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Deborah Wolfe discusses roots, commitment to Tri-State
From the outside looking in, its seems that the life of Kim and Deborah Wolfe, Huntington's mayor and first lady, is very comfortable.
They live in a two-story columned house overlooking Ritter Park on 13th Avenue and have three kids in college. But the house is a rental and all of the furniture in it has either been donated or bought at Goodwill.
Deborah Wolfe wants the public to know that the large house they reside in does not represent their working-class roots but rather a space that can be open to the public for events. Wolfe, 52 from Huntington, currently works two jobs -- one with Dress for Success, a non-profit organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women, and the other as a medical transcriptionist. She hopes to get at least one more job to help support her eight children and 10 grandchildren.
In between her jobs and home-schooling her children, Deborah Wolfe said she commits herself to serving the community, not because she's the first lady, but because she's dedicated to making Huntington a better place.
Wolfe worked for an international health products company based out of Arizona for 23 years before being dismissed from her job in 2006.
"All of a sudden, I was an over-50 woman with an incredible resume and could not get a job," Deborah Wolfe said.
At the time, Kim Wolfe was the Cabell County sheriff and was unable to work multiple jobs, like he'd done in the past. That meant Deborah Wolfe had to step up.
The first lady said for two years she did medical transcription for Tri-State Allergy during the day and cleaned doctors' offices at night. For a time, she also unloaded trucks at the loading dock at Kohl's from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. then taught a seminary class in the morning.
During this time, Kim Wolfe was running for mayor. But Deborah Wolfe says she has no problem picking up the slack since the mayor had worked so hard to support the family. For the first 20 years they were married, Deborah Wolfe said her husband worked two or three extra jobs.
"He worked two or three extra jobs for a lot of years to keep it all going and now it's my turn," she said.
The Wolfes met at a motorcycle wreck in 1977. Deborah was a police paramedic rescue specialist and Kim was a Huntington police officer. Deborah Wolfe said she was cleaning blood from the interior of the ambulance in the St. Mary's Medical Center's parking lot when Kim Wolfe asked her out.
On the second date, she said, she helped Kim shovel gravel over a septic tank and dig a sewer line at a piece of property on Mount Union Road, which would later become their home. Kim's father, she said, liked to see she could work and told him "She's a keeper."
For three years, Deborah Wolfe said she dated her future husband and grew closer with his two children from a previous marriage. The Wolfes got married in 1980.
"The best decision I ever made in my life was marrying Kim," she said.
Though she was married to the man she loved, Deborah Wolfe said she was hesitant at first to have children of her own.
"I came from such a dysfunctional background (that) I was terrified to have children," she said. "... that's why it took me so long to marry Kim and take on those two little boys."
She joked, "But I think now I've way over-compensated for the lack of family I had growing up."
Between 1981 and 2000, the Wolfes had six children, all born naturally at their former home on Mount Union Road.
Deborah Wolfe said her children excelled in school work. So instead of relying on the school system, Wolfe said she began home-schooling the children, including a couple that entered college when they were around 15 and 16 years old.
"Properly done home-schooling is the best alternative for every child but not for every family," Wolfe said. "Every child can flourish in a home school setting, but not every family can facilitate it appropriately."
All of the couple's older children have attended college, including three currently enrolled at Brigham Young University, University of Utah and Marshall University.
After having her first child, Angela in 1981, Wolfe won Mrs. West Virginia then Mrs. America in 1984. She was also the first runner-up to Mrs. World that year. The reason for getting involved in the pageant, she said, was to get a new car for the family.
She believes now, as she did when she competed, that pageants perpetuate an unhealthy preoccupation with packaging. When she stopped by this year's Mrs. West Virginia pageant, Wolfe said she told the girls not to get too wrapped up in the packaging. What's important, she told them, is what they do with the opportunity.
"I don't even have my Mrs. America crown," Wolfe said. "I think it was dismantled years ago and the rhinestones were probably buried in the sandbox for buried treasure and I think that's cool."
Wolfe said the only time she references her pageant titles is when it's going to do some good and help a charity raise funds.
One of the toughest things to deal with, Deborah Wolfe said, is having her husband serve as the mayor of Huntington. Deborah Wolfe said she was never afraid of him serving as a police officer and sheriff because she knew he could handle himself. Politics is something completely different.
"I worry infinitely more about him in the political arena than I ever would sending him into a gun fight," she said. "A gun fight's fairly straightforward and honest but in the political arena, boy oh boy, the games that are played."
Wolfe has been active as the first lady. In December, the Wolfes opened their doors to more than 50 friends, family members and people from the Huntington City Mission to share in the holiday spirit. The Wolfes gave out teddy bears to the kids and took pictures with Santa.
Well before her husband held an elected position, Deborah Wolfe said they've been involved in the community. Wolfe said they turned down lucrative offers to work in larger cities because they wanted to serve the community.
"At that time we just thought a life of pursuing money and power was completely nonproductive and violated what we were all about," she said. "The decision we made was to serve in the trenches, meaning to come back and be a working class family, but do what we can do in our community within our sphere of influence."
She is a board member for the Huntington City Mission, is very involved in the First Stage Theatre Company and has done free commercials urging women to get mammograms for a local hospital.
Christian Alexandersen is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Comments may be e-mailed to him at calexandersen@herald-dispatch.com.
NAME: Deborah Wolfe
HOMETOWN: Huntington
AGE: 52
FAMILY: Angela, 28, Mary Ellen, 23, John, 21, Sara, 17, Paul, 13, Annie, 9, and step-children Jamie, 41, and Mike, 40,
FAVORITE MOVIE: "First Knight"
FAVORITE BOOK: "The Book of Mormon"
