Charlene Linsenmeyer Farrell dedicated her life to serving others throughout her nursing career. She was a practicing nurse at numerous hospitals including St. Mary’s Medical Center and Cabell Huntington Hospital and taught nursing at both Eastern Kentucky University and Marshall University.
For more than 30 years, she led Hospice of Huntington as its CEO, expanding services to five counties and serving thousands of patients and their families. Farrell was instrumental in the creation of the Emogene Dolin Jones Hospice House, a homelike facility for the care of terminally ill patients and their families that was situated on the confluence of the Ohio and Guyandotte Rivers.
An advocate for the rights of the terminally ill, Charlene led Hospice of Huntington to become the first Medicare-certified Hospice organization in the state and successfully lobbied for the passage of the West Virginia Hospice Licensure Law, the Surrogate Law, the inclusion of Hospice care for West Virginia Medicaid recipients and for the inclusion of Hospice benefits for veterans.
Active in statewide organizations, Farrell served as president for both the Hospice Council of West Virginia and the West Virginia Network of Ethics Committees. Among the many organizations through which she volunteered, she served the longest with the American Red Cross, culminating with service in New York City after 9/11 and for both hurricanes Katrina and Irene.
For her tireless efforts in advocating for Hospice services, she was awarded The Herald-Dispatch 2011 Citizens Special Impact Award, Distinguished West Virginian Award, Outstanding Career Achievement Award from the College of Mount St. Joseph, Health Care Hero State Journal Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hospice Council of West Virginia.
She is married to Cabell Circuit Judge Paul T. Farrell and has three sons and seven grandchildren. She describes her life’s work as serving God, her family and those God has put in her path.
