Bill Hogan

Remembering Bill Hogan

Bill Hogan’s posts on Weelunk mirrored his personality in every word, phrase and sentence. Whether he was recalling life in his youth or life in his later years, you experienced his sense of humor and honest di...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: Poppa’s One, Two, Three

Driving through Wheeling Park, I noticed a sign — “Bandstand” — and followed it to the top of the hill. I haven’t been up there in decades. The last time was for a party we had there when the rails around the b...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: A Binge and a Spree

I have lived in two universes; they overlap or maybe coincide. It's a paradoxical thing I don’t understand and don’t try. The first was a straight line sort of thing — a loving family, schools, university, Mili...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: The Flicks

I was fortunate to attend a noon talk at our library recently, about the old movie theaters in West Virginia. It brought back so many memories of when I was a kid in the 1930s and ’40s when going to a movie on ...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: On Being Irish

I am Irish, I guess, because I don’t know what else to be. I am half German, but being German never came easy to me. We are a melancholy lot; I am. That is why we sing and laugh so much, because we are so ve...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: Building Good Neighbors

Editor's note: The IDEAS page is our place for public opinion, a place where a person can express what concerns them about present-day Wheeling or the world. However, there is one major caveat. The author must ...

Bill Hogan’s Musings: ‘Regal’ Jimmy

“James Samuel Simon, 82, of Wheeling, died Sunday Oct. 7, 2018.” … so the short obituary starts, with mention of his high school and military service. Really not much to report on his 82 years. I knew Jim...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: Pappy’s Gold Pan

In April, my grandson Tommy turned 10, so I wanted to give him a present that was meaningful to me and hopefully to him. I gave him the circular, metal pan with the sloping sides that I had used to try my luck ...