ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701200031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
LUCILLE BOGGESS, one of the county's most popular and skilled politicians, is known for her compassion and dedication.
A group of homeowners from Forest came to the Bedford County Board of Supervisors meeting last week to complain about the likely impact of a proposed strip mall in their neighborhood.
Supervisor Lucille Boggess, who represents the central district of the county and lives more than 20 miles away from Forest, wasn't sure what to make of the arguments, so she decided to take a drive and see the neighborhood. She's still not sure how she'll vote on the project, but now she believes she is better-informed.
"You can't sit in the office and make decisions," Boggess said. "You have to go out and look at it and talk to people."
It's that kind of dedication that friends and colleagues say Boggess has given the county in her almost 50 years of service, and will continue to bring to her new role as the first female "chairman" of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors. Boggess, who will be formally addressed as "Madam Chairman," was unanimously elected Monday.
It's another in a long line of firsts for Boggess, 67, who became the county's first female constitutional officer when she was elected commissioner of revenue in 1968, and who became the first woman elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1991.
"As far as women are concerned, she set history in Bedford County," said longtime friend and former county Sheriff Carl Wells.
"I think that she's proud that she has maybe paved the way for other people, but I don't think that's why she did it," said her son, Carl Boggess, a Bedford lawyer.
She and her husband, Ralph, a retired assistant manager of the Bedford ABC store, have three sons, one daughter and five grandchildren.
"I didn't ever hear a lot about it when I ran for commissioner of revenue the first time," Lucille Boggess said. "A few men questioned whether it was a job for a woman, but I don't think too many people did.
"I don't think of it as a male-female thing. As long as you're dedicated to the job, and willing to work hard, that's all that should matter."
Boggess met county Commissioner of Revenue Garrett Ballard in 1948 when she was working at her father-in-law's newsstand in Bedford, and would save comic books for Ballard's daughter. In January 1949, she went to work for Ballard, with no more education than a high school degree and a few typing classes at a business college.
Over time she taught herself how to prepare state and federal tax returns, which became a side job she keeps to this day. By 1968, she was running much of the day-to-day business in the revenue office. She ran against her boss and defeated him soundly in a campaign that took her to general stores and livestock markets across the county.
One of the most popular politicians in the county, she was never opposed for office as commissioner and was usually the top vote-getter in countywide races. In 1991, she retired as commissioner of revenue, and ran for the Board of Supervisors, defeating incumbent Jack Mitchell by nearly a 3-to-1 margin.
On the board she has developed a reputation as a compassionate listener, a moderator and a peacemaker, a role she carries over from her job as commissioner.
County Registrar Marie Batten recalls the days when her office was in the county courthouse next to Boggess': "Occasionally people would come in with tax tickets balled up in their fists, just furious and yelling for 'that Boggess woman.' Invariably, Lucille would be sitting behind her desk smiling; and 30 minutes later, she would be escorting them down the courthouse steps into the sunshine, and they would have a smile on their face, pleased as punch. She had that ability.''
As a supervisor, Boggess has thrown herself behind many causes and has donated her time to many more. She is a board member for the local YMCA as well as for Longwood Industries, a job placement service for the physically and mentally impaired. She has been a staunch supporter of city-county cooperation and has been instrumental in planning renovation of the County Courthouse.
As chairman, she faces many challenges in the coming year, in particular the Board's expected decision to adopt a traditional zoning ordinance instead of the Land Use Guidance System of zoning.
But Boggess' greatest passion probably lies in her work with the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, for which she serves on the board of directors and its executive committee. The foundation is rasing money for a proposed $8million national memorial and education center in Bedford.
Two of Boggess' brothers - Bedford and Raymond Hoback - were among the 19 men in Bedford's Company A who were killed in the D-Day Allied assault on Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Preserving their memory and sacrifice has been a lifelong quest for Boggess, who has visited Normandy twice - on the 45th and 50th anniversaries of D-Day.
"I used to wonder if that's why I push myself so hard, but it's just a family characteristic, I think," Boggess said. "I don't know if I'll ever want to retire. I'll probably work until I die.''
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Lucille Boggess became theby CNBcounty's first female constitutional officer when she was elected
commissioner of revenue in 1968, and the first woman elected to the
Board of Supervisors in 1991. color. KEYWORDS: PROFILE