Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270084
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Frank Winston, who was the unofficial vice mayor under Taylor, took the oath of office Friday afternoon to complete Taylor's term.
Council will choose a replacement for the seat Winston held at its April 13 meeting.
Taylor's term would have expired June 30, 1994, the same time as Winston's own term on council would be up.
"I don't intend to run again," he said. "That's my thinking right now. If my years start reversing and I start getting younger, that's something else."
Winston declined to say how young he is. He retired in 1980 as a senior vice president with Dominion Bankshares.
But his time on the town's governing body goes back further than that.
"I went on the council Jan. 1, 1951," he said. He was appointed to fill an unexpired term then, just as he was by Town Council Thursday night to fill Taylor's term as mayor.
Winston said Taylor called him up at midnight near the end of 1950 and asked him if he would serve.
"I hemmed and hawed a little bit," Winston said, and finally agreed.
"That's good," Taylor told him. "We've already appointed you."
The town charter actually makes no provision for a vice mayor, but it has traditionally fallen to Winston to take on the mayor's chores whenever Taylor was not available. Town Manager Kenneth S. Vittum said the informal arrangement seemed based on seniority.
Winston has now served on council for 43 years, not far behind the 47-year record set by Taylor and noted in a recent edition of Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
Another long-term council member, John Roller, resigned last month after about 37 years on the governing body, Winston said. Among the three of them, they had accumulated more than a century and a quarter of local government experience.
"I'm getting the hang of it now," Winston said.
by CNB