Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 11, 1995 TAG: 9511130017
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Election Night 1995. Montgomery County Courthouse, Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue.
7 p.m. Robertine Jordan sips her coffee insouciantly - like someone who has been doing this once a year since 1955.
"Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman" reads the mug she sets down in front of her.
Jordan was likely the first woman in Southwest Virginia to hold the commissioner's post. Only one other commissioner has been serving longer.
"I've been in this office 46 years," she says with a touch of sadness in her voice. "Forty-six years ... It's a lifetime."
Jordan will retire Dec. 31.
Across the table Nancy Miller, Jordan's chief deputy of 16 years, sits clad in a red, white and blue sweater with stars and stripes.
The polls have just closed. The campaign is over. The waiting has begun. Will Miller replace Jordan as Montgomery County commissioner of revenue?
Across the hall in the office of Treasurer Ellis Meredith, the hopes rest on his protege, Helen St. Clair, the Republican candidate.
While the treasurer is responsible for collecting local taxes, the commissioner is in charge of assessing them.
Back in Jordan's office, the hope is that Miller will carry on the Democratic tradition.
It's hard not to like Jordan immediately. Maybe it's just the way the 69-year-old rolls her eyes and gives you a quiet smile when an employee walks in from the rain complaining about the weather's effect on her hair.
"What are you worried about it for?" she says as the woman whips out a can of hair spray to redo her do.
7:30 People begin to file into the room, and Jordan and Miller lean in to hear reports of local voter turnout. "How many voted at Riner?" Jordan asks. Miller inquires about precinct B-3. Someone reports the voting machines have broken down at B-1. Voters are filling out ballots there by hand. Could be a long night.
Failing to follow local politics, you might have a hard time discerning which woman is actually in this race. This equal concern reflects the teamwork of this campaign.
"It's been a hard election for Robertine, a lot of charges made that she took personally to her leadership abilities," Miller says.
"She is almost like a mother, very protective," Miller says of her mentor. "When you work together that long, eight hours a day, five days a week - you are like a family."
Annual Christmas parties have always been held at Jordan's home. She bakes for special events. Miller points out Jordan's compassion to a handful of office mates who had serious illness in their families this year. "Such caring - you don't always find that with a fellow employee," Miller says.
8:00 Phil Keith arrives on the scene.
"I've known her all my life" says Montgomery County's commonwealth's attorney. "She is the finest public servant I have ever known ... and a friend."
The room is now filled with Miller supporters - many of them hard-core Democrats who also sport "Shuler, A Delegate for Us" buttons and "I'm for Phil" stickers. A lot of coffee and Coke is going down these democratic throats. Caffeine is necessary. Waiting for election returns can be a slow process.
Deputy Commissioner Claire Booth begins answering the phones and filling in the number of votes in each precinct each time the phone rings. Jordan leans forward and peeks as Booth records the results.
Falling Branch: Miller, 559; St.Clair, 271.
"Woo-hoo!" Jordan yells in a loud whisper as she raises two clenched fists in the air and brings them down onto her knees. "That was the one I was worried about," Jordan says.
A man walks by and comments to Jordan: "You'll be back here every time, won't you?"
She puts her hands over her head and laughs, "I'm not going through this again."
9:00 Joan Munford, the former delegate who retired in 1993, turns the corner in the courthouse and is asked about Jordan. "She's just a marvelous person, like a mentor to all of us," Munford says. "It's kind of sad to think she's retiring. I know everything has its time, but she still seems so vital. I'm sure there are other things she's looking forward to though."
There are. "A trip to Florida, I've planned to go on a cruise, do the things I haven't had a chance to do," says Jordan, a widow with four grandchildren. She's also a Hokie fan.
In the office, the numbers are still being frantically written down as the precincts report in. Jordan's conversation with a neighbor is overheard in fragments. 'You've got to take care of your taxpayer," she says.
9:30 Nancy Miller is in the lead by 2,600 votes. Jordan's face is aglow as her eyes follow the numbers. "I think this is going to be a very happy night," she says as a smile spreads across her face.
Amidst the excitement a cake with frosting flowers spelling out "Best Wishes Robertine" is placed in front of the retiring politician.
"I deserve this," she says and her friends and supporters laugh. "Flowers, a cake, I may decide not to leave. Tell Nancy I've changed my mind."
After the bustle of election night commences with yet another phone call, Jordan murmurs quietly. "You all doing all this stuff just makes it harder on me."
10:00 Church of the Brethren. Miller, 1013; St. Clair, 402. Jordan tells how she campaigned for Miller in the rain at Margaret Beeks Elementary earlier today. "Everybody said why don't you go home. They were thinking I was too old to stand out there in all that weather." She hits her knee and gives a hearty laugh.
10:45 Jordan's protege has won in a landslide with 67 percent of the vote. "Can I relax now?" Miller asks Jordan.
"Can I take my signs down now?" asks a man from the back of the room.
Pictures are snapped, final numbers tallied, family members and friends are hugging. One guy in the back is falling asleep. His wife nudges him.
"I'm so happy," says Jordan. "I feel grateful the people know we've done a good job."
by CNB