WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Oct. 26, 2022 — West Liberty University Alumni inducted five distinguished alumni into its Wall of Honor during 2022 Homecoming festivities this past Saturday. The 9 a.m. ceremony took place at a special breakfast, held in the Wall of Honor Room in Elbin Library.
2022 Alumni Wall of Honor Inductees include Winifred “Winnie” Moore Breegle, Dawn Ann Bartlett Dean, Charley Richards, Emanuel “Alex” Paris III and Nick Sparachane.
An Ohio native, Breegle grew up on a farm. Determined to teach, she completed high school at the age of 16, earned her degree at what was then known as West Liberty State Teachers College, and began teaching in Ohio in 1942. She joined the U.S. Navy in 1943.
Enlisting in the United States Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve) or better known as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), her ability with languages led to her selection as a coding officer (cryptographer) working for the Navy Department in Washington D.C. Breegle was trusted to pass messages to code talkers in the Japanese theater. The initial Code Talker language consisted of 211 words and eventually evolved to 411 words over the course of the war – all verbal language – no written language. By means of word replacement (e.g., the Navajo word for “whale” represented “battleship”), the code talkers maintained a secret language that the Japanese never broke.
Breegle cited more than 800 messages that had been passed during the Battle of Iwo Jima without error. Breegle herself successfully passed approximately 450 messages to code talkers in the Japanese theatre undetected. She was awarded the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
In 1945, she returned to teaching in Ohio and until 1976, she was required by the government to keep what she did a secret. In 1977 she retired after 35 years of teaching, and she and her husband moved to Florida. Not content with retirement, she started teaching again, this time at Gulf Coast Community College, where she remained for the next 20 years until her second retirement.
In recognition for her service to her country, she was awarded the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. Breegle was honored by the Tennessee Legislature, The Daughters of the American Revolution, Vets to Vets United, Non-Commissioned Officers Association of the United States, the City of Lancaster, Ohio, and the Military Women’s Memorial.
She and husband George, who passed away in 2003, raised two sons. She now resides in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
Dean is the 2022-2023 President of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association. She earned an associate degree in dental hygiene from WLU’s Sarah Whitaker Glass School of Dental Hygiene in 1984; a bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Virginia University in 1986 and a master’s degree in dental hygiene research and administration from WVU School of Dentistry in 1992. Dean received the WLSC Golden Scaler Award and served as president of the Student American Dental Hygienists’ Association in 1984.
Her professional career includes work as a clinical dental hygienist, instructor at WLU Sarah Whitaker Glass School of Dental Hygiene, RDH expert witness, author, and entrepreneur. She is an assistant professor of Dental Hygiene at the WVU School of Dentistry. She has held numerous leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels, including ADHA president-elect and vice president.
Dean received the 2017 WVU School of Dentistry Distinguished Alumni Award and was inducted into the Sigma Phi Alpha National Dental Hygiene Honor Society in 2018. In 2022, the Wheeling City Council awarded Dean the Key to the City of Wheeling, and she received Citations of Distinguished Recognition for Lifetime Achievement from West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, WLU President Evans, and WLU Department of Dental Hygiene Director Stephanie Meredith.
Dean’s husband of 38 years, Michael, was her first patient as a WLU dental hygiene student, and they have three adult daughters. Dean is a legacy member of the Alpha Xi Delta Sorority, Epsilon Theta Chapter of WLU, Toastmasters International, and the West Virginia Oral Health Coalition. She resides in Wheeling.
Richards graduated from West Liberty University in 1977, taught school in Parkersburg, West Virginia for four years, and coached football and wrestling. Richards himself was a state champion wrestler while attending Parkersburg High School, as well as an all-state offensive tackle. He continued both sports at West Liberty.
Richards has been called a “serial entrepreneur,” starting several companies over the last 40 years. He has owned retail stores in Hawaii and Las Vegas, and beach businesses in Florida and the Hawaiian Islands. Most notable, Richards, working with optical specialists in Japan, was granted a patent for polarized, coated lenses. He launched Maui Jim sunglass company in the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-80’s, and today it is one of the top three sunglass companies in the world.
One of Richards’ biggest accomplishments is the founding and current ownership of Absolutely Natural, Inc. He developed innovative, proprietary blending techniques that enabled him to make the first, all natural sunscreens and lotions. Starting with just nine sun care products in 1992, sold only in the Hawaiian Islands, the company has grown in the resort, hotel and spa industry worldwide.
Absolutely Natural has generated more than $400,000,000 worth of retail sales in three decades. Richards has more than 50 employees working out of 35,000 square feet of offices, warehouse, laboratories, manufacturing, filling, and shipping in Melbourne, Florida. Richards now lives in Indiatlantic, Florida, with his wife, Kelly. His two sons, Josh and Danny, work for their father at Absolutely Natural.
Paris grew up in the Avella, Pennsylvania area. Encouraged by his father, a former West Liberty student, Alex decided on West Liberty to pursue a degree in business. After graduating in 1982 with a bachelor’s of science in business, Alex decided to join the family business, Alex E. Paris Contracting Co Inc, founded in 1928 by his grandfather. He served in a variety of roles primarily centered around growing the company’s equipment and sales operations.
During his tenure in this position, he increased equipment sales not only across North America, but to an international level. In 1989, Alex assumed the role as company president after the premature death of his father. Since that time, the company has grown both in size and diversity. The company is a heavy civil construction company that serves the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Paris has served on a variety of local, state, and national boards, including charitable and nonprofit institutions, as well as industry-based organizations. He currently serves on the boards of the WLU Foundation, Washington County Community Foundation, Washington Hospital and Foundation, and National Utility Contractors Association of Pennsylvania. He is a former Avella School Board member and has been involved in many community-based and national organizations.
He has won multiple awards and recognition from both business and nonprofit organizations. Paris and his wife Valerie, also a WLU alumni have two sons, Emanuel and Santino. They reside in Avella, Pennsylvania.
Sparachane attended WLU from 1971-1975, before moving on to graduate school at West Virginia University from 1975-1978. While at West Liberty, he met and married his wife, Patty Pallottini, who was in the dental hygiene program. After obtaining his master’s degree in safety management from WVU, Sparachane worked for nine years in safety and labor relations for a local contractor association.
He then enjoyed a 40-year career in the insurance brokerage business, serving as a senior vice president partner owner in USI, which has 200 offices nationwide, and is one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the United States.
Sparachane is the current owner of Undo’s Family Restaurant, which operates four restaurants in the Ohio Valley area, including the Alpha Tavern. He is also a partner in the commercial development firm Just-Us and CCIP, which owns various industrial buildings and office buildings in the Wheeling area. Nick is a founder and chairman of the board of Main Street Bank, founded in 2001, and now the ninth largest bank in the state of West Virginia.
In addition to serving as mayor of the city of Wheeling from 2000 to 2008, he has been involved in his community in various ways, including board roles with Wheeling Hospital, Wheeling University, American Cancer Society, YMCA, Regional Economic Development Authority, the Ohio Valley Construction Employers Council, and Wheeling Civic Center Board. He and his wife have five adult children: Nichole, Robin, Lauren, Nicolas and Angela. They reside in Wheeling.
For more information, please visit westliberty.edu/alumni or call 304-336-8888.