Frank Goines, owner of Franks Batter Up! with his mother Ms. Mary

 

A History of Goodness

 

Marietta Goines, affectionately known as Ms. Mary, developed a recipe for a superior corndog batter that originated out of her strong conviction to prayer and faith. Over the years Ms. Mary’s corndogs have become famous and the Goines are proud to be a link in the annual county festival at the Preston County Buckwheat Festival held in Kingwood, West Virginia.

People have traveled from faraway states to get their ‘once-a-year’ corndogs. Ms. Mary’s corndogs have been available at the Buckwheat Festival for over 3 decades and a portion of the proceeds from corndog sales at the festival have gone to benefit the local Love Chapel Church. The restored building that houses Love Chapel Church was once the old school house where Ms. Mary attended school as a young girl and where the Goines family attends church to this day.

 

Ms. Mary’s son, Frank, is now in charge of the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of Ms. Mary’s Corndog Kit and other fine specialty food products.

 

The Beginning of Frank’s Batter Up!

 

Frank’s Batter Up! has a long fascinating history. A large part of that fascinating history begins with about the woman who created the recipe for the batter in the featured product, Ms. Mary’s® Corndog Kit. Ms. Mary, as she is fondly referred to by those who don’t call her mom or grandma, was born Marietta Jane McDonald on October 20, 1929. Her parents Laylor Jane Younger-McDonald and Jesse McDonald Sr. raised Marietta along with three brothers and two sisters in Kingwood, West Virginia, where she still lives today.  

 

Growing up in the days of segregation, Ms. Mary attended the Beverly Hill Colored School from first through eighth grade. Beverly Hill served as a schoolhouse during the week, a church on Sundays, and accommodated various social functions for the black community in the small town of Kingwood located in Preston County, WV. After Ms. Mary’s years at Beverly Hill, she graduated from Monongalia High School in Morgantown, WV.

 

The black children from Kingwood rode a commercial bus to Morgantown each day. Ms. Mary and her siblings left their home at 6:00 a.m. each morning and walked two miles to the bus and often had to stand for the hour drive to Morgantown; allowing white people to use the seats instead. Mary being very clever and feeling that it was silly for grown adults to be sitting while children were left to stand used to sit on the tire well in the back of the bus where nobody else cared to sit. Black passengers weren’t even permitted to converse on the bus.

 

When Ms. Mary graduated from high school in 1949, she had a 4.0 grade point average, was valedictorian, and a member of the National Honor Society. She used years of racism and teasing, even from other black children lighter complected than herself, to inspire her rather than weigh her down. It was her goal to use her faith and intelligence to rise above the ignorance, do well for herself and her family, and see a world beyond color.

Mary attended West Virginia State College on four scholarships totaling $125. She also took classes at West Virginia University, Fairmont State College, and Potomac State College eventually earning a degree in Early Childhood Development. After working 20 years for the West Virginia Head Start Program as a teacher, Ms. Mary retired.

 

Frank’s Dad in Service

 

On June 3, 1952, Ms. Mary married a strikingly handsome United States Army Staff Sergeant named Russell Goines. Russell pursued her for quite some time before she agreed to be his wife. He even sent her a ring that she mailed back to him. Mary’s mother used to tease that Ms. Mary said yes to Russell’s uniform when she finally accepted his proposal, as he was so handsome in it.

Staff sergeant Russell was not without his own accomplishments. He fought in the Korean conflict as a lead communications man and was decorated with the Korean Campaign Ribbon displaying three battle stars, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, and the Purple Heart. He went on to train army recruits in the survival tactics during combat.

Ms. Mary and Russell’s strong, happy marriage provided a wonderful family life for their two sons, Russell Jr. and Frank. Devout in her faith, Ms. Mary had one requirement of her sons. The Goines brothers were to be in church every Sunday morning.

 

Goines Ties to Love Chapel Church

 

The Goines have been active members of the Love Chapel Church, the same building that served as the all black school that Ms. Mary attended as a young child, for many years. The old Beverly Hill schoolhouse was purchased from the Preston County Board of Education for $500 years ago and renamed the Love Chapel Church.

 

To tend to the financial needs of the Love Chapel Church, families would conduct fundraisers each month. Several families held dinners and bake sales. Ms. Mary, her sister Grace McDonald, and friend Ethelene sat up a table outside Jim Wolfe’s Garage in Kingwood and sold corndogs on the street. Ms. Mary perfected the batter recipe they used to make the corndogs. She discovered the recipe while visiting other churches with the Love Chapel’s women’s choir, Ladies of the Gospel. Not being entirely pleased with the recipe, Ms. Mary made it her own by adapting it to her liking.

 

The citizens of Kingwood hadn’t heard of corndogs before and were hesitant to try them. In spite of their slow start, the corndogs began selling so well that the church adopted them as its primary fundraiser. Profits were so generous that corndog sales began paying for most of the major expenses in the church. Members of the Love Chapel began working at the popular Preston County Buckwheat Festival selling Ms. Mary’s corndogs.

 

Ms. Mary’s Family & Dreams

 

While activities with the church and the corndog fundraiser flourished, Ms. Mary’s family grew to include six grandsons, one granddaughter, four great-grandsons, and three great-granddaughters. Over the years, Ms. Mary worked hard, grew spiritually, and expanded her intellect. While visiting Magdelena—an exchange student friend in Germany, Ms. Mary fulfilled a childhood dream. She traveled to Holland and visited the dike that a character in a Hans Christian Anderson fiction had put his finger in to save a city he cherished.

 

Ms. Mary was spiritually called to feed the hungry in ways bigger than her corndogs alone could provide. In 2002, she started Ms. Mary’s Love’s Way Food Ministry. December 2006 the ministry fed a record breaking 210 families. The ministry operates a pantry from donations provided by churches and individual community members, including her two sons.

 

Ms. Mary received the Point of Light Award from President George W. Bush for all of her hard work and generosity. She has a ‘can-do’ attitude that encourages her family to follow their dreams and make them happen. Ms. Mary’s accomplishments in a community that lacked diversity and in the face of racial barriers inspired her sons to develop businesses of their own. Russell Jr. has a business called Russ’ Ribs and Frank, after years as a long haul truck driver, has begun Frank’s Batter Up!

 

Frank’s Batter Up! Begins

 

Love Chapel’s aging congregation no longer desired to stand for long hours at the Buckwheat Festival making corndogs. Frank decided to take back the family recipe in 2005 since the church was no longer using it. In honor of his mother, Frank started Ms. Mary’s Corndog Ministry, eventually re-named Frank’s Batter Up! In 2006, Frank and his family traveled to various fairs and festivals selling the corndogs and using the batter for onion rings, shrimp, broccoli, cauliflower, sausages, and a number of other items. Frank has also marketed the Ms. Mary’s® Corndog Kit to several retail outlets.

 

In tribute to Ms. Mary, Frank entered Ms. Mary’s® Corndog Kit in a specialty foods contest, The Recipe Challenge at the 2006 State Fair of West Virginia. Ms. Mary’s® Corndog Kit won first place in the existing entrepreneur category. The prize package for the contest included thousands of dollars worth of marketing consultation from experts to refine the company’s product development, promotion, and marketing strategies. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture worked with Frank to ensure that his company was ready for the 2007 New York Fancy Foods Show. This premiere specialty foods show will provide Frank’s Batter Up! the opportunity to market the featured product Ms. Mary’s® Corndog Kit to a broader customer base.

 

“Don’t wait until I’m dead to bring me flowers. Bring them to me while I’m living and can enjoy them,” says Ms. Mary to those close to her. Selling this product as a tribute to his mother and helping her leave yet another mark on the world is Frank’s flower to Ms. Mary.