WHEELING — A trio of philanthropists — a couple whose quiet contributions helped so many children with special needs and a man whose name is synonymous with Wheeling Park will join the upcoming Wheeling Hall of Fame 2025 class.

The late Martha and Robinson Parlin, the late Charles Sonneborn will be part of the 12-person induction class that will be honored Saturday, June 28 at WesBanco Arena. Sonneborn and the Parlins will be inducted under the category of philanthropy.

The 2025 induction ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased online at WesBancoArena.com or by calling the arena box office at 304-233-7000, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The last day to buy tickets is June 25.

Martha and Robinson

Parlin

Martha Clark Parlin was born in Wheeling on December 11, 1887, the daughter of Scottish immigrants, and became a high school teacher after attending the Thomas Normal School, Chicago University, and Columbia University. She rose to become the supervisor of Home Economics at Wheeling High School, retiring in 1942 after 30 years of service. After her retirement, she remained active in the Wheeling community serving on the board of Children and Family Services, the Women’s Club of Wheeling and its Book Review Circle, the Wheeling Pan-Hellenic organization, and the Wheeling Garden Club.

Robinson S. Parlin was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on March 25, 1887, of Scottish highlander ancestry and, after service in the Army during World War I, became an agent for the Internal Revenue Service assigned to the Wheeling office. He was an amateur photographer and after arriving in Wheeling created a photographic album of various sites in the city and throughout the state of West Virginia, showing coal communities, lumber camps, railroads, city views, and nature scenes during the 1920s.

Martha and Robinson apparently met through their common membership in Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church and were married August 18, 1937. He was 50 years old; she was 49. They had no children, and they lived quietly in Meadow Estates in a home they built. They also saved their money.

When she died in 1968, she left an estate of nearly $900,000; when he died 14 years later, his separate estate was valued at nearly $800,000. Their wills were nearly identical and provided for the creation of charitable trusts, the income of which was to be used for the promotion of the health and welfare of crippled or mentally challenged children or the blind in Ohio County, West Virginia. Throughout the years since, the charitable trusts have grown to the point that, combined, they are just under $10 million and annually provide nearly $500,000 in financial support to a variety of Wheeling-based charitable organizations that promote the physical and mental well-being and education of challenged and underprivileged children in Ohio County, West Virginia.

In no small part because of the Parlin Trusts, the Wheeling area is the smallest community in the country supporting an Easterseals Rehabilitation Center (the only such organization in West Virginia), supporting the Augusta Levy Learning Center for autistic children using Applied Behavioral Analysis (the first such organization in West Virginia), and supporting Wheeling Country Day School’s Center for Multisensory Learning to identify dyslexia at a young age and stimulate different pathways for learning and overcoming dyslexia. But these are just a few of the charitable organizations receiving funding.

Others during the years include the Laughlin Chapel, Oglebay Foundation, the J.B. Chambers YMCA, the Miracle League of the Ohio Valley Baseball Field, Oglebay Institute, and both Ohio County Schools and West Virginia Northern Community College for the purchases of devices to assist visually impaired children to attend classes. But these are only a few of the scores of charitable organizations also receiving annual financial support from the Parlin charitable trusts.

The Parlins came from humble backgrounds and lived modest lives, but what they have accomplished through their generosity and foresight has changed the lives of countless Wheeling children whom they never expected to know and whose gratitude they never expected to receive.

Charles

Sonneborn

Charles L. Sonneborn, Sr., son of Moses and Lottie Sonneborn, was born October 5, 1883, in Bellaire, Ohio, and came to Wheeling as a child. After graduating from Linsly Military Institute (now Linsly School), he began his professional career at The Hub, the Sonneborn family owned and operated department store at 14th and Market Streets in Wheeling. He was associated with this family business until his retirement in 1939.

In 1924, Sonneborn and his partner, L.F. Haller, obtained an option to purchase the former Thomas Hornbrook Estate. Hornbrook had been the surveyor of customs at the Port of Wheeling at the beginning of the Civil War. Hornbrook had developed his country home along National Road as a private park where he and his friends could stroll on graveled paths among valuable trees, rare exotic plants, and flower beds and pots of various sizes planted and nurtured by Hornbrook. After Hornbrook’s death, the park had become variously a beer garden for Reymann Brewery, an amusement park, a casino, and a destination stop for the streetcar railroad.

Sonneborn and Haller had plans to develop the property for residences. Before doing so, however, they offered their option to the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce and City of Wheeling with certain conditions. The conditions included the requirement that the public raise sufficient funds to purchase and to equip the property as a public park, that the park would be devoted to recreational use for the public, and that its operation would be placed under nonpolitical management. After an intense two-week period of fundraising, on December 24, 1924, Wheeling businesses and individuals had raised $350,000 to purchase and equip the park. According to The Intelligencer on December 25, 1924, “Wheeling Park is a Christmas gift to the Wheeling Public.”

Soon after the purchase of Wheeling Park, a bill was drafted and sent to the West Virginia Legislature to establish the Wheeling Park Commission, and the bill was enacted into law on January 26, 1925. The park commission quickly started to transform the former amusement park into a public park, and Wheeling Park opened to the public on May 30, 1925. More than 10,000 people turned out to celebrate the new “people’s park.” Sonneborn not only initiated the plan for Wheeling Park and the Wheeling Park Commission, but he and his family were also significant donors to the improvements for Wheeling Park, including the entrance gates, Sonneborn Shelter, Frank Rock Garden, and the living plants spelling “Wheeling Park” on National Road.

The Wheeling Park Commission’s success in transforming Wheeling Park through nonpolitical management likely contributed to Earl W. Oglebay’s decision to give his country estate to the City of Wheeling in 1928. Through the Wheeling Park Commission’s nonpolitical management, Wheeling Park and Oglebay Park have grown to become the city’s most treasured destinations.

Charles Sonneborn, Sr. was described by his peers as a “life-long worker for the betterment of Wheeling.” He served on the board of directors of Half Dollar Trust and Savings Bank, the Fokker Aircraft Corp., the Atlantic Aircraft Corp., and the Wheeling Chapter of the National Aeronautic Association. Sonneborn also was a devoted member of the Wheeling Jewish community, serving on the building committee of the Woodsdale Jewish Temple as well as in other important leadership roles. He gifted to the Woodsdale Jewish Temple the unique sculpture found on the exterior building’s rotunda in 1959, in honor of his wife, Pauline.

Sonneborn died on October 22, 1961, in Wheeling, at the age of 78. He was survived by his wife, Pauline Frank Sonneborn; two sons, Charles L. Sonneborn, Jr. and Dr. Robert M. Sonneborn; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. There have been many tributes to his civic accomplishments, his generosity, and his philanthropy, but none were more important than his role in the creation of Wheeling Park and the Wheeling Park Commission. At the time of his death, the newspapers said: “Charles Sonneborn, Sr. was a constructive force in the Wheeling community; his hand was in every worthwhile civic movement.”