BIOGRAPHY | MY STORY
MY STORY:
On April 8, 2009, I, a West Virginia State Senator, filed my pre-candidacy papers to seek the Democratic nomination for the office of Governor of West Virginia in 2012. While I've represented the Second Senatorial District (the Counties of Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie, Calhoun, and parts of Marion, Monongahela and Ohio) in the WV Senate since 1997, many people throughout the state may ask, "Who Is Jeff Kessler?" and "Why is He Running for Governor? What's His Vision for WV?"
To answer those questions, let me tell you a little bit more about where I come from, what I've done, and who I am!
I was born on November 16, 1955 in Wheeling, WV, the second of four children born to George and Rosemary Krupica Kessler.
The Kessler family was a group of German settlers in the Wheeling area around the 1800's. Many of them became active in local and governmental affairs in the City of Benwood, an industrial and steel mill town in northern West Virginia. The family, as always, answered their call to duty and served their country with distinction. During WWI, two of the sons of Katie Kessler Blake died in the line of duty. Private William Thomas Blake died on October 21, 1918, fighting in France. On March 4, 1918, in one of the sea’s greatest mysteries, Machinist Mate Edward Leo Blake disappeared without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle together with 305 other crewmembers of the USS Cyclops. Post No. 46 of the Benwood American Legion was appropriately named the "Blake Brothers" Post in their honor. Upon returning from the war, my paternal grandfather, George Earl Kessler became the Chief of Police in Benwood WV, which at the time was the second largest City in the entire state of WV. Unfortunately, George died in Aspinwal Veteran's Hospital after a sudden illness within a few short years of marrying his wife, Helen (Dimmerling) and becoming the proud parents of their only child (and my father), George. Out of necessity, my grandmother, Helen, went to work in the local post office in a clerical position. This was long before women were commonplace and accepted in the workforce, but she had no choice; She had a 5-year-old son to feed. She became an activist in the Democrat party, state and local Veteran's support groups, church leader and a model for single mothers in the community. She rose through the ranks at work and in 1962 was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to become what was then unheard of--the first female United States Postmaster in the history of West Virginia.
My mother's parents, Vincent and Anna Krupica, were Russian immigrants. At the age of seventeen, young Vince set out alone across the ocean to find his dreams in America. Despite any formal education or training, Vince soon became a translator at Ellis Island and later on became a street car operator in New York. When the promise of a better life (and more money) in the coal mines of West Virginia came calling, he found work at the Hitchman mine in the town of McMechen in Marshall County. He and his new wife, Anna, who worked as a nanny in New York, moved into the company housing camp where they raised their four boys and four girls, including their youngest daughter and my mom, Rosemary. Every day he went "down into that hole", his family prayed that he'd come out because they were keenly aware that on April 28, 1924, just a few hundred yards up the road at the Wheeling Steel Mine in Benwood, many men were not so fortunate. In what was at the time the largest mine disaster in West Virginia history, a mine explosion there killed 119 miners and forever changed the lives and fates of the entire local communities. Like many man of the era who worked long hours in dangerous difficult conditions, Vince worked and played hard, and was quite a "rounder". I'm told he wrestled a bear in a traveling circus that came to town, stole a streetcar and took his buddies for a ride around town, staked out (and controlled until his death) his own huge garden on the prime riverfront property owned by the Bureau of Locks and Dams of the United States, and enjoyed a good "shot and a beer"! He was, however, a strong and proud man and maybe the bravest man I have ever met. I certainly can't imagine the courage it took for a mere boy to get on a boat without friends or family and travel for weeks across the water to a place he'd only heard about but never seen--all in the uncertain hope of a better life tomorrow. Although he died when I was only 13, there are several things I can still remember about sitting on "Tata's" lap on his front porch: The sharp stubble of the whiskers on his face, the smell of whiskey on his breath, and the love and strength in his strong arms.
My parents, George and Rosemary (who are nine years apart), both excelled in school; Each earning numerous academic awards at Benwood Union High School. Upon graduation, my father joined the US Navy and enrolled in an officer training school at Emory University in Georgia. His lack of a solid mathematics background caused him to withdraw and suffer still to this day what he calls his "greatest disappointment". He went on, however, to honorably serve in both WWII and the Korean conflict. Upon returning home, he fell in love and married my mother. They bought a home on a hillside in McMechen with 4 spacious lots that later served as the neighborhood baseball and football fields, overnight campgrounds and prime sled riding paths. Dad was a "cookie salesman" in the grocery business with Nabisco, where he worked until retirement; and more importantly, where the damaged/free samples he brought home from the warehouse became known as "manna from the mountains" for his kids and our friends. To this day, I still love Oreos and a nice tall glass of milk.
They were blessed with 4 children: my oldest brother, George, my sister, Kelly, my baby brother, Christopher and myself. My mother stayed home and raised the kids until we were all enrolled in school, at which time she then entered the workforce at the local bank. Like all families, the Kessler world wasn't without challenges. My baby brother, Chris, was diagnosed with a plastic anemia (akin to leukemia) when he was 4 years old. After several years of experimental drug treatments and family prayers (and too many to count sleepless nights wondering if he'd be still with us in the morning), his illness went into remission and he survived. My mother, however, was not so fortunate. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of forty-one and after a courageous six-year battle, she succumbed on December 5, 1979.
I remember that day because she died the day before I was to take my first law school exam at WVU. She (as mothers are prone to do) had always been my biggest supporter and was always there to support my goals--to become the first family member to graduate from college and thereafter to go on to law school.
I can still hear her voice encouraging me to "Dream big", "Don't be afraid to fail", and most importantly (since she never forgot her humble roots of her own coal camp row house) to "Never look down your nose at anyone..., but don't you ever let anyone ever look down their nose at you!"
Public service was always an inherent part of our family life. My father served as City Councilman, Commissioner of the local little league baseball association and Parish council president. My mother's brother, Uncle "OK DK" Krupica served as Mayor and later as a Marshall County Commissioner; and in 1994, little brother Chris went on to be elected by the voters of Marshall County as the second youngest County Assessor ever elected in the State of West Virginia--a position he continues to hold to this day.
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