There’s hardly anyone who grew up in Monongah in the middle of the 20^th century who doesn’t know about Wheelbarrow Willie.

In the 1950s when folks saw Charles William “Wheelbarrow Willie” Brummage pushing his wheelbarrow from his White Rock home to Fairmont or Monongah, they would say “he’s not right.”

Wheelbarrow Willie

Maybe. But he was OK in the way he treated people.

Anthony Pulice, Jr. said:

“Willie was a very kind person and totally harmless. He lived with his father, Clarence, and his mom in their home next to the Animal Shelter at White Rock,” where the streetcar tracks crossed U.S. 19 that ran parallel to the West Fork River. If nature spit into the West Fork river, it overflowed to flood U.S. 19 from one railroad crossing to the other railroad crossing.

That also is near where two streetcars collided, harming and maybe even killing people, because one conductor thought the streetcar facing his was on the White Rock siding. It wasn’t. I remember a photo of the two streetcars suspended in air, their fronts meshed into each other like a macabre upside-down "V."

Debbie Soles Shaver agrees with Tony: “Willie was a very nice person. His sister used to bring him into the bank where I worked. It's just a nice family.”

Fairmont East grad Brenda Manzo, married to Danny Manzo, Class of 1957, recalled:

“When he came up to Traction Park he turned that wagon around like it was an 18-wheeler. He ‘backed’ into Parkway Drive, swung ‘wide’ back into the street. He is a legend."

Indeed, Brenda.

Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, who lives in Monongah, thinks Willie’s problem began when he fell out of his highchair as a child.

Willie’s father was a supervisor at Fairmont Wall Plaster Company on Fairmont Avenue, just before you got to the High Level Bridge. Papa was Tony’s supervisor.

Dave “Mickey” McDonald, Class of 1973, took the photo you see of Wheelbarrow Willie.

Dave explains: “I was in town from the Navy on leave when I saw him passing the old 52-20. I didn't want to get too close when I took the picture. I still have the original.”

 

The 52-20 Club, run by the Basagic family, referred to the government payments to World War II veterans of $20 a week for 52 weeks to get them started in their civilian lives.

Mickey was band director at Hundred High and a Navy veteran stationed in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

When Johnny Mascara, Class of 1941, accidentally backed over Willie’s wheelbarrow, he took off for Fairmont for a replacement because Willie was upset that his mode of carrying cargo was destroyed. But all Johnny could find in a hurry was a new wagon.

Willie loved it when busineses in Monongah would give him a free orange pop. The town adopted him.

Roger Harbert remembers Willie wheeling through Worthington, too.

So Willie switched to a Radio Flyer wagon, but he remained Wheelbarrow Willie. The wagon stands next to his grave marker today. Nearby is a pan with “Wheelbarrow Willie” scrawled on it.

Monongah will never forget Wheelbarrow Willie.

The late Dennis Jones, a retired general and an extraordinary football player for Monongah High (1952 state championship team) and West Virginia University, once told me that he thought Willie was related to Geneva Brummage, the nicest teacher at Monongah High who taught me in the typing class that served me all for my 43-year newspaper career.

 

Mary Turkovich, math/algebra/geometry teacher at MHS who refused to let anyone NOT learn, and Sister Agnes, speed demon in her brother’s Jeep but superb in teaching grammar and spelling, are the two I give the most credit for putting a foundation under me that I profited from the rest of my life.

There's another Wheelbarrow Willie in Canada. William Travis of Nova Scotia gives drunks a ride home in a wheelbarrow. It's a business with him. He dresses in a suit, white shirt and tie and, for a price, provides an alternative to a cab. Or risking a DUI.