PARKERSBURG A scholarship program through TechConnectWV has been created from donations by a Parkersburg businesswoman.
The Mary Anne Ketelsen S.T.E.M. Scholarship Program will make $22,500 available to women in West Virginia to further their education in preparation for careers in oil and natural gas. Ketelsen is a businesswoman from Parkersburg and the owner of the West Virginia Potato Chip Co., the maker of Mister Bee. Applications for a scholarship are being accepted through March 1.
Mary Anne Ketelsen, a keynote speaker at one of the Women in Technology conferences and successful West Virginia entrepreneur and philanthropist, generously donated funds to TechConnect West Virginia to establish a science, technology, engineering and mathematics scholarship program to support women in the oil and natural gas industry. She also sought to honor the memory of her mother, Mary “Mickey” Welch, a philanthropist and oil and gas industry pioneer.
National Guard troops protecting the Capitol from insurrection received Mister Bee Potato Chips. (Photo Provided)
PARKERSBURG Mister Bee Potato Chips of Parkersburg has donated 1,000 bags of potato chips to the National Guard troops serving in Washington, D.C.
Troops, deployed there after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, are served by the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore.
Mary Anne Ketelsen, CEO of Mister Bee Potato Chips, responded to the call for help when the USO-Metro sought donations to support the troops.
Mister Bee Potato Chips and the Ketelsen family previously donated $100,000 to USO-Metro to support the needs of military personnel, veterans and their families.
The Parkersburg Area Community Foundation has received a $15 million bequest from a late Parkersburg businesswoman.
Calling her a “remarkable woman,” the major gift from the late Mary M. “Mickey” Welch, who died in August 2019, is the largest in the history of the 57-year-old foundation, said Judy Sjostedt Ritchie, executive director of the foundation.
“It’s been said ‘Some people leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same, ” Sjostedt Ritchie said. “Mary M. “Mickey” Welch left footprints on the hearts of countless people throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley and elsewhere.”
Welch was a successful owner of numerous businesses and was steadfast in her support of her community with “a boundless concern for others’ well-being,” Sjostedt Ritchie said.
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PARKERSBURG The Parkersburg Area Community Foundation has received a $15 million bequest from a late Parkersburg businesswoman.
Calling her a “remarkable woman,” the major gift from the late Mary M. “Mickey” Welch, who died in August 2019, is the largest in the history of the 57-year-old foundation, said Judy Sjostedt Ritchie, executive director of the foundation.
“It’s been said ‘Some people leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same, ” Sjostedt Ritchie said. “Mary M. “Mickey” Welch left footprints on the hearts of countless people throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley and elsewhere.”
Welch was a successful owner of numerous businesses and was steadfast in her support of her community with “a boundless concern for others’ well-being,” Sjostedt Ritchie said.