Today in Wheeling History: March 11—Mary Elizabeth Fassig (Keyser), future vaudeville performer and longtime Wheeling dance teacher, is born in the city (1905).
Mary Elizabeth Fassig (later Keyser) was born March 11, 1905, in Wheeling to Percival (often recorded as Percilva) Fassig and Mary Ellen Altmeyer Fassig. Her father, a Columbus, Ohio native, worked at Wheeling’s Hazel-Atlas Glass Company and played cello with the Wheeling Symphony, while her mother was the daughter of Luke and Mary Hartung Altmeyer, rooting Mary firmly in local Catholic and German-American Wheeling families. She attended Ohio County public schools, where her early aptitude for dance emerged.
As a young woman, Fassig left Wheeling to perform professionally on the national vaudeville circuits, gaining recognition as a skilled dancer and entertainer during the final great era of vaudeville. After touring, she returned to her hometown and became closely associated with Wheeling’s Capitol Theatre, appearing in stage productions and helping sustain live performance in the city as movies and radio transformed popular entertainment.
Fassig eventually married Thomas Kenneth Keyser and continued her life’s work as a teacher of dance, operating a studio and mentoring generations of Wheeling-area children and young adults. Her long career made her a cultural fixture and a bridge between the vaudeville age and modern community arts education. She died in September 1986 in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling. In 2015, she was posthumously inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in the Music and Fine Arts category.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/yr6u7jy9), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/3s269saj), WTRF (https://tinyurl.com/msk8x9fc), Ancestry (https://tinyurl.com/mrx9cr49), Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/3earnw4t)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave
Mary Elizabeth Fassig (later Keyser) was born March 11, 1905, in Wheeling to Percival (often recorded as Percilva) Fassig and Mary Ellen Altmeyer Fassig. Her father, a Columbus, Ohio native, worked at Wheeling’s Hazel-Atlas Glass Company and played cello with the Wheeling Symphony, while her mother was the daughter of Luke and Mary Hartung Altmeyer, rooting Mary firmly in local Catholic and German-American Wheeling families. She attended Ohio County public schools, where her early aptitude for dance emerged.
As a young woman, Fassig left Wheeling to perform professionally on the national vaudeville circuits, gaining recognition as a skilled dancer and entertainer during the final great era of vaudeville. After touring, she returned to her hometown and became closely associated with Wheeling’s Capitol Theatre, appearing in stage productions and helping sustain live performance in the city as movies and radio transformed popular entertainment.
Fassig eventually married Thomas Kenneth Keyser and continued her life’s work as a teacher of dance, operating a studio and mentoring generations of Wheeling-area children and young adults. Her long career made her a cultural fixture and a bridge between the vaudeville age and modern community arts education. She died in September 1986 in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling. In 2015, she was posthumously inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in the Music and Fine Arts category.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/yr6u7jy9), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/3s269saj), WTRF (https://tinyurl.com/msk8x9fc), Ancestry (https://tinyurl.com/mrx9cr49), Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/3earnw4t)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave
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