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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 22, 1995                   TAG: 9506230023
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: NEIGHBORS   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LUCY LEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESS WOMEN'S GROUP LOVES BEING BACK IN `THE HOTEL'

For years, the members had held their meetings, luncheons, dinners and all special events at ``The Hotel.'' And said Elizabeth L. Sears, corresponding secretary, having to meet elsewhere, "just hasn't been the same."

The reunion became a reality June 10th when the group installed its officers and initiated new members at the hotel. Sears thinks it's fitting that there was be a record number of new members - 14.

One of them, Evelyn Stewart, is an associate designer in the information technology department and a 27-year employee of the railroad. Now that her children are grown, she has more time for outside organizations, she said. She was attracted to NARBW because, ``They're part of the railroad, and I'm part of the railroad. They do good things.''

The 39 women who make up the organization (about 75 percent of whom are retired railway employees) are ``a very aggressive bunch,''Sears said. She had heard about them even before she was transferred to Roanoke from Atlanta two years ago.

Four members from the Roanoke chapter serve on the national board. Leigh Russell is district director; Virginia Austin is third vice president; and Mearline Melson, current chapter president, will serve as recording secretary.

Sears already was national publications chairman when she arrived in Roanoke. She says it's unheard of to have this much national leadership from one area.

Roanoke's chapter was chartered in l953. The group promotes loyalty, interest and cooperation within the railroad industry and undertakes charitable and social welfare projects.

Members are engaged in out-and-out warfare on the government's effort to abolish the Railroad Retirement Board. Sears says the group is rallying employees across the nation, and members intend to do everything they can, ``even if it means a march to Washington to impress Vice President Al Gore, as head of the National Performance Review Board, with our feelings and intentions.''

In May, on Railway Business Women's Day, Roanoke members prepared and handed out pamphlets to fellow employees to educate them about the issue and to urge them to contact their representatives in Washington.

The local chapter was among the first to become involved in another nationa group project, Operation Lifesaver. This program was established in l972 after the average highway-railway crossing-related fatalities in the United States escalated to more than 1,200 annually. Operation Lifesaver raises public awareness of the dangers involved at crossings and of walking and playing on tracks. Members distribute pamphlets and make presentations in schools.

Another campaign is aimed at legislation to keep triple trailers off the highways. Aside from feeling that the larger trucks adversely affect the environment and cause havoc to roads, members consider them to be safety hazards.

Locally, the group makes donations to the Rescue Mission, RAM House, the Salvation Army's battered women's shelter and Meals on Wheels. Its members also respond to floods, storms and other tragedies that occur throughout the United States.

One of the national scholarship funds the Roanoke chapter supports has just been awarded to a Cave Spring graduate for the third consecutive year. Kimberly Lowe, the recipient, is the granddaughter of Roanoke group member Francis Lowe.

The members say they are proud of being the only organization of women supporting a single industry. "We don't want to be a transportation group," says Sears. "We want to be a railroad group."