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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992                   TAG: 9201240348
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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1ST SALEM CLERK JAMES TOBEY DIES

James F. Tobey, Salem's Circuit Court clerk for the first 21 years of the city's existence, died Thursday morning at Lewis-Gale Hospital. He was 67.

Tobey was hired as a consultant to help set up the clerk's office before being appointed clerk in March 1968 by Judge F.L. Hoback. He had lost a bid to become Roanoke County Circuit Court clerk the previous year.

"He was a pioneer," said Charles B. Phillips, who was appointed Salem's first commonwealth's attorney alongside Tobey. "He was a clerk of all clerks."

Tobey held the job until 1989, when he retired because of health reasons.

"The heart of an office is the workers," said current Salem Commonwealth's Attorney M. Frederick King. "The same staff is there" as when Tobey retired. "It's a tribute to his training."

"Of all the constitutional offices, that is the most difficult one to practice," Phillips said. "I've always said he was the best clerk I've ever known, period."

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