Author Topic: Wes Fager's Funeral  (Read 3348 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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Wes Fager's Funeral
« on: February 14, 2009, 09:21:49 PM »
Wes Fagers viewing will be held Monday night the 16th @ Bridge Chapel Oman Funeral Home 653 Cedar Road Ceaspheak Va 23332.  From. 7 - 9 pm

On Tueday the 17th @ 2pm the funeral will begin at South Norfolk Christian Church @ 1030 Jackson Ave Cheaspake VA 23334.

The cemetery will be Riverside Cemtery.

His grandchildrens name and ages are as follows and they are totally devestated as Wes was their primary care giver:

Mitchell Williams age 14

Gavin Wiliams age 12

Ardan Williams age 9

if you would like to make any donations or give a gift kindly give it to his grandchildren.

Thank you contact me with any questions u may have see u there, richard bradbury
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Offline Nonconformistlaw

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2009, 11:03:22 PM »
Does Mr Fager's family have a preference regarding the attendance of Straight survivors?

Would they prefer survivors attended the viewing or the funeral? Or are they open to either? Thanks
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline ramprato

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2009, 11:29:55 AM »
Quote from: "Nonconformistlaw"
Does Mr Fager's family have a preference regarding the attendance of Straight survivors?

Would they prefer survivors attended the viewing or the funeral? Or are they open to either? Thanks

Yes, you may go to the viewing and funeral. It's open to everyone at family's request.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2009, 08:05:21 PM »
Please signed Wes' guest book at funeral home:

http://www.omanfh.com/index.cfm
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Offline Ursus

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2009, 08:22:31 PM »
Obituaries

Wesley Mooney Fager
(March 1, 1946 - February 13, 2009)


U.S. Veteran Wesley Mooney Fager, 62, formerly of South Norfolk and currently living in Hardyville, Virgina, passed away, Friday, February 13, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland. Born in Norfolk, he was the son of the late William B. and Dorothy Mooney Fager. He was also predeceased by a son, Wesley M. Fager, Jr.; a daughter, Baby Girl Fager and a brother, William "Boogie" Fager. Mr. Fager was a member of South Norfolk Congregational Christian Church. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1970, served in the U.S. Army and retired from the Department of Defense after thirty one years of service. Mr. Fager spent the remainder of his life exposing abusive programs that harmed children. Other memberships included, the Masonic Blue Lodge and the American Legion, Post 177. Survivors include his wife, Catherine Pierce Fager of Hardyville; a son, William J. Fager of Annandale, Virginia; a daughter, Penelope Fager Stanley and husband Stacy of Lexington, South Carolina; three grandsons, Mitchell, Gavin and Aidan; a sister, Barbara Darden and husband Franklin; three brothers, Wayne and wife Carolyn, Keith and wife Pat and Scott and wife Pam; brother-in-law, James M. Pierce; his "favorite mother-in-law" Dora B. Pierce; special friend, Kay H. Gerstein; and his nieces and nephews who knew his as "Uncle WooGoo". The funeral service will be conducted at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at the South Norfolk Congregational Christian Church,1030 Jackson Ave., Chesapeake, VA 23324. Rev. Amos Eby will officiate. Interment with military honors will follow in Riverside Memorial Park, Norfolk. The family will receive friends from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Monday at the Great Bridge Chapel of Oman Funeral Home & Crematory, 653 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, VA 23322 Flowers are welcomed. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Antigen

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2009, 05:56:17 PM »
Friends and admirers may wish to drop in on this other thread too:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26969
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2009, 01:56:39 AM »
Wes Fager fought relentlessly for the thousands of families harmed by Straight Incorporated—and laid the foundation for all of the activism and journalism that has since begun to expose the abuse of children in hundreds of “tough love” programs.  Without his dogged investigation of Straight and the programs descended from it, few of the exposes and program closures that followed would have been reported.  Thousands more children would have been hurt.

In 1989, Wes and his wife placed their sixteen-year-old son Bill at Straight.  They believed he was using drugs and a high school guidance counselor suggested that Straight was an effective program.  For three months, they were not allowed to talk to Bill unsupervised.  When he ran away, the Fagers discovered that their son had become seriously mentally ill and that Straight—far from helping him or providing supportive care—had harmed him.

Wes continuously sought justice for his son and for the others that Straight had abused.  He traced every connection between Straight and other programs and politicians that he could find.  He posted thousands of pages of documents to his website, thestraights.com.  

Without that work, few journalists would ever have been able to trace the twisted story of Straight—but with each document he added, Wes built a damning case against the organization that had been praised by Presidents Reagan and Bush and was Nancy Reagan’s “favorite” drug program.

He made sure that the name “Straight Inc” would never fail to be prefaced with “now-discredited” or “abusive” by anyone who became knowledgeable about it.

While Wes did serious work, he also knew when to use humor:  check out “Pump-gate” on his site--and the classic quote he gave to the press.  And while his writing will not be known for its brevity, he never gave out leads that weren’t based in facts and documented carefully.

Although others joined the cause briefly and contributed here and there, Wes did everything humanly possible to continue the fight.  Even when no one else seemed to care or listen, he continued to speak out.
He helped organize the first ever conference on drug treatment abuse in 2001, which is where I first met him.  At that conference, I also met Phil Elberg and it was there that I first realized that a book exposing this story was necessary.  Without Wes, I might never have written Help at Any Cost—I can say for sure that I would have missed many elements of the story that he brought forward.

I only met Wes a few times in person but I will miss him dearly.  So few people stand up for what matters and so few devote themselves selflessly to this or any cause.  Wes did—and without him, there’s one less voice for justice in this world.  He made a difference and he will be missed—MAIA SZALAVITZ
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Antigen

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2009, 03:34:32 PM »
Why protest?

A lot of people ask that question. Most people think it's just something that crack pots and loonies do and that it doesn't accomplish anything. That favorite Lincoln quote of Wes', "To sin by silence when one should protest makes cowards of men." answers it curtly.

Most people think the word protest only means holding up signs, shouting and such like shenanigans in front of a particular target establishment. But there are many ways to protest something. Wes Fager taught me volumes about that both by conversation and example. A lot of people don't know this, but the Forum was Wes' idea. When I first met him, he initially was trying to get a Usenet group going devoted to Straight, Inc. Though he was a computer professional, back in `98 when I started talking to him, he was not all that familiar with the net. So I helped him get a forum going using some newfangled forum software [link]. I probably would never have done this if he hadn't prompted me.

At the same time he organized some of the classic type of protest against Straight follow on programs, and the Church of Scientology as well as preparing in depth investigative reports to support complaints to various government agencies, publishing his many informative websites and generally doing anything he could think of to draw attention to this cause.

That was around 10 years ago and almost no one except individual survivors who were not generally in touch with one another even knew the industry existed. Now we've got Government Accountability Office investigators as well as lawyers representing individual injured clients, journalists (print and tv) several books & movies in various stages of production and other activity all having benefited in some way from what Wes started.

He was also a huge fan of Winston Churchill, who once said "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen". You were good at and managed to have fun doing it and make everyone around him laugh too (uh... cept the clams, Newton, the Semblers and the like. Sheesh! No sense of humor, those guys!)

Ever grateful to have known you.
I might wish that you'll rest in peace, but I know you'll raise hell anyway if you can.
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Offline BuzzKill

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2009, 08:20:35 PM »
Did anyone make the funeral? Was it nice?
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2009, 09:45:21 PM »
Yes, WIlliam Ernshaw, Ginger, Samantha Monroe, Richard Bradbury and Patrick Bush.

The church was packed with Wesley's family and friends.

I did not realize how well the Fagers are known and how much of a history the family had in the Virginia area until the day of the funeral.

Patrick and I had arrived at the wake the night before and had the pleasure of meeting Wesley's family and friends.  The wake was held from 7 - 9 pm but none of us wanted to leave Wesley.

Finally it got quite late and the funeral home said its time to go, you will all need your rest for the funeral the next day.

The funeral was held in Chesapeake VA at the church the Fagers attended for many years.

The church building alone is more than 100 years old.  

On our way to the funeral I told Patrick my nerves are shot, we need to stop and get something to drink before the funeral.

Patrick agreed.

So when we got into Chesapeake we agreed to stop at the first place we saw.

So as we were driving along I thought I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye that said "Lounge".  So we turned around and parked right in front of the building.

The whole block looked a little bit run down and that everything was out of business.  So I tried the door and it opened to my surprise and Patrick and I went in.

Patrick and I were both dressed in suit and tie, this to say was a little out of place for this Lounge.  

I asked the lady behind the counter, "mam are you open?"  She said, "son turn around and look at that sign."  It said "open" and was mostly covered up on the outside of the building, so I had not seen it clearly.

She said show me some ID's.  So we did and we sat down.

Their was an older fellow sitting at the end of the bar and we starting talking with him and his name was Ray and he was 88 years old and had been in World War II, served under Patton.

So as we broke the ice shall we say, we started speaking to the lady tending bar, her name is Shirley.  They were wondering who we were.

We told them we had driven up from Tampa for Wesley Fager's funeral and to be with his family.  She said, "Fager"?

We said, "yes mam."  

She went on to say we all know the Fager's here.  They are very much loved.  Ray the fellow who we had spoke with intially lives right accross the street from the church and knew them as well.

Patrick and I were shocked.  What were the odds of us stopping more than 800 miles from home and walking in someplace for a drink and everyone knew and loved the Fagers.

Patrick and I arrived at the funeral at about 1:40 pm and meet Samantha, Ginger and Bill at the church.

Several hours before I had received an email from Maia Szalavitz.  She had written an obit for Wesley which she has posted to this site.

I had no way to print it from my phone, so I called the church on our way there and ask the Rev for his email address and sent it to him and asked if he could print it.

As we walked into the church the Rev handed me the document as I was blessed with the honor to speak at the funeral.

Wesley's funeral lasted about 2 hours.  

Wesley's coffin was covered in a US Flag as Wesley received a military burial as he served his country with honor.

The Rev spoke, one of Wesley's brothers spoke, then I spoke.

I spoke of Wesley's service to his community.  I also read the obit Maia Szalavitz had written and I closed with what Wesley would always tell me on the phone prior the end of our many conversations.

We have pictures, video and the program of the service.

The family needs their personal time now to grieve for their loss.  

This is a large loving family.  It was an honor and privilege to be invited to the wake, the funeral and the have the opportunity to speak about Wesley's many accomplishments.

At some point I will check with the family and see if it is ok to post the pictures, video and program.

Wesley was buried not far from the church on a small hilltop in Chesapeake VA.  

The family was presented the US Flag which covered his coffin.

Wesley Fager hero to his country, loving father, grandfather, brother, friend and community servant.
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Offline Antigen

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2009, 01:38:05 PM »
I thought it was especially nice, Rich, the way you told those grandkids their grandpa was a hero. He certainly was. I got the same impression about his family and community and thought "so, that's how they grow `em like that".
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #11 on: April 18, 2009, 11:59:32 PM »
I just read about Wes, I had no idea.

He was a good man, he was good to me personally.

For all the parents that were not willing to face the place they put their children in, Wes stepped up to the plate and made up for those who would not, or could not.

Thank you Wes!  You will be very missed, but always respected.

Thea
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2009, 07:49:37 AM »
Quote from: "richard bradbury tampa"
I spoke of Wesley's service to his community. I also read the obit Maia Szalavitz had written and I closed with what Wesley would always tell me on the phone prior the end of our many conversations.

Richard, tell us what Wes would always tell you...
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Wes Fager's Funeral
« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2009, 11:39:57 AM »
Quote from: "No. 7"
Quote from: "richard bradbury tampa"
I spoke of Wesley's service to his community. I also read the obit Maia Szalavitz had written and I closed with what Wesley would always tell me on the phone prior the end of our many conversations.

Richard, tell us what Wes would always tell you...


That would be like throwing "Pearls before swine" ...
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