THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606180141
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: 78 lines
Russell Andrews has proven an adage wrong.
Andrews, an active 73, knows you can come home again - and you can make a significant contribution to that place.
Not only is he back home. He's making a difference.
When Andrews was living in Charlotte, N.C., and folks asked him where he was from, he told them Isle of Wight County, Va.
It was the same when he served in the South Pacific near the end of World War II, when he worked summers at the Cavalier Beach Club after the war and attended college at VPI, when he went to work for what was then Pure Oil (now Union 76) and traveled over 36 years from Charlotte to Ashville to Atlanta and finally took root in N. Canton, Ohio.
That's where Andrews and his wife found themselves when he retired in 1986. By then, his son had settled in Ohio, his daughter in Fairfax, Va. There was little to keep them in Ohio, Andrews recalled, certainly not the cold winters or the snow.
Oh, he has some fond memories of all those years.
``I was fortunate I never saw combat during the war,'' Andrews recalled. ``I served with an air-sea rescue outfit in the Hawaiian Islands. I was a crew member on what had been a private yacht.''
When he worked at the Cavalier while going to college, big bands played every night.
He met his wife in Charlotte. His son was born in Ashville, his daughter in Columbia, S.C. The family spent 10 years in Atlanta. He loved the people of N. Canton, and he liked the community.
But none of those places was home.
Andrews was born on a peanut farm near Zuni, where his father sold his crop each year to the Columbian Peanut Co. Columbian, in turn, sold the nuts to what was then called the Planters Nut and Chocolate Co. in Suffolk.
Andrews remembers those days well, but he was never especially fond of farming.
``I chopped peanuts and worked in the cornfield,'' he said, chuckling. ``But my father somehow didn't encourage me in farming. I guess he could tell how I felt about it.''
Andrews graduated from Windsor High School in 1940 and went to VPI for two years before he decided it was his obligation to serve his country. He first worked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth for a little over a year. Then, he joined the service.
Andrews and his bride of many years first looked in the Williamsburg area, finally moved into the house on the family farm, which was empty at the time. Still searching for a place in Williamsburg, they started attending church at Trinity United Methodist in Smithfield. And on Sunday afternoons, they rode around the county.
``There was so much appeal,'' he said. ``We felt like we'd be more a part of the community here in Smithfield.''
Andrews moved into his new home in Smithfield in March 1987. He was home, and it wasn't long before he became a part of the community.
I caught up with him after he spent the morning working on landscaping on Hayden's Lane.
``About eight of us fellows help out the Smithfield Woman's Club with that project on a pretty regular basis,'' he said. ``We call ourselves the Woman's Club's Auxiliary. And once a month, we take the wives out to dinner somewhere.''
Andrews also is active in his church, serving on several committees. And he volunteers with the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, driving cancer patients to and from doctor's appointments and for treatments.
``There are so many of us doing it that it doesn't require much time,'' he said.
In his spare time, Andrews plays in his 22-foot pleasure boat on local waterways.
And every day, he is amazed at the place he has called home for so long.
``I just can't believe the growth we're having,'' he said, shaking his head. ``All of this that's transpiring now is really going to make us a big community.''
But it's still home. And it's exactly where Andrews wants to be.
He knows you can come home again. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Russell Andrews retired in 1986 and returned to Isle of Wight
County. by CNB