ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996 TAG: 9607080115
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
JUNE NOLLEY AND RUTH WADE both retired July 1, after decades of taking minutes, maintaining records, and helping prepare board meeting agendas.
The late-night meetings are over for June Nolley and Ruth Wade. They won't miss them.
No longer will they have to worry about who made the motion or voted for it. They won't have to produce minutes of meetings that sometimes last four or five hours.
Both longtime clerks of the Roanoke and Roanoke County school boards retired July1.
For decades, they have been fixtures at the boards' meetings. They seldom, if ever, spoke, but they probably paid closer attention to what went on than anyone else.
Nolley has attended almost every city board meeting for nearly 20 years. Wade has been at most every county meeting for 29 years.
"The meetings are just part of the job, but they're not always pleasant," Nolley said. "But I'll miss the people who have been so kind to me."
Wade said the board meetings "come with the territory," but she didn't mind them once she got used to them.
The clerk helps prepare the agenda, takes the minutes of the meeting and maintains the board's records. The clerk also handles the board's correspondence, helps schedule special meetings and makes any special arrangements that might be required for a meeting.
Both Nolley and Wade have held other positions while they have been clerk. In fact, Wade will remain as supervisor of clerical, secretarial and other nonprofessional employees for county schools for at least two years, but she won't be the board clerk.
Wade, 53, decided to give up the clerk's post because she said she didn't have time to do both jobs well. "The personnel job is time-consuming, and I didn't feel I could give the clerk's job the attention that it needed."
Nolley, 61, is secretary to Superintendent Wayne Harris, a post she also held when Frank Tota was superintendent. She's retiring so she can spend more time with her husband, who recently retired from his job at Johnson Controls Inc.
Nelson Harris, outgoing chairman of the Roanoke School Board, said Nolley pays close attention to details that make a chairman look good.
"She's very efficient, and she takes care of things that a chairman tends to forget," Harris said. "She'd remind me of things that needed to be on the agenda.'' Nolley has patience and a sense of humor that can relieve tension, he said. "She's a delightful person, and so helpful."
Bayes Wilson, retired superintendent for Roanoke County, said one of the smartest decisions he ever made was to hire Wade. She began as a secretary at the former Andrew Lewis High School in 1961 when it was part of the county school system.
Wade moved to the central office four years later and became Wilson's secretary when he was business manager. She also worked for Wilson after he became assistant superintendent and superintendent. She became board clerk in 1967.
Frank Thomas, a former board chairman, said Wade was an inspiration for him and other board members.
"She taught me to be brief and concise," he said. "She told me that I should say what I had to say and then be quiet."
Thomas said Wade's 29 years as clerk show her dedication and energy. "When I think that I was on the board for 12 years and that was less than half her tenure, you realize what she has done."
Wade worked under four superintendents - Wilson, Herman Horn, Arnold Burton and Deanna Gordon. More than 30 people served on the board while she was clerk.
Nolley began working for city schools 43 years ago when she was a senior at Jefferson High School. She took off nine years to have two children and remained at home while they were young. She will retire with 34 years of service.
Nolley started as a secretarial assistant in the office of Superintendent Dwight E. McQuilkin several months before he retired. McQuilkin was Roanoke's superintendent for 35 years - from 1918 to 1953.
During her career, she served under McQuilkin, E.W. Rushton, Dorothy Gibboney, Roy Alcorn, Don Pack, Walter Hunt, Tota and Harris.
Nolley also was secretary for federal programs for several years and spent two years at Ruffner Middle School.
She worked with 33 school board members after becoming deputy clerk during the 1970s and then clerk.
Nolley never expected to spend her career with the schools when she began working in the superintendent's office more than four decades ago. "I didn't think I'd come back when I left in 1957 to start a family, but Mrs. Gibboney was so persuasive that I came back in 1966."
Because of the demands of her main job as the superintendent's secretary, Nolley often worked at home some nights and weekends to keep up with her clerk's duties and provide minutes to board members on a timely schedule.
As secretary, she's had frequent phone contact with parents and community leaders. Most callers are courteous, but a few are angry and rude, she said. "Sometimes people want to go straight to the top when they're upset."
Nolley said she always tried to be pleasant and considerate to callers, even when they were not. "I'll miss being in touch with parents and others who call the superintendent."
Nolley hopes to have more time for gardening and yard work now. "My husband and I want to do some things together, and that's why I'm retiring now. I've been happy in my job, but I want to spend more time with him."
Wade also served as clerk of the Salem School Board for several years after the city decided to end its school contract with the county and create its own school system.
Hildrey Pollard, a former chairman of the county board, recalled that Wade made many trips to Vinton to bring documents to him to sign while he was chairman.
"She's gone many extra miles to do her job," Pollard said. "She's done a lot more than most people realize."
Jerry Canada, the current county board chairman, said Wade has been particularly helpful to him during the controversy over the school bond referendum, school budget and other issues during the past year.
"It's been a wild ride in the past year, but her experience has been valuable," Canada said. "She'll be missed, but she'll be in the building for at least two more years if we need her."
Wade has seen broad changes in county schools during nearly three decades as clerk, including a school construction boom in the 1970s.
"There were some dark days, too, such as the battles over school budgets, annexation and consolidation," she said.
But Wade said she has seen the growth of instructional programs for gifted and special education students as well as expansion of the regular curriculum.
Noting that nearly three dozen board members have served during the past 29 years, she said, "I guess that says clerks outlast board members, but it seems such a short time."
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART Staff Ruth Wade (left) and June Nolley bothby CNBretired recently. Wade was the clerk for the Roanoke County School
Board, and Nolley was the clerk for the Roanoke School Board.
color.