By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor

FORT ASHBY — One of the exhibits in the hall at the Mineral County Fair is a little more angelic than the others.
Nestled in among the hot tubs and the cooking products is a table full of jewelry handmade by two women from Fort Ashby who have spent the past 10 years making and selling the necklaces, bracelets and pins to
raise funds for projects at Trinity United Methodist Church.
“My daughter sent me an angel pin for Mother's Day one year, and I loved it,” Frances Alkire recalls. “We were building a new parsonage for the church at the time, and I said it would be a good idea to sell the angels to help pay for that.”
At first she and friend Nina Wagoner used kits to make the angels, then they progressed to beaded bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
“We design them all ourselves now,” Alkire said.
All the accessories have been good sellers.
“We were able to pay a lot toward the parsonage,” Akire said, noting that now that project is completed, they have been using proceeds from the jewelry “for other work around the church and to donate to different charities.”
“We re-did the pastor's study at the church, and covered the outside porch steps,” Wagoner adds. “We've been able to do a lot of projects.”
The ladies have two area businesses – Reed's Drug Store in Keyser and Flowerland in Cumberland – which sell their jewelry for them. They also take the items around to various fairs and festivals. So far this fall, they are scheduled to set up at the Old-Fashioned Apple Harvest Festival in Burlington and Heritage Days and Christmas House in Romney.
They also take special orders, and in fact had taken several orders on Monday morning before the fair even started,
Their table will be set up for the rest of the week at the fair.