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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994                   TAG: 9404050079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MINOR KEFFER, CATAWBA'S `MAYOR,' DIES

Keffer, who was a county supervisor for 20 years, started working behind the counter of a general store in New Castle in 1932. He Keffer leased the Catawba General Store nine years later and became the owner in 1944.

For more than 50 years he supplied his customers with the everything from tomatoes to horse feed, and listened to their thoughts about the changing Roanoke Valley.

"There was a big pot-bellied stove in the store where everyone would meet," said childhood friend Cecil Moses. "Many tales were told around that stove and Minor was there to keep up with it all."

Keffer, who ran as an independent, was first elected in 1947 and was re-elected four times.

In the 1959 election, he won as a write-in candidate even though he had opposition. Due to a mix-up caused by a change in the filing laws, Keffer filed too late to have his name printed on the ballot.

Keffer was elected chairman of the supervisors in 1964 and served one year. He left the board in 1967 when he was defeated by Republican Charles Osterhoudt.

After that, Keffer served as a citizens' representative to the county Finance Committee and, in 1969, as chairman of a group opposed to Roanoke County's consolidation with other valley governments.

A native of Catawba, Keffer was a truck driver for the state Highway Department in the late 1920s before beginning his career in general-store work.

Moses said Catawba residents trusted Keffer. "He was a good neighbor who treated everyone fairly. He was just an A-1 man."