Wayne Spiggle, Jr.

Dr. Wayne Campbell Spiggle, Jr., of Short Gap, WV, died on July 31, 2020. He was born in Davis, WV, September 1, 1934 to Wayne C. Spiggle, Sr. and Margaret Lenora (Gnegy) Spiggle. He was educated in Davis public schools and later attended Berea College where he received his B.A. degree in agriculture. He later entered Medical School in West Virginia University and also studied at the Medical College of Virginia, followed by his internship in Charleston. He specialized in internal medicine for three years at WVU.

He was dedicated to his family, medicine, agriculture, and environmental protection and served all with passion and honor. He was a co-founder of the Braddock Medical Group where he worked for 37 years, attending physician at both Sacred Heart and Memorial Hospitals, attending physician in the Allegany Community College and Sacred Heart Hospital cardiac rehabilitation program, a clinical instructor at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, medical director of the Fort Ashby Medical Foundation Clinic, President of Med Chi the Maryland State Medical Society, member of the Executive Committee of the Sacred Heart Hospital’s medical staff, as well as an associate of the American Thoracic Association and the American Society of Internal Medicine.

He and his wife, Betty, owned and operated a beef cattle farm in Short Gap, WV. He was named Farmer of the Year in 1982 by the Mineral County Soil Conservation Committee, outstanding district tree farmer in 1983 by the West Virginia State Forestry Department, and was cited in the Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District. 

Dr. Spiggle hosted Markus Witschi from Hindelbank, Switzerland through the International 4-H Youth Exchange to teach him American farming customs. He was the chairman of the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland’s Appalachian Environmental Laboratory at Frostburg, president of the Nemacolin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and a member of the West Virginia Conservancy, the Maryland Conservation Council, and the Citizen’s Coalition on Surface Mining. His citizen activities included membership with Allegany County Chamber of Commerce, Mineral County Farm Bureau, and the Frostburg State College Foundation Executive Committee. He was elected and served as Mineral County Commissioner for six years.

Some of the many awards he was granted over the years include: 1990 A.H. Robins Award for community service, named the 2013 Most Loyal West Virginia Physician by the West Virginia University School of Medicine Alumni Association, and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society for his work as a preceptor in the AHEC Clinical Education Program. 

He was awarded the 1991 Public Service Award from Common Cause/West Virginia for taking the lead in banding together a group of citizens in Mineral and Allegany Counties to form a coalition in fighting a landfill site that posed a hazard to the environment, helped develop Allegany Health Right to insure treatment for low income citizens, and, was instrumental in creating WVRx a public-private partnership that works with pharmaceutical companies to dispense donated medicines to West Virginians who are without prescription drug insurance.

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