Parkersburg rewards Barbara Full | News, Sports, Jobs

Parkersburg Actor Guild President David Rexroad, right, presents Barbara Full with a bouquet on December 11 at the Guild stage. Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce, left, declared the day Barbara Full Day and acknowledged Full during the final performance of “Elf!” The Musical ”, for which Full was musical director and Rexroad as director. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG – A longtime music teacher and supporter of the arts was recognized at the final performance of the Parkersburg Actors Guild production of “Elf! The musical.

Mayor Tom Joyce took the stage on Saturday December 11 to proclaim Barbara Full Day in the town of Parkersburg.

“Elf” was the fourth Guild production for which Full has served as Music Director since joining the theater company in 1975. She has also performed in over 40 shows and conducted 15.

Full was a music teacher at Neale Elementary School for 36 years, conducting the school choir and producing musical pieces, complete with costumes and sets. She has directed numerous Junior Broadway productions – including “Annie,” “Violin on the roof,” and “Joseph and the incredible Technicolor dream coat” – and worked to ensure that every student in the school could participate.

“I had a wonderfully supportive and creative group of parents who loved helping me create a bit of Broadway at Neale Elementary,” says full. “I loved continuing to work with the kids of the Smoot Theater and the Actors Guild, working with the kids of alumni, meeting new kids and parents, and experiencing magical musical moments over and over again.”

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce, left, discusses the accomplishments of Barbara Full, right, during the production of ‘Elf! The Musical ”on December 11, which he declared Barbara Full Day in the city. (Photo provided)

One of those students who took part in Full’s productions was Joyce himself.

“Ms. Full made me play ‘Fat Elvis’ in fourth grade, and I also played Knute Rockne in a production,” he said. “I once played ‘The Great Pretender’ for one of his shows with my grade school buddies.

“I have been a fan of Ms. Full for a very long time” Joyce said. “She touched a lot of lives and was a champion of the arts here and abroad.”

In 1996, Full and two colleagues founded the Wood County Elementary Honor Choir which continues today. After her retirement in 2010, she formed the Smoot Theater Children’s Chorus, which expanded to include a Boys Ensemble and a Girls Ensemble.

Full served in multiple capacities as a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church for over 40 years. She creates the monthly newsletter of the church and serves in the sacristy.

“On behalf of the Trinity of Barbara Episcopal Church family, we could not be more excited to hear the proclamation from Mayor Joyce,” said Reverend Paul L. Hicks, Rector of Trinity Episcopal. “We know the hard work and dedication she brings to her ministries here at the church and we have no doubts about the positive impact she is having on the community as a whole.”

During the summers of 2017 and 2019, she traveled to England with a Washington, DC area choir, formed and conducted by her sister. The group was the choir in residence at two cathedrals each of those summers.