Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 29, 1994 TAG: 9412290073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Friendly and outgoing, Chewning disliked the thought of having to raise money and run a political campaign, so she decided to give up her seat on the Roanoke County School Board rather than fight to keep it in the county's first-ever board election in November.
It was a tough decision. She would have liked to stay, but ``I didn't want to run for something that I have held for a long time,'' Chewning said. ``I just didn't want to have to do it.''
For 12 years, the five-member board was like a family for Chewning, who represented the Vinton District.
``We have been so close that everyone feels almost like a member of a family,'' she said. ``Some of us have been there together for a long time.''
Chewning, 58, said she will miss the board, but she won't stay sad long. Sadness is not in her personality.
Chewning said she will stay busy socializing with friends, going dancing, writing her column in the Vinton Messenger, visiting her children, participating in community activities and doing dozens of other things.
Chewning served all 12 years with Charlsie Pafford and nearly 10 years with Chairman Frank Thomas.
Chewning and Pafford will leave the board at the end of December. Pafford also decided not to run to keep her seat; but job and professional considerations, not the county's switch to an elected board, were the main factors in her decision.
Thomas said the board will miss both Chewning and Pafford because of their knowledge and experience.
``We are losing the women's perspective with the loss of both at the same time,'' Thomas said. ``They have worked behind the scenes to get things done without a lot of fanfare.''
Chewning has worked especially hard to improve the arts and vocational education programs in county schools. ``She should be given credit for much of the improvements in the arts,'' Thomas said.
Many of Chewning's friends believe she would have won had she run to keep her seat.
``She is a people person - and the most delightful person I have known,'' Pafford said. ``She would make a good politician.''
Michael Stovall, a Vinton police investigator, won the seat in a three-way race with Evelyn Ball and Robert Rouse.
Chewning's given name is Barbara, but almost no one calls her that. It's too formal to fit her.
Chewning is perhaps best known for running furniture stores with her late husband, Bob Chewning. She also ran a card-and-gift shop in Vinton for 17 years, but she is semiretired now, having sold the businesses. She still owns some commercial property that she leases.
Chewning has been interested in education since she was in high school. She studied teaching at Radford College during the 1950s, before it became Radford University, and graduated in 1959.
Chewning, who grew up in Vinton, got her first teaching job at Roland E. Cook Elementary School, which she attended as a child. Among other schools, she also taught at Cave Spring Elementary.
She quit teaching when the demands of the family's businesses took more time, but she remained active in the parent-teacher association while her two children were in school.
Chewning was appointed to the board in 1982 when Harry Nickens, who then represented the Vinton District, was elected to the Board of Supervisors. Nickens and other community leaders urged her to seek the post.
She agreed and was chosen by a selection commission appointed by the county Circuit Court judges. She also was chosen for two additional terms.
Chewning has taken her responsibilities as a board member conscientiously. She missed only four or five meetings during her 12 years on the board.
Chewning said she hopes that the switch to an elected board doesn't pit different areas in the county against each other. With elected members, she fears that some might be more interested in the schools in their districts than the county as a whole.
``I've always had to remind myself that it is the Roanoke County School Board - not the Vinton board,'' she said
Even though she dislikes sectionalism, Chewning said she is disappointed that the school's central offices won't be moving to Vinton. The School Board considered Vinton but decided to move the offices from Salem to the former Roanoke County Occupational School on Cove Road, near Glen Cove Elementary School.
Besides the time she devoted to the School Board, Chewning has been involved in community activities. In 1986, she was Mother of the Year for Community Affairs in the Roanoke Valley.
Chewning might easily have become an actress, dancer, musician or singer. As a child, she dreamed of going to New York and becoming a dancer.
She didn't, but she never lost her interest in the performing arts. ``I've always wanted to be a performer,'' she said.
She was a cheerleader for Virginia Tech back when Radford College students were on Tech's squad. She also has been active in theatrical groups in the Roanoke Valley. Chewning will join the Mill Mountain Theatre's board of directors.
Chewning said the toughest part of being a board member was not having enough money to provide all the computers, equipment, laboratories and other materials that the children need.
``It breaks my heart that we can't always provide what is needed,'' she said.
The needs in vocational education are especially acute, she said. Not everyone goes to college, so the school system needs to help them have marketable job skills when they graduate from high school, she said.
After leaving the board, Chewning said, she hopes to have more time to do volunteer work or help the county's Career Center for alternative education students.
``I still enjoy working with children,'' she said. ``I will remain interested in what is happening in the schools.''
by CNB