Bishop James E. Walsh

Born in 1891, James Edward Walsh worked as a timekeeper in a steel mill until his calling in 1915. Assigned to preach in China, he served there as a missionary from 1927 to 1936, and returned to the United States until the Vatican requested he return in 1948, one year before the Chinese Communist take-over.
He gained word-wide acclaim for his religious defiance in the face of the country's government, and was finally arrested in 1959. He spent 12 years in solitary confinement before being suddenly released by his captors; he walked over a bridge into Hong Kong and to freedom.
In 1973 Ridgeley native Patrick Fryer was ordained by Bishop Walsh at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. He then served as a Naval Chaplain for the next 28 years and is currently pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Martinsburg.
A separate display area at St. Patrick's Church holds several mementos of Bishop Walsh's career, including letters mailed from China while he was held prisoner there.
He passed away in 1981; the parochial school on Haystack Mountain was named in his honor.