It’s a long way to anywhere from Webster Springs, W.Va., a blink of a town clinging to coal-crusted mountains in the middle of the state. And for many of the 700 or so people who call it home, that is part of the appeal.
“I like the isolation,” said Edith Tenney, 49, who works at Vickie’s Restaurant, one of a handful of eateries in the town. “It’s quiet and there are a lot of good people here. Everyone knows one another.”
Grief bound the community more tightly this week after one of its high school graduates, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia Army National Guard member, was shot in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. She died of her injuries on Thursday.
Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, a West Virginia Air National Guard member who had been deployed to Washington, was shot in the same attack and remains hospitalized.
Flags were lowered to half-staff not only in Webster Springs but also in Martinsburg, W.Va., the hometown of Sergeant Wolfe. In a Saturday appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia said that the condition of Sgt. Wolfe was “critical” and “remains very serious.”
Federal and local authorities said the attack had been carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old man from Afghanistan who had worked with Americans during the war in his country. He was injured in the attack and remained in custody on Saturday. He is expected to be charged with first-degree murder.
Before Specialist Beckstrom enlisted in the Guard, a decision she made in part to help pay for college, she attended high school in Webster Springs and worked at a fast-food eatery called the Custard Stand.
She had not been the only teenager with her sights set on leaving. According to Ms. Tenney, many young people had found the town’s seclusion to be stifling.
“There’s nothing for them here if you want a good job,” Ms. Tenney said, adding that the local sawmill, logging and the declining mining industry are essentially all that is left. The school system is the largest employer in the county, and the high school is a touchstone for many current and former residents.
It was where a vigil was held Saturday night for Specialist Beckstrom. About 150 mourners gathered at Webster County High School in Cowen, W.Va., where they sang hymns, prayed and lit candles to memorialize the slain National Guard member. Blue ribbons were handed out to attendees.
Gov. Morrisey, who had spent the morning in Washington with Sergeant Wolfe’s family, addressed the crowd.
“It has been a challenging couple of days for West Virginians,” the governor said.
He emphasized the volunteer nature of the mission Specialist Beckstrom was on.
“West Virginians have always had the back of those who served,” he said.
Among the attendees was Staff Sgt. Shawn Bragg, Specialist Beckstrom’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps adviser in high school.
“She was a very intelligent young lady,” Sergeant Bragg said, adding that she had first approached him about joining the Air Force, but that those plans later changed to the Guard.
Webster Springs is a mix of double-wide mobile homes set alongside creeks, and sturdy houses perched high on the surrounding mountainsides. A stately courthouse sits downtown, along with a handful of restaurants, gear shops and dollar stores.
Vickie’s Restaurant specializes in food made from scratch. Menu items like apple blossom pie, smothered steaks and sweet tea regularly attract customers clad in camouflage; the town is popular with hunters and fishers who are drawn to its thick woods and crystal-clear creeks that rush down from the mountains.
A plaque outlines the area’s history as a hotbed of guerrilla fighting during the Civil War.
Joshua Malcomb, 22, who manages a local vape shop, said it was impossible for young people to find well-paying work.
“Almost every single one has left,” Mr. Malcomb said of his friends. He blamed the collapse of coal mines for speeding the exodus.
Like many of his peers, Lukas Williams, 21, has not been able to find a job in Webster Springs. So he has decided to move to Richmond, Va., he said, to take a job as a diesel mechanic.
“I am going to hate leaving here,” Mr. Williams said. “This is an amazing small town.”
Though the mining industry has foundered in Webster Springs, logging remains a lifeline. Webster County hosts an annual wood-chopping festival that draws people from around the world to compete for the title of Southeastern World Champion Woodchopper.
And even as the lack of opportunities in Webster Springs has driven out many young people, the small town feel of the place has beckoned others back home.
David Gillespie, 87, left the town when he joined the Air Force after high school. He went to college and eventually became the director of the library at Frostburg State University in Maryland. Now, he has bought property above one of the creeks.
He said the town’s economic problems would be hard to fix.
“Every election, governors come through and say they want to do this or that for the county, but it never happens,” Mr. Gillespie said.
“The population is leaving the county,” he added, “and going into the service is a great start for many of them.”
Jacey Fortin covers a wide range of subjects for The Times, including extreme weather, court cases and state politics across the country.
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