Spirit of Beckley returning to honor Bill and Lynn O'Brien

Oct. 1—After a two-year hiatus caused by the onset of Covid, the YMCA of Southern West Virginia's Spirit of Beckley award will return to honor a couple who organizers say truly embody everything the award represents.

This year's recipients of the 33rd Spirit of Beckley award will be Bill and Lynn O'Brien.

Having worked side by side throughout their near 50 years of marriage as sports broadcasters, owners of local radio station WJLS and while Bill served as Beckley's mayor, YMCA CEO Jay Rist said it only seemed right that the two be honored together.

"They're tremendous people and ... because they've given so much over the years, we're going to celebrate them as the 33rd Spirit of Beckley (honorees)," Rist said.

Rist said the Spirit of Beckley award, which is given annually, is meant to celebrate and honor individuals who have "given up their time and resources to make the area a better place to work, live and play."

By being selected, Bill and Lynn O'Brien become the cornerstone for the Spirit of Beckley, which serves as the annual fundraising campaign for the YMCA of Southern West Virginia. Y members and the community are asked to contribute to the campaign in honor of the recipient, and all proceeds go to the Y's youth programs.

Co-chairs for the program are Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold, Beckley city attorney Bill File and former Beckley recorder-treasurer Byrd White. The three will be designated to recruit vice chairs for the program, along with fundraising teams.

To kick off the campaign, a breakfast will be served at the Historic Black Knight Municipal Park on Tuesday, Nov. 1, when teams will plan how to raise funds and call on local businesses to donate to the cause.

Rist said the goal is to raise $100,000.

The 33rd Spirit of Beckley Dinner honoring Bill and Lynn O'Brien will be Monday, Dec. 12, at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

The O'Briens are more than deserving of the award, Rist said.

The O'Briens have lived in Beckley since the age of 2 when Bill's family moved to the area from New York City and Lynn's moved from Wyoming County.

Both attended Beckley Jr. High and Woodrow Wilson High School before leaving for Huntington where Bill attended Marshall University and Lynn trained to be a nurse at St. Mary's School of Nursing.

Not long after graduating from Marshall in 1969, Bill began his career with WJLS in Beckley. That career would come to span more than 40 years.

Lynn too returned to Beckley as a registered nurse at Beckley Hospital working for the same doctor, Dr. John Whitlock, who delivered her.

In 1973 the pair were married and their partnership began.

Although Bill's name, or rather his voice, may be more widely known given his title as the "Voice of the Flying Eagles," Bill said none of it would have been possible without his wife.

"We've always been a team," Bill said. "When I started doing play by play for Beckley, back in the late '60s, and after Lynn and I were married ... she was my color commentator on basketball broadcasts."

As a longtime lover of sports herself, Lynn said she took the gig as a way to support and spend time with her husband.

"I just wanted to support Bill and do what he did because like he said, we're a team and we do everything together," she said. "It's just not the same when he's not with me and when I'm not with him. It's just something we've learned to do."

Lynn said it took a bit of learning and practice to find her groove as a sports commentator but with her husband as a teacher she was soon just as in love with it as he was.

As commentators, Bill said they took the job very seriously and with the idea they weren't just calling a game, but they were serving as representatives for the city of Beckley to anyone who tuned in.

"Beckley means everything to us," Bill said. "This city has provided us our livelihoods. It welcomed our families when we moved here and is a great place to live and work and it continues to be. It's just a special place."

Even during his brief stint as Beckley's mayor from 2014 to 2016, Bill said it was Lynn's constant support that kept him grounded.

"When I was mayor, I told her that I would never schedule anything at lunch," he said. "We would always go to lunch together every day and that way she would ground me ... So she's always been very supportive."

"Most of the time," said Lynn, correcting her husband with a laugh.

"Most of the time, very supportive," Bill said.

Throughout their life in Beckley, Bill and Lynn have also served on several boards.

Bill has served as a board member for the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce and has also chaired campaigns for the United Way of Southern West Virginia as well as the YMCA of Southern West Virginia.

He often serves as the host or emcee for community dinners and events.

Lynn has been on the board of the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce, Beckley-Raleigh County Armory Civic Center and St. Mary's United Methodist Church.

In 1991, Bill and Lynn established the O'Brien-Smith-DeNegri Fund at Beckley Area Foundation in 1999. Over the years, they continue to make generous donations to this discretionary fund, which generates unrestricted income for BAF's annual community grant program.

Bill and Lynn have one son together, Jay, who lives in Kansas City, and five grandchildren.

Rappold, as Beckley's current mayor who was elected after OO'Brien, said he has seen firsthand the commitment and dedication the O'Briens have made to the city of Beckley.

"When you think of the Spirit of Beckley (award) and what it means, to me, it means somebody who has pretty much dedicated their entire lifetime to good things in the city of Beckley," Rappold said. "Bill and Lynn have been a shining example of that sort of commitment. Lynn as a registered nurse and Bill as a very, very talented broadcaster, and a gentleman who stepped in to put his hat in the ring for mayor at a fairly critical time and brought very needed stability and leadership to the position."

Rappold said he felt privileged to work under Bill's direction as mayor, serving as city recorder-treasurer at the time.

He add that all the co-chairs serving on this campaign worked in City Hall while O'Brien was mayor.

Having been involved with this fundraising campaign in the past, Rappold said he has watched as the community has come together to support the Y in honor of past Spirit of Beckley recipients.

"Over the years, this has been a significant fundraiser for the Y and the good thing is, the honorees in the past, to be very honest in my opinion, it had been very easy to raise money on behalf of these folks because they're so highly thought of in the community," Rappold said. "I feel that the same will be true for Bill and Lynn."