THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502150176
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
IT COMES AS NO surprise that the Women's Division of the Chesapeake office of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce chose Elizabeth Baum Hanbury as its ``outstanding woman of the year.''
Hanbury has been a fixture of Chesapeake's education scene and has served her city and community for so many years, she was a natural for the award, said Carolyn Bernard, a member of the nominating committee.
Hanbury received her award last Sunday at the Women's Division's annual installation banquet at the Holiday Inn-Chesapeake.
``She is such a lady and is so well thought of all through Chesapeake and beyond,'' Bernard said.
Bernard said her committee receives nominations from the membership. Each nominee, she said ``must be a Chesapeake resident whose life exemplifies the high ideals of the chamber.''
``Elizabeth Hanbury is this and more,'' Bernard said. ``We couldn't think of a more deserving person. Her contributions to the community are numerous.''
``I was surprised,'' said the genteel Hanbury.
The West Virginia native began teaching in 1943, when she took her first post at Okeechobee High School in Florida.
Although she was born and reared elsewhere, Hanbury said she considers Chesapeake her home.
``My roots go back to Norfolk County to the mid-1600s,'' she said from the well appointed living room of her Hickory home. ``I met my husband here while I was visiting my grandmother at her Fentress home.''
Hanbury and her husband, Lawrence, now retired from the Ford Motor Co., lived in Fentress for five years. They moved in 1951 to their present home, located on land owned by her husband's family since 1852.
The two have raised three children and now have six grandchildren.
Shortly after moving into their house in the country, Hanbury began her extensive Chesapeake teaching career when she joined the Great Bridge High School faculty in 1953.
There she taught English with a strong emphasis on historical perspective until 1965 when she became supervisor of English for Chesapeake's secondary schools.
``I really enjoyed classroom teaching,'' she said. ``I loved looking at the relationship between the development of literature and history. I enjoyed using historical time lines to keep the development of literature in perspective.''
Her career as an educator included positions as assistant principal of instruction at Indian River High from 1968 to 1980, as instructor of English composition for the University of Virginia Extension from 1968 to 1970 and as a student teacher supervisor at Old Dominion University in 1991.
Hanbury was a member of the Chesapeake Education Association from 1953 to 1972 and served as its president in 1963 and 1966. She was a member of the Virginia Education Association from 1953 to 1972 and became president of her district in 1971.
Hanbury said she was always keenly interested in the rich history of the region and in service to her school and community.
``I really enjoyed coaching the debate and forensic teams at school,'' Hanbury said. ``But I had an interest in historic preservation, too. There are a lot of historic sites here in the city that we failed to preserve, and we have very little left.''
Combining her love of history and service, Hanbury has been a member of the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chesapeake General Hospital Auxiliary, a board member of the Chesapeake Community Diversion Program, the Mayor's Task Force on Year-Round Schools and the city's 30th Anniversary Committee, and she helped spearhead an unsuccessful effort to turn the story of the Revolutionary War's Battle of Great Bridge into a tourist-attracting outdoor drama.
``I guess I have been active in various organizations pertaining to education and history,'' she said. ``I just love both so much.''
She was a charter member and eventually president of the Norfolk County Historical Society and active with both the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution and the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution, working with its education and scholarship programs.
``My sense of history really developed after I retired from teaching in 1980,'' Hanbury said.
Hanbury researched and wrote ``Currituck Legacy: The Baum Family of North Carolina,'' which was published in 1985.
She has spoken to many groups and organizations about local history, including topics about old Norfolk County, Chesapeake and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Hanbury said now she has plans to research and write a fictional account of the life of her great-great-grandfather.
``I have the outline for a story,'' she said. ``Now I need to get a good feel of what it was like to live on a day-to-day basis during that time.''
But Hanbury said she's in no rush, as she enjoys life in her historic Hickory home.
``There's nothing I like better than getting a cup of coffee, my newspaper and enjoying the quiet of the early morning and the view from our living room,'' she said. ``I can watch our golden delicious apple trees. They're the best in the county, I think.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Elizabeth Hanbury started teaching at Great Bridge High School in
1953.
by CNB