The Parkersburg Area Community Foundation & Regional Affiliates in West Virginia has announced a $15 million gift from the estate of Mary M. "Mickey" Welch, who passed away in August 2019.

The largest gift in the foundation's fifty-seven-year history will endow the Mary M. Welch Advised Fund of PACF, which will focus its giving on causes in the Parkersburg area and Mid-Ohio Valley region that Welch championed during her lifetime. Welch's daughter, Mary Anne Ketelsen, will serve as an advisor to the fund.

The first woman in West Virginia to drill an oil well and a successful owner of numerous businesses, Welch "was always thoughtful in her giving and instrumental in making many good things possible," said PACF executive director Judy Sjostedt Ritchie. "In recent years, she helped to launch the Hunger and Safety Net Funds for the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation, both [of] which are currently addressing critical local needs during the pandemic."

"My mother loved her community; it was part of her family," said Ketelsen. "She cared about improving life here for those most vulnerable — children, youth, special needs individuals, and animals. She liked helping organizations that help people to help themselves and that enable families to build a better life....She chose to place her major legacy gift with the PACF because in working with the foundation for many years, she saw that they, too, worked with a variety of groups, and did so fairly and impartially."