Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005090139
SECTION: DISCOVER THE NEW RIVER VALLEY PAGE: DIS/NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: JUDITH SCHWAB SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Jerry Wiliams, who came to Blacksburg in 1982 to teach at Virginia Tech, likes "the smallness of it - the lack of traffic jams, the ability to get to work in 10 minutes, to take the bus, ride your bicycle or even walk to the store."
Williams, his wife Juliann and their two children, came to Blacksburg from Columbia, Mo., a place they liked a lot. But the mountains and the people of the New River Valley have worked their charm on the Williams family, too.
Williams said he thinks the area grows on you until one day you realize you are relatively satisfied with your life and know you don't want to leave.
"I have no desire whatsoever to move away," he said. "I've lived in or near big cities all my life and it's tough to raise children there."
In Blacksburg, he said, "we feel secure about their safety."
Fran Mitchell, another big city escapee, was a little concerned when she and husband Ivan Liss moved to Christiansburg from Illinois five years ago when he accepted a teaching job at Radford University.
"We lived in the middle of cornfields - hundreds of miles of them on every side, no exaggeration," she said of Illinois. She added quickly, "of course they have their own beauty, but we love the mountains."
Mitchell said their involvement with their church is a major part of their lives.
"We went to church in Illinois for eight years and no one ever spoke to us but the ministers," she said. "Here they jumped over the aisles to talk to us the first time we went."
Mitchell, director of the New River Valley Literacy Volunteers of America, said a lot of New River Valley residents don't know how lucky they are.
The valley has more social services than most areas with similar populations. She reeled off a list of services that covered everything from shelter for the homeless to day care for the mentally ill. The existence of these services is actually a service to Mitchell as she is an active volunteer.
For a real comparison with other areas, talk to Maria Jonsdottir. When she and her husband, Birgir Gudmundsson, arrived in Blacksburg in August 1988 from Iceland, "it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit," Jonsdottir said. "It doesn't get more than 55 [in Iceland]; we were not prepared for this heat."
As for the winters, "It gets almost as cold here as in Iceland, not often, but some days," Jonsdottir said. Has she missed the Icelandic snow? "No, not so much," however, "sometimes I would like to have it more, if it's going to be there."
If the winters are cold, the people are warm.
"People always greet you by name," she said. "It's very personal, very nice."
Like many of the New River Valley's international community, Jonsdottir and Gudmundsson came to attend Virginia Tech. Since they have been in the United States they have visited Florida - in August, "it was awful," - Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and other states and found none of them as nice as here.
The beauty of the mountains is particularly appreciated because Iceland's trees are small and don't cover the mountains with green the way they do in Southwest Virginia.
by CNB