THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260362
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Fifty years ago, in the last year of World War II, Vernon Grant James left the family potato farm in nearby Weeksville and went to Raleigh to be sworn in as a new member of North Carolina's legislature.
For decades, he was on hand for the opening of the General Assembly. But on Wednesday the 84-year-old legislator stayed home with his honors and memories.
``It was the first opening session I've missed in a long, long time,'' said the spry spud-farmer who hasn't quite learned to be comfortable with his new title: former state Rep. Vernon James, D-Pasquotank.
James didn't seek re-election last year and, in his place, Pasquotank County Commissioner William C. Owens Jr. took the oath.
``No, no regrets,'' James said Wednesday, after a pause that suggested he didn't quite mean it.
In a Weeksville farm office filled with the mementos of 13 terms in the legislature, he seemed determined to let the world know he was enjoying retirement. But the first thing James did was turn on television coverage of the General Assembly.
James had indicated to friends in 1993 that he hoped to serve one more term.
``I'd worked hard for years to be a good legislator, and I think I learned something about helping folks, particularly the farmers,'' James said Wednesday.
But some younger 1st District Democrats decided it was time for James to step down in favor of Owens, who had been waiting for years for a shot at James' seat.
When James, ever a loyal Democrat, announced he was going to retire to make room for Owens, he insisted it was ``entirely my idea.'' A lot of old friends thought differently.
A few years ago, James sold his interest in the family potato business, keeping only a small area of the James homestead around his house in Weeksville.
``One of my nephews is running things now,'' he said, while James and his wife, Thelma, live quietly and ``do a little traveling.''
James served his first term in the legislature from 1945 to 1947, then returned to Weeksville to help manage the family business. He returned to politics in 1973 and served consecutively in the N.C. House until Owens was sworn in.
During his 13 terms, James served as chairman of the N.C. House Agriculture Committee and in many other farm-related posts.
He received numerous awards over the years for his contributions to agribusiness. He also paid into a legislative retirement fund that will now pay him a few hundred dollars a month.
James' most notable memorial is the Vernon James Agricultural Research Station on U.S. 64 near Plymouth, N.C. The multimillion dollar farm science center was built through James' legislative efforts, and subsequently the General Assembly unanimously voted to name the installation for its creator.
``I'm still available if I'm needed,'' James said Wednesday. ``Several organizations have contacted me about consulting work and I hear Governor Jim Hunt has something in mind,'' James said.
The old farmer-politician scowled at the legislative oratory on television.
``They'll do all right up there,'' James said of his successors.
``Life's like a wagon wheel - you get on at the bottom and it goes around and pretty soon you get to the top if you don't fall off.
``Then if you get back down to the bottom in one piece, I guess it's time to get off. . . '' by CNB