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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 21, 1995                   TAG: 9503210092
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

STRAUB, FORMER CHRISTIANSBURG MAYOR, DIES

Former Mayor Charlie Straub is being remembered throughout this community as someone who was devoted to this town, his businesses and his church.

"He was an outstanding man. He contributed a lot to this community in a lot of areas," Mayor Harold Linkous said.

Straub, 83, who died Thursday after a brief illness, was mayor from 1954 to 1962 and from 1966 to 1970. He changed the town's charter from a mayoral system to a council and town manager system; he hired Town Manager John Lemley, who is still on the job; and he shepherded the town's entry into the Blacksburg/VPI water authority, a move that cleared the way for Christiansburg's subsequent growth.

"If we were not a member of [the water authority], we would not be where we are today," Linkous said. The wells and springs the town used for water could not have sustained the commercial and industrial growth Christiansburg has seen in recent years.

Straub was also chief executive officer of C,J & S Petroleum Co., chairman of the board and interim president of First National Bank and owner of the auto dealership Homer Cox bought in the early 1970s.

"He touched a lot of lives. He was a good, solid business man," said Sam Tollison, president and chief executive officer of the bank.

"He was a well-respected man, and he did a lot for this community," Cox said. "He was a good leader. ... He could motivate people."

A graduate of Virginia Military Institute and a lieutenant colonel in World War II, Straub's military background was seen in his dedication to work, his son Joseph said.

"He spent time leading causes he believed in. His main theme was WORK, and it was spelled with capital letters," Joseph Straub said.

Family members say he was equally proud of his sports accomplishments when he was young. He was captain of his football team at Lexington High School and Virginia Military Institute. At VMI, where he was a tackle and guard, his team beat the University of Virginia three consecutive times, something he let few people forget.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at VMI and was selected as a second team All-American and All-Southern player.

by CNB