Meet 2026 BHS Alumni & Friends Hall of Fame Member Annabel Timms
By Julie Perine on August 10, 2026
Annabel Timms began a beloved dance studio that has become a Bridgeport legacy. Generations of dancers have passed through the doors of Annabel Timms School of Ballet which eventually became Studio 9 Dance Academy.
What locals may not know is how it all began and why Timms – then Annabel Lorraine Phillips - was first introduced to dance.
“I started dancing at age 12 with June Runyon, a former ballerina with the Chicago Opera Ballet,” said Timms, a Tulsa native. “At age 15, I began to teach beginning ballet.”
She went on to attend and graduate from Tulsa University and additionally studied at some of New York City’s most infamous schools. Professionally, she danced with the Tulsa Ballet, the Omaha Ballet, and in 1958 performed in Kansas City Starlight Theater.
She met Joe Timms over coffee in the summer of 1957 and they married the following spring. Following his stint in the military, he took a job with Consolidated Gas Company, so the couple moved to West Virginia, first Clarksburg, then ultimately Bridgeport, where he served multiple terms as mayor.
“I taught ballet classes in Clarksburg, Nutter Fort and Bridgeport and finally opened my own studio and added other forms of dance instruction, such as tap and jazz,” Timms said. “We had a recital every other year and started doing a Children’s Nutcracker in the off year.”
Timms taught her first community dance classes at the Benedum Civic Center, and shortly thereafter, she opened the Annabel Timms Studio of Dance on West Main Street, a studio she operated for 40 years and which produced dancers who went on to perform on Broadway and work in other facets of the industry.
Timms also worked with Bridgeport Stage Crafters, Clarksburg Art Center and the Harrison County Summer Theatre, choreographing a number of local musical theater productions.
“Greg Brown approached me to help with the senior class productions at Bridgeport High School,” she said. “This led to me working for a number of years with the high school productions. It was very rewarding to watch high school students enjoy performing in a musical production. Our daughters, Cindy, Becky and Sarah enjoyed it so much they all had professional careers in theater.
Timms passed her studio on to Heather Mudrick Campbell in 2017 and in 2017, Timms was honored for her longtime dance instruction career which spanned more than 40 years.
Timms and her fellow inductees, Jan Grisso and Vincent Pinti, will be honored during the Aug. 28 BHS vs. Buckhannon-Upshur football game at Wayne Jamison Field and the Aug. 29 BHS Alumni & Friends Hall of Fame Banquet at The “O” by Oliverio’s. To purchase tickets, click HERE.
Editor's Note: Below photo was taken at Timms' retirement party in 2019.
Read about Jan Grisso HERE.
Read about Vincent Pinti HERE.
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