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West Virginians for Kennedy announced Saturday that Walter E. "Smokey" Gwinn, formerly of Beckley, has joined the national Kennedy for President Organization to campaign in his home state.

Gwinn, a former resident of Raleigh Heights and a football player on the Woodrow Wilson High School team in 1939, has returned to Beckley to assist Sen. John F. Kennedy in his bid for the presidential nomination in the West Virginia primary May 10.

Gwinnn is an attorney in Miami, Fla., where he has made his home since graduating from the University of Miami Law School in 1951.

Gwinn is married to the former Juanita Withrow who was a nurse at the Beckley Hospital for several years. They now have three children, two daughters and a son. Gwinn, who has not been involved in politics before, first met Senator John F. Kennedy during the war years in the Pacific Theatre.