SUMMERS COUNTY W.Va. (Hinton News) – This week’s piece is a little different in that it is not about a specific piece in my vast collection of Summers County memorabilia. But rather a person who I owe so much to making me the person that I am today.
O. Ashby Berkley or “Totter” as many people of his generation referred to him, passed away Saturday, Oct. 12, at age 83. Even though he was my elder we were close and I always referred to him as “Ashby.”
My mother was a chef for Ashby at Pence Springs Hotel in Pence Springs, Wes V which he restored and operated for decades. Mom started working at the hotel in 1988 and continued for 13 years. So I guess you could say I grew up in the Pence Springs Hotel.
I would go to work with Mom for as long as I can remember and either hang out back in the kitchen or spend countless hours in the office with Ashby and his sister Rosa Lee. Or I would do things such as helping deliver the freshly baked cookies to the guest’s rooms every day. He did have a reputation for exceptional hospitality after all.
It was at this young age I learned I was different from other people my age. I preferred to hang out with people like Ashby so I could learn from them. His love for history, especially local history sparked a fire in me at an early age. I started collecting local pieces when I was 10 years old when I attended my first auction.
I did my 4th grade Social Studies Fair project on the history of Pence Springs. Ashby helped me greatly with the research. Fast forward two decades and Ashby convinced me to become the secretary/treasurer of the Summers County Historic Landmarks Commission, an organization he had served on since the 1980s.
One of my fondest memories with him was in the fall of 2016 when I traveled with him to Florida to empty out his condo and pick up some antique light fixtures he had purchased for his latest project, the restoration of Sweet Springs Hotel. Oh the countless stories he told me on the way down and on the ride back, many of which had a local history twist to them.
As for Sweet Springs, I got involved with it as well at Ashby’s hand. First I volunteered there every weekend for nearly a year on various restoration projects. Second, I rode with him to Charleston to accept a grant for one of these projects in the spring of 2017. One aspect of this trip sticks in my mind and that is when he spoke with Mrs. Manchin.
And that is how he just walked up to her and spoke to her by referring to her as “Gayle” and asking, “How has Joe been doing Gayle?” I had known he knew “everyone” but it was at that point I realized just how true that thought was.
Around this time I organized a trip for the tourism department at Concord University to tour Sweet Springs. We had a very knowledgeable and informative tour with Ashby. He is the one that led me to become a tourism major at Concord while they still had a tourism department.
I could go on and on but I wouldn’t even begin to touch all of the fascinating facts about this Summers County treasure. This is why I will be partnering with Rebecca Stalnaker, editor for the Hinton Newspaper in the coming weeks to write a feature article on the life and legacy of Ashby.
It will go into more detail about his various historic rehab projects in Summers County such as the Pence Springs Hotel, Pence Springs Flea Market and Spring House Antiques, Riverside Inn, Coiner Boarding House and various other buildings and homes in the Pence Springs area.
Ashby became one of my biggest mentors growing up and instilled in me a passion for local history and antiques that I have today. There will never be anyone else like him who holds his cooking ability, historical knowledge, hospitality and business mind and his wit and charm. You left a large void in many areas of many people’s lives Ashby.
Even though there can’t and won’t be another, you left large shoes to try to fill. I will attempt to wear them, even though they will be a size or two too large for a while. Please be on the lookout for the full story of the legacy that Ashby Berkley leaves behind as he lived and breathed history in every aspect.
To give an example of what I mean, while being interviewed about the latest historic restoration project of his, Sweet Springs Resort Park he said the following about the project: “Every day, we find out something new. The history here is so rich; it’s as thick as molasses.”
When Ashby talked about something, especially things he was passionate about he used old sayings like that. He had a way with words and was never at a loss for them. As I finish this piece it is dawning on me, I knew Ashby was important to me but now that he is gone I realize just how much. You will be missed “Totter,” I will explain in the following article how he got this nickname that stuck with him his entire life.
