CORRIDOR CHRONICLE
Deem hospitalized
by Ron Gregory
ronjgregory@g;mail.com
PARKERSBURG – Wood County sources have confirmed that legendary legislator Frank Deem is the intensive care unit of Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg.
The sources said Deem, known as somewhat of a maverick during his tenure in the state senate and house, was in critical condition.
In February, Deem, 89, had tripped on a portable heater and broke his hip, his wife Becky told the Parkersburg News-Sentinel at the time.
Becky Deem said her husband had surgery for the hip injury at a Charleston hospital in February.
Deem has served in the legislature every decade since the 1950s. He was in the house of delegates from 1954 to 1962. He served in the state senate from 1964 to 1972 before being elected to the house again in 1988. Deem returned to the senate in 1994 and served until 2010. He returned to the house in 2014, where he continues to serve.
Mrs. Deem told the Parkersburg newspaper at the time of his surgery that her husband had asked EMTs to give him a shot for pain but he didn’t want to miss any votes on the floor. Nevertheless, his condition forced him to miss votes for pay raises for teachers, service personnel and state police troopers. “He didn’t want to miss,” his wife said.
Deem did return to work at the capitol but the sources said the February accident “has taken its toll among other things.”
Deem attended both West Virginia University and Mountain State Business College and earned his B.S. from Marietta College. He has been a businessman and oil and gas producer.