SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 41

(By Senators Stollings and Plymale)

[Introduced February 20, 2016.]

Requesting Division of Highways to name bridge number 03-9/2-0.01 (03A053) (37.95860, -81.85398), locally known as Missouri Fork Bridge, carrying County Route 9/2 over Hewett Creek in Boone County, the “U. S. Army SGT Philip Ray Casto Memorial Bridge”.

Whereas, SGT Philip Ray Casto was born January 29, 1942, in Hewett, the first of three children to Girt and Hazel (Ball) Casto and attended Missouri Fork and Spencer Grade schools and graduated from Scott High School in 1959; and

Whereas, SGT Philip Ray Casto married Doris Jean Caruthers in 1964 and shortly thereafter was drafted into the U. S. Army. He went on to serve his country in Germany, specializing in radio communications and as a rifle sharpshooter. Being honorably discharged in June 1966, he and his wife returned home to Boone County and awaited the arrival of their daughter, Debra Chambers; and

Whereas, After his discharge, SGT Philip Ray Casto worked at Barkers’ Hardware and later with Logan Auto Parts in Madison which he went on to manage for nearly 20 years. SGT Casto never failed to go out on any given night, no matter the time, so that a customer, whether it was a coal mine in need or a friend broken down beside the road, get the parts needed to be up and running, most times fixing the vehicle himself; and

Whereas, SGT Philip Ray Casto later worked for Eastern States Mine Supply, where he once again served the county day and night supplying any need, retiring in 2004; and

Whereas, SGT Philip Ray Casto loved cars or pretty much anything with a motor.  He always made them just a little better. Everyone knew where to find him when a problem arose with their vehicle. Most weekends you could find SGT Philip Ray Casto building or repairing drag racing cars or riding in the hills of Boone County in the first dune buggy built, of course, by him; and

Whereas, SGT Philip Ray Casto was also an avid gardener. It was never a strange sight for anyone who knew SGT Casto to see him on his tractor preparing for another huge garden. He gave away at least most everything he grew, leaving fresh vegetables on neighbors’ porches with no expectation of anything in return; and

Whereas, SGT Casto had a second child, a boy named Steve, born in 1973. Regretfully, he and his wife divorced in 1978, but later remarried and had another son; and

Whereas, Except for the time he served in the Army, SGT Casto lived all of his life in Boone County, and all but eleven of those years were lived on Missouri Fork in Hewitt; and

Whereas, SGT Casto passed away at the Veterans Hospital in Huntington on August 11, 2015. He was 73 years old; and

Whereas, It is fitting that SGT Philip Ray Casto be memorialized and honored for his service in the area where he lived; therefore, be it

Resolved by the West Virginia Legislature:

That the Legislature hereby requests the Division of Highways to name bridge number 03-9/2-0.01 (03A053) (37.95860,  -81.85398), locally known as Missouri Fork Bridge, carrying County Route 9/2 over Hewett Creek in Boone County, the “U. S. Army SGT Philip Ray Casto Memorial Bridge; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to have made and be placed signs identifying the bridge as the “U. S. Army SGT Philip Ray Casto Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and to the family of SGT Philip Ray Casto.