WVU President E. Gordon Gee (from left), College of Law Dean Amelia Smith Rinehart, Rodney Windom and Scott Windom celebrate the legacy of supporters Irene Moats Conaway (pictured in historical photos, from left) and Harry Moats. (WVU Photo/Matt Sunday
Despite his passing nearly 35 years ago, West Virginia University alumnus Harry E. Moats continues to make a difference in the lives of Mountain State residents through his growing legacy at the College of Law.
A recent estate gift from Moats’ widow, Irene Moats Conaway, provided $782,331 to bolster the Harry E. Moats Memorial Scholarship, which she established after he died of cancer in 1988. The scholarship benefits West Virginia students seeking a law degree with first preference to natives of Ritchie County, where Moats was born, raised and practiced law for more than 40 years.
Rodney Windom, a 1982 graduate of the College of Law, first met Moats as a young boy growing up in Ritchie County. He said Moats was a respected lawyer, community member and state lawmaker who inspired him to pursue a career in law. He later worked alongside Moats and served as executor of Conaway’s estate.
“It means a lot to carry on the Moats legacy,” Windom said. “He was not only a wonderful lawyer but a wonderful man, and he did so much for the state. He blazed the path that many of us follow.”
“Harry was a poor country boy who graduated from Harrisville High School in the middle of the Great Depression. He was only able to attend WVU because he won a scholarship as the state debate champion during his senior year, under the tutelage of Max DeBerry, his high school teacher and mentor.”
DeBerry returned to WVU to obtain a law degree and Moats followed in his footsteps. To help pay his way, Harry took a job firing the coal furnace overnight in the old Faculty Club, near the present-day site of the John Chambers College of Business and Economics. Ever the optimist, Moats would say the job gave him lots of quiet evenings to study. He earned his bachelor’s degree from WVU in 1936 and graduated from the College of Law in 1938.
With the U.S. still in the throes of the Depression, Moats returned home to Ritchie County where he worked as a part-time unpaid assistant to the then-prosecuting attorney, DeBerry. “It was a great job,” Harry said in later years, “because it gave me an office and a secretary, neither of which I could otherwise afford.”
When DeBerry was later elected circuit judge after returning from service in World War II, Harry was elected as the part-time prosecutor and developed a thriving law practice.
Harry was always proud to say he was just a country lawyer. That humble description, however, belied his great legal and political acumen. He was elected to several terms in the West Virginia Legislature, first in the state Senate and later in the House of Delegates, and also served as a director and president of the West Virginia State Bar.
College of Law graduate and donor Rodney Windom (from left) catches up with Dean Amelia Smith Rinehart and son Scott Windom during a recent visit to campus. (WVU Photo/Matt Sunday)
WVU President E. Gordon Gee became fast friends with Moats and his wife, whom he nicknamed “Snuffie,” during Gee’s tenure as dean of the College of Law in the early 1980s. He described Moats as a “lawyer’s lawyer” who was highly respected in the field.
“Harry and Snuffie, they were so wonderful to me and to my deceased wife, Elizabeth,” Gee recalled. “They loved her, and they loved our little daughter, Rebecca. We had the best time with them.”
Windom cites Moats as a mentor who offered practical hints and sound career advice to many aspiring youngsters. He encouraged young lawyers to return to their communities where they, too, could serve those who had helped them along the way. He also inspired Windom’s son, Scott, to attend WVU and the College of Law. Scott Windom now practices with his dad in Harrisville. Conaway later encouraged Scott’s sons, Nathan and William, to attend WVU as well.
Yet, the Moats legacy extends well beyond the Windom family. To date, Moats’ namesake scholarship has helped 10 West Virginia students pursue law degrees, with many of those recipients receiving repeat scholarship awards.
“At the College of Law, we can’t fulfill our mission to create new generations of lawyers without the support of those who came before,” William J. Maier Jr. Dean and Professor of Law Amelia Smith Rinehart said. “It’s really meaningful for us when we hear stories from folks like the Windoms, Harry Moats and Gordon Gee. When we hear how people are able to take their education here and change lives in their communities, that’s really what we want to be continuing forward in the future. Every student who comes through here, we want them to go back to Harrisville or Charleston and be a member of their community who makes a difference in people’s lives.”
Moats also established the Max DeBerry Scholarship at the College of Law in honor of his former teacher, friend and mentor. Moats served on the College’s Visiting Committee, then known as the Development Council, and received several awards during his lifetime recognizing his dedication to the College and WVU, including the Justitia Officium award in 1982. Harry was inducted into the Order of Vandalia, WVU’s highest honor for service to the University, in 1985.
“Irene Moats Conaway was a careful steward and wise investor who dedicated a substantial part of her estate to planned giving for various scholarships and charitable gifts, all to benefit West Virginia youngsters and the College of Law at our flagship university for many decades to come,” Windom added.
Her estate gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.