Monroe County Candidate for WV House of Delegates
My name is Becky Crabtree. I am a teacher at James Monroe High School, an author, a former coach, a small-scale farmer, and an active member of the Lindside United Methodist Church. With the support of my family, I am announcing my candidacy for the WV House of Delegates, representing District 40, newly redrawn to includes Monroe and southeastern Summers County. A new district needs a new face, right?
Here’s the back story of how this candidacy came about:
My husband, Roger, and I enjoyed the Winter Olympics on TV last month. We marveled at the loveliness of the skaters and the graceful way they glided to the music of their routines. Then, we scooted up to the edge of our recliners to watch the athletes on skis and snowboards. My breath caught a time or two when they sailed up high in the air, spun and turned flips and landed upright, sometimes even doing it all backwards. It was something to see. We talked about how hard the athletes must have practiced and how proud their parents must be and how wonderfully they each represented their county. It seemed so pure and admirable. I told Roger that I’d like to do something grand like that and he kinda choked, laughing but he pretended that he was nodding his head in agreement.
The very next night, the WVVA evening news came on and reported about some proposal or another coming out of the Charleston state house. Once I figured it out, I wondered why it was important to those folks. I shook my head and got up to turn the TV off. “Wait a minute,” he said, “You want to do something grand? Go to Charleston and tell them what regular people want.”
“It’d be hard for a Democrat to get elected this year,” I thought out loud.
He said, “Well, maybe a Washington DC Democrat couldn’t, but maybe… a Peters Mountain, Monroe County Democrat could.” He added, “There’s only one other candidate running; that doesn’t seem like much fun for the voters.” He shook out his newspaper to read but winked around the open pages.
“Oh, you…” I swiped at him with my dish towel and told him to hush. But I thought about it. A lot. Hard to say if one person in the Legislature could make a difference, but there were 15-year-olds at the Olympics that made a difference, representing their people and their country. Roger might have something there. I’ve taught school for decades, worked side jobs, coached basketball, wrote books, and done a little farming. I know about getting things done.
I took the idea to the altar that Sunday, listened, and found peace. Our daughters and grandchildren didn’t know what I was thinking as I knelt at the altar. Turns out that they whispered questions as they sat in our pew wondering why I went forward. Did mom have cancer? Was she changing jobs? Later, they were so relieved that I wasn’t dying that they didn’t mind a bit that I was venturing into politics. Of course, they don’t know about my only political experience as they weren’t born when I won the presidency of my fifth grade using the theme, “By Hecky, Vote for Becky.” At nine years old, it made me giggle because I thought it was a little bit off-color, close to swearing. I think I still have those construction paper posters; maybe I can dig them out.
Roger and I live at the base of Peters Mountain near Lindside. We have three daughters and five grandchildren (all brilliant and beautiful and full of vim and vinegar). Our oldest daughter, Papi Crabtree, teaches preschool at Talcott School and our middle daughter, Katie Adkins, teaches language arts to Peterstown’s fifth graders. Both teachers have earned recognition during their careers. Our youngest, Dr. Dinah Jankovic, is a pharmacist at a COVID hospital in South Carolina.
I am used to winning, having played on winning basketball teams at Princeton High School and Bluefield State College and on champion travel softball teams in WV and VA. I coached, too, basketball and softball and track and volleyball. A highlight of my basketball coaching was in 2006, when the Barrow Lady Whalers (located on the northern coast of Alaska) and I made it to the finals of the Alaska AAA State Tournament. That team was a group of young women, Inupiat (Northern Eskimo), Samoan, Yupik (Central Alaskan native group) and Filipino players that I had the privilege of coaching from their 6th grade to their 12th. I coached at Peterstown, too, and both dreaded and admired the Summers County Lady Bobcats and their “Permanent Press.” We beat them at the middle school level a couple of years, but that orange girls’ basketball machine was ever disciplined and skilled. I am a huge fan of the fast-paced game of basketball no matter who is playing and use “queen of the gym” as part of my personal email address. I guess I am a winning author, too, come to think of it, three of my six published books earned awards.
My interests are varied, and my beliefs are strong. I support local control of most everything, including school boards, health centers, and counties. I intend to see that our district gets its fair share of State and Federal funding for schools, roads, bridges, water and sewer, and also see that broadband is expanded to all parts of District 40. I will oppose anything that takes funds away from our public schools. I believe in fair taxation, clean air and water, the rights of property owners, America’s free enterprise system, and I support the respect and the benefits American veterans deserve. My brother served in Vietnam, and I had four uncles who served in WWII, two in the Pacific, one was at Normandy on D-Day, and one flew a B-17 at age 19. My family and I value the sacrifices of our military personnel.
After living on Guam and on the North Slope of Alaska, we were sure glad to get back to our little farm in beautiful Monroe County. Nowhere outside this area is the water as pure, the air as fresh, the changing seasons more beautiful, and the people as hard-working and giving. I feel our lifestyle here is worth defending. Do you remember a couple of years ago when a grandma got arrested as she sat in her first car, a ’71 Pinto, across the open trench of the Mountain Valley Pipeline on her own family’s land? That was me. I think I have the courage to continue to stand up for what I believe in.
My name will be on the ballot this November. In the meantime, please feel free to email me (becky@beckycforwv.com) with your concerns or interest in my campaign. Later this spring, my website, “BeckyCforWV,” will provide more information about my values and about events. I pledge to listen to the residents of the new District 40 and represent them enthusiastically and with civility. I humbly ask for your support.
