THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 31, 1995 TAG: 9503310529
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Glenda Wood Crane, a 50-year-old College of the Albemarle administrator, has been named election supervisor by the Pasquotank County Board of Elections.
Crane succeeds Catherine E. Perry, who resigned to marry the mayor's son.
``It was unanimous,'' Floyd E. Spellman, chairman of the three-member election board, said Thursday. The group chose Crane from among 22 local candidates who applied after Perry announced her resignation March 10.
``We hope to swear in Mrs. Crane on Monday at the election board offices in the Pasquotank Court house,'' Spellman added. Crane is a Democrat. Election officials who selected her include Spellman and Michele Aydlett, who are both Democrats, and William Freismuth, the lone Republican.
Crane's appointment surprised her associates at COA. She spent much of Thursday in emotional farewells after 16 years working at the community college. Her principal job was to facilitate the transfer of students at the two-year college who move on to four-year universities.
``I want to go to work with the elections board as soon as possible so Catherine Perry will be able to show me the ropes,'' Crane said.
Under state law, election boards have the authority to swear in employees or witnesses who may appear before a board in election controversies. Eventually, Crane will be certified in her new position as county election supervisor by the State Board of Elections in Raleigh.
Base pay for a nonpartisan election supervisor is about $20,000 a year, but the job is rich in prestige.
Crane said her accumulated Pasquotank County employment benefits at COA will transfer to her new job.
``Technically, I am moving from one county job to another,'' she said.
Crane was born in Norfolk but grew up in the northern section of Pasquotank County near Morgan's Corner. Her husband, Roger Crane, is a pharmacist-in-charge at an Elizabeth City Revco drug store. The couple has a 21-year old son, Christopher, who is a student at East Carolina University in Greenville.
``I decided to apply for the job after I heard that Catherine (Perry) was leaving to get married,'' Crane said. ``We grew up together around Morgan's Corner and have been friends ever since.''
Crane graduated from the old Central High School in Elizabeth City in 1962, and later attended a business college in Raleigh. After working for several firms in the Raleigh area, Crane returned to Elizabeth City and went to work at COA in 1980.
Last year she transferred 99 COA students to four-year universities to complete their education. All had above-average grades to take with them, she said. Twenty-four COA faculty members rely on Crane to help their students continue on to four-year universities.
She and her husband live in the 400 block of Carter Road in Hickory Acres in Elizabeth City. by CNB