Wheatland Motel owners Franklin Pownall and Hilda Clark Pownall

Franklin Lee Pownall and his wife Hilda Clark Pownall, who owned and operated the Wheatland Motel on U.S. 11, both had moms who died young.

When they married in the summer 1933, Hilda’s 44-year-old mother had just died weeks earlier of appendicitis.

Frank had lost his 29-year-old mother nearly a decade earlier, when he was 11. She suffered a ruptured abdominal blood vessel, possibly related to her recent childbirth. Frank’s little brother William was only a few weeks old when their mom died.

Frank and Hilda did not have any children of their own.

He started out as a Grennan Bakery employee and eventually became a Martinsburg city councilman and business leader. In addition to the Wheatland Motel, he also owned and operated a gas station.

The couple lived at 506 W. John Street and later at 509 Edgemont Terrace.

In 1962, tragedy struck. Here’s what happened to the couple, and later, their hotel: