, the restrictions and conditions of the fund become unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the TCF Board of Directors maintains the right to modify the terms of this fund.
FUNDING: Initiated by a $500.00 donation from Carl K. Kline of Morgantown, with additional funding provided by former students of Mr. Pell.
BACKGROUND: Carl Kline contacted TCF in January 1997 with a request to establish a Named Fund in honor of his Davis High School basketball coach. A reception was held July 3, 1997, at Canaan Valley Resort Lodge with a certificate presented to Mr. Pell announcing the fund. Mr. Pell was given the option of deciding how the interest from his fund was to be spent.
Those making initial contributions to the fund were teammates of Carl Kline: Robert Burger, Robert Drury, Richard McDowell, Richard Moore, John Raese, Donald Shure, Alex Smigal, Dr. Wayne C. Spiggle, Kenneth Whitehair, and Frank Zordani. Only one member of that DHS basketball team, James Ruckel, was no longer living. In August 1999, the Davis High School classes of 1948, ’49, ’50, and ’51 held a reunion. They had an auction and raised more than $750, which they donated to the Pell Fund.
Charles Weider “Web” Pell, a native of Davis, was a 1936 graduate of Davis High School. He attended Potomac State College and WVU until he began a six-year stint with the U.S. Navy. He was a carrier-based pilot in WWII in the squadron assigned to the USS Franklin Roosevelt. He returned to WV where he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in education and social studies at Marshall University. During his college years, he played basketball at all three schools, including years under coaches Dana “Horse” Lough, Richard “Dyke” Raese, and Cam Henderson. He earned a master’s degree in education and physical education at WVU.
Mr. Pell returned to his hometown to teach social studies and coach basketball for three years at Davis High School, and then transferred to Wilmington (OH) High School where he coached basketball for two years. He spent the remainder of his working years in Florida, where he coached football at Pahokee High School for 18 years, then completed his career with 13 years of teaching and coaching at Okeechobee High School. He retired in 1983, splitting his time between his Florida home and summers in Davis.
Web Pell and Jane Charlton, a native of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, were married in 1945 and are the parents of seven children: Charles Jr., John, Mary Jane Lawless, Anne McIntosh, James Pell, Peggy Krogel, and Kathy Williamson. They have 15 grandchildren. Web Pell passed away in January 2010.
