As part of their 125th Year of Service Celebration, the West Virginia Natural Resources Police will honor two of their members who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. The pair include Braxton County native Wesley C. Frame Jr. who was killed November 10, 1978 while stationed in Monroe County. The second officer to be honored in a seperate ceremony is Game Protector Fredrick W. Hobart who died on December 21, 1940 in Nicholas County.
In Honor of Officer Frame, a Gassaway High School graduate and U.S. Navy veteran, the West Virginia NRP Officers Association commissioned a memorial marker that will be dedicated on the Braxton County Courthouse lawn during this year’s local Veterans Day Memorial service. The Ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. on November 11. Before the dedication, West Virginia NRP Officers will be participating the Veterans Day Parade in Gassaway and the luncheon that will follow at the Braxton County Armory.
At the time of his death, Officer Frame and wife Sandy, who died in 2017, lived near Peterstown. He is survived by his son W.C. Frame III and his family who reside in Hardy County.
Officers Frame was shot and killed near Rich Creek in Peterstown while supervising a prisoner cleaning a stream. Officer Frame had charged the man with littering after receiving a complaint. The complainant did not want the man fined, so the local magistrate placed the offender in Officer Frame’s custody and instructed him to remove the debris from the stream and then return to court due to an outstanding Virginia warrant.
The man told the officer that he needed his truck from home in order to take the debris to the dump. Once at his residences, the man retrieved a 30-06 hunting rifle and shot Officer Frame.
The man fled to Akron, OH with his wife and children but was arrested later the evening of November 10, 1978. He was extradited back to West Virginia and was convicted of Officer Frame’s murder.
Officer Frame had only been with the Department of Natural Resources for one year.
He is buried at Beals Mill Cemetery north of Gassaway.
The NRP Officers Association has extended an invitation to the community to join them in paying respects to Officer W.C. Frame Jr. on November 11 at 2:30 p.m.