An active member of the Democratic Party, she was a former member of the County Democratic Executive Committee and was honored in Charleston as the Democrat of the Year for Pocahontas County.

     Wawa Beard Gilmore, age 87, of Durbin, died Wednesday, November 21, 2001, at Alleghany Regional Hospital at Low Moor, Virginia.   A life-long resident of Durbin, she was the last survivor of eleven family members. She attended the Durbin United Methodist Church, where she sang in the choir. An active member of the Democratic Party, she was a former member of the County Democratic Executive Committee and was honored in Charleston as the Democrat of the Year for Pocahontas County.  The daughter of the late Leslie Osborne and Ruby Mae Ralston Beard, she was born September 7, 1914, at Green Bank.  Her husband, Robert J. Gilmore, preceded her in death August 3, 1993. Also deceased are seven sisters, Jeanne Irons, Lillian Kerr, Bertie McLaughlin, Bonnie Brooks, Hallie Nottingham, Mildred Armstrong Marcum, and Josephine Myers; three brothers, Layke M. Beard, Dewey R. Beard, and Junior Beard; and one grandson, Scott Hubbard.  Surviving her are two daughters, Yvonne H. Gum, of Roanoke, Virginia, and Robertine (Bobbi) Hubbard, of Dallas Texas; a son, Arthur W. Gilmore, of Durbin; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.  Services were held Monday morning at the Durbin United Methodist Church by the Rev. David Rittenhouse and the Rev. Gary Gordon, with burial in the Arbovale Cemetery.