House Resolution No. 26
(By Delegates Brown and Hatfield )
[Offered on Behalf of the Entire Membership of the House]
"Commemorating and honoring the life and public service of Dee Caperton Kessel,
former member of the House of Delegates from the County of Kanawha and former First
Lady of West Virginia."
Whereas, Dee Caperton Kessel, former member of the House and former First
Lady of West Virginia, died on September 1, 2000, following a long bout with cancer at
the young age of fifty-seven.
Born February 26, 1943, in Jackson County, she was the daughter of Oliver and
Katie Kessel. Educated in the public schools, Ella Dee Kessel received her formal
education at West Virginia University, where she received the B. A. Degree in Music, the
West Virginia College of Graduate Studies, where she received the Master of Arts in
Education and she attained the Doctorate of Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.
A 21-year-old Ella Dee Kessel, the daughter of a Ripley judge, won the Miss West
Virginia title and was named second runner-up in the national Miss America Pageant, the
only West Virginian ever to place among the ten finalists. The tallest contestant at 5'11",
she also won the swimsuit competition. The young Dee became a licensed pilot, she
played harp, classical guitar and studied the piano classics for ten years, the talent she
chose for the pageant.
On December 4, 1965, Ella Dee Kessel and Gaston Caperton, of Charleston, were
married in a standing-room only ceremony at Epworth United Methodist Church in Ripley.
They became the proud parents of two sons: William G. IV and John Ambler. In 1974,
she accepted a position as an interior decorator for a local department store, and in 1984,
while serving as a trustee for the University of Charleston, she participated in a cultural
exchange program and spent a semester teaching university-level English in the People's
Republic of China. Her extensive travels also included a trip to Iraq in 1989.
Dee Caperton Kessel was elected to the House of Delegates in 1986, leading the
ticket in the General Election and was an active, spirited and capable member, serving on
the Committees on Constitutional Revision, Education and Government Organization. She
declined to seek a second term when her husband announced his candidacy for Governor.
Rather, she threw herself into his campaign, barnstorming the State on his behalf, and in
an interview in 1988, revealed that it was she who had asked him to run. As the
Governor's wife, she promised to work for education, children and women, and caused
quite a stir when she established an office near her husband's in the Capitol, something no
other First Lady had ever done.
When life took the couple in different directions, Dee Caperton Kessel revived her
political aspirations and ran for State Treasurer. Following that endeavor in 1990, she left
her career in politics and moved to France, where she established Mas Mireille, a small
hotel in the medieval town of Saint-Remy. During the last decade of her life, she
reclaimed her family name.
Dee Caperton Kessel was kind, generous and loving to her friends and acquaintances
and her life will continue in those who knew her; therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That it is with profound regret and sorrow that the members of the House of
Delegates hereby publicly mark the service, career and life of Dee Caperton Kessel,
esteemed former member, outstanding public official and prominent citizen, and realizing
the immense personal loss to her family do hereby extend their sincere condolences; and,
be it
Further Resolved, That in testimony of the foregoing, the Clerk of the House of
Delegates prepare copies of this resolution for sons William Gaston Caperton IV, of
Shepherdstown, and John Ambler Caperton, of San Francisco.
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