At the end of a lovely sunny day, 2025’s Ides of March spoke no gloom or doom as the Upshur County Democratic Women hosted a fundraising dinner on March 14, 2025, at Fish Hawk Acres.

Katie Loudin’s gentle violin music welcomed guests as they entered to elegantly set tables. Accommodating a full house, Chef Dale Hawkins and his staff prepared a delicious feast and provided excellent service, capped by tiramisu to die for. Anne Chopyak and Brooke Scott also welcomed guests and introduced the speakers from neighboring Randolph County: Cindy Stemple, chair of Randolph County Executive Committee, and Mandy Weirich, committee secretary.

Formed in 2017, the Randolph County Democratic Women ran eight of their members for seats on the Executive Committee in 2022, and seven of the eight were elected. In 2024, Mandy ran for State Senate in District 11, covering seven counties, including Upshur County. Rallies in Randolph County have been held every Thursday of March, and Stemple offers a daily email to anyone interested in updates about what is happening in Charleston and Washington, DC. cindy_stemple@hotmail.com.

Emphasizing the Democratic Women’s group’s outreach to all, Weirich told the story of Rosa Parks. Refusing to sit in the back of the bus in 1955, Rosa’s civil rights work had actually begun in 1931 when she and her husband, along with others, met secretly and raised money for the Scottsboro defense of young black men falsely accused of raping a white woman. In the early 40s, Rosa and her husband, Raymond, hosted Voter League meetings in their home. In 1943, Rosa Parks joined the NAACP in Montgomery.

Weirich concluded the evening by saying, “We must do work to keep our democracy, if not us, then for the next generation. The civil rights movement was not fought and won by just the moments highlighted in the news reels from the 1960s. It was around kitchen tables, it was in living rooms and restaurants, it was networking. It was civic organizations and connections among people. Honestly, we owe so much of our freedom to Black women who did the work behind the scenes and who never got the credit.”

“This moment is calling for you to take action and have courage. Our courts are working, our protests are working, our media is working, and we must continue to apply the pressure, but we must listen and invite others in.”