Accomplishments

 

 

This page is dedicated to the people of Berwind who have 
achieved special accomplishments. If you have loved-ones, 
family, friends or neighbors that you would like to include, 
please contact us, we would like  to acknowledge them on this site.
dmharmon7@earthlink.net

 

 

 

Dean McNew

Dean and wife Dawn

 

 

Dean joined the Army in November 1954. 
He won the Horkan Award twice while at Fort Lee, Virginia.  Was the Athlete 
of the Year in 1969 and 1972 and won the Commanding General's Trophy in 1969,
for coaching or playing in all 14 sports.  In 1972, Dean was selected the top athlete 
in the US Army and sent to the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany as an observer.
 Was also a member of the All Army Softball Team, retiring with 399 wins and 33 loses.  

While serving in Viet Nam he received 2 Bronze Stars, returning home with a
40 percent disability.  He retired from the military in  1974.

In 1980, Dean was elected to the Softball Hall of Fame as an Umpire,
 despite the loss of his sight in the right eye. 

 In 1990 and 1991 he went to Russia to help introduce
 Softball to the Russians and in Finland.  On a  second trip he introduced 
Softball into Sweden.

While working for the government in Fort Devens, Maine, Dean was in charge
 of all softball in the 17 northeastern states, as Vice President of the eastern division.  
He was awarded a certificate from the governor of Massachusetts (Governor King) 
for his work with the Special Olympics, Heart Association, Easter Seals, etc. 
 He also received the Civil Services Medal and the Massachusetts House of 
<> Representatives proclaimed "DEAN McNEW DAY" for his work with the youth.

Dean has also ran a "boot camp" for young people (male and female - 13 to 19)
> in Golconda, Illinois.  These were extremely troubled  youngsters from the cities
of Chicago, Gary, East St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit,  as well as others. He served as 
a Sergeant for the Petersburg, Virginia Sheriff's Department   

Dean is married to Dawn Denise Privette, from Greenfield, Indiana.  Dawn was
 a member of TEAM USA that went to Russia in 1990.  She won the Most Valuable Player
in the world in the WASA.  The Outstanding Defensive Player in the world in the USSSA 
>and has made the All World Team in all three associations, (NSA, WASA and USSSA)
 three years in a row.  She also has won The Most Valuable Player Award in the State
of Kentucky 3 times.

Dawn and Dean currently live in Indianapolis, Indiana where Dawn is the head 
basketball coach at Beech Grove High School, as well as teaching Health Physical 
and Drug education and Dean is her assistant coach and is in charge of the 
"In-School Suspension" at the school.

Dean and Dawn are in the New England Hall of Fame.  Dean as an Umpire
 and a Director and Dawn as a Player.

If you would like to visit The Hall of Fame, it is located on Route US 301, South of 
Petersburg, Virginia.  Included in The Hall of Fame is newspaper clippings of Dean 
and Dawn as the Russian trip, as well as many other interesting things.

 

 

Betty Harmon Hangs

 

Betty left Berwind in 1955 and finished school in Oak Hill  and Charleston, West Virginia.  She graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School in Charleston.  She moved to St Petersburg. Florida where she met and married James Hangs.  Only a few months after their marriage, they were California bound, settling in the San Francisco Bay area.

In 1969 she was hired by the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, in the middle of Silicon Valley, as a secretary in a two-person office.  Betty was promoted to Executive Manager in 1974.  At that time she was one of only three women in the state of California in Chamber management.  During her tenure the staff grew to 70 people.

Betty led the Chamber through many successful years, including the creation of the Convention and Visitors Bureau and construction of the Santa Clara Convention Center in 1986.  Among her accomplishments, she served on the Board of the California Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and was President of the Santa Clara County Chamber of Commerce Executives Association 

Betty is most proud of her husband Jim of 35 years, her son Michael, daughter-in-law Talia, and two granddaughters, Victoria and McKenzie.

Betty retired in 2002 and she and Jim moved to Jackson, California, in the area known as "The Gold Country", just a few miles from  where gold  was first discovered in California.

 

 

Elizabeth Hangs Theater - Santa Clara, California Convention Center 
 Dedicated in 2004

 

        George W. Bush - 2000  

 

                                                                                    
    1989 -George Bush, Sr.