John Spotts

John Henry Spotts was born in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Educated until the eighth grade, he left school to work at various farms as a day laborer to help his mother financially after this father’s death. In 1937, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in McDowell County. He was sent to cooking classes in Ohio; the instructor was more of a baker, so John ended up teaching classes, specializing in handling meat.  The whole time he was at the CCC camp, Spotts worked in the mess hall as a cook.

After leaving the CCC, John worked in the coal mines from 1941-53, where his job was weighing and keeping track of the number of tons of coal each miner loaded. When a coal tipple caught fire, he moved his family to Huntington. He was hired as a cook at Marshall university and worked in the food service department for more than 40 years, retiring in 1994.

Spotts assisted the Black United Students group in organizing a “Welcome Breakfast” for incoming minority students to Marshall University and he helped those interested in working to obtain employment with the food service department and other departments at Marshall. Marshall University named one of the main dining rooms in the Memorial Student Center the John Spotts Room in his honor.