THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606200156
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 189 lines
BY ANY TEST, they are an unlikely team.
Jack Atkins, 73, is a semi-retired dentist who takes 100-mile bike rides, has grandsons who write essays about how he is the person who has most influenced their lives, and flies off to places like India and Africa to ease the pain of people for whom a toothbrush is a foreign object.
Lou Ann Baines, 18, is a recent Green Run High School graduate who led the cheerleading squad, tutored second-graders at Creeds Elementary School and loves everything associated with her chosen field - accounting.
Rosa Edwards, who admits only to being ``50-something,'' teaches physical education at Alanton Elementary, sponsors a multicultural club and worries about improving the self-image of young black males.
Jamie Labbe, 20, is a rising junior at Virginia Wesleyan College, makes no bones about his love for the political process and spends his summers volunteering 32 hours weekly in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court where he races between locations in a motorized wheelchair.
Elizabeth Linville, 15, is a Cox High School rising sophomore who plays basketball and swims, ignores a bunch of physical and learning challenges, volunteers at the SPCA and has a reputation for friendship and compassion.
All are part of the 10,000-member team carrying the Olympic torch on its 84-day, 15,000-mile trek as it zigzags its way across the country from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
The five Virginia Beach residents are among the 5,500 ``Community Heroes'' selected for their civic contributions. As a reward, each will carry the torch for one kilometer (.6 mile) when it races through Richmond tonight and Saturday morning.
For some of the Virginia Beach team, their legs of the journey will come sometime after the torch enters the city limits at 8:15 p.m. on its way to the Tredegar Iron Works in the Shockoe Bottom area of downtown Richmond, where a celebration is planned.
The torch will then spend the night in its own room at a local Holiday Inn, just as it has each night it has been on the road.
The remainder of the Virginia Beach team will carry the torch Saturday morning as it heads to Petersburg.
The Beach members were selected through a nationwide request for nominations sponsored by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and coordinated locally by the United Way of South Hampton Roads. Selections for this area's torch bearers were made by a 19-member committee of United Way representatives in central and eastern Virginia after initial screening by the Olympic committee.
``There were at least seven times as many people nominated as were chosen to participate,'' said Tempy Barbru of Richmond's United Way Services.
Together the Virginia Beach runners represent a cross-section of the dedication that has given the resort city a national reputation for having diversified and dedicated volunteers.
Edwards, a longtime Virginia Beach physical education teacher and mother of two grown children, grew up in a family where service to others was a way of life.
``I learned about what it meant to volunteer from my mother, father and grandmother,'' she said. ``They came up in hard times. They took nothing, made something out of it and shared what they had.''
Those childhood lessons came back to her in a particularly forceful way one morning when she passed a local church on her way to work.
``There was a sign out front that read `Only those who serve are qualified to lead,' '' Edwards said. ``I figure if we all serve just a little, we can make the world a much better place.''
Lindsay Shepheard, the Virginia Beach elementary health and physical education coordinator who nominated Edwards for the award, said Edwards serves more than just a little.
``She gives her heart and soul to the children,'' Shepheard said.
Edwards, who is especially concerned about the plight of young black males, is committed to making children from all backgrounds feel that they are understood and valued.
One of her most recent projects was a multicultural celebration that she organized at Alanton. For weeks before the June 7 event the children worked at better understanding their own ethnic backgrounds and those of others.
During the 3 1/2-hour event, Edwards hovered in the background greeting guests, checking sound equipment and making sure every child had a moment in the spotlight.
For many years before his retirement, Jack Atkins would close his dental office for weeks at a time to do missionary dental work in India and Africa. A series of medical problems have kept him from doing that since he retired in 1989, but it hasn't slowed his other activities.
Bike riding, especially in charitable events, has become almost a passion with the affable Cape Henry Towers' resident who regularly cycles 50 to 100 miles per day.
When not riding, he does a little dentistry and a lot of looking around for needs to be filled. ``I think it would be a wonderful thing if Habitat for Humanity would move in and help rebuild these black churches which have been burned,'' he said the after the fire in Enid, Okla., last week.
Not one to sit back and let others do the work, Atkins already had called the charity's headquarters to suggest such action.
In September, he plans to ride from Anaheim, Calif., to Orlando, Fla., to raise money for Lee's Friends. He became familiar with the nonprofit hospice program when Fay, his wife of 53 years, began volunteering with the organization, which provides support to terminally ill cancer patients.
``She's my hero,'' Atkins said with obvious pride, ``taking on something like this, working one on one with people who are going to die.''
They are the parents of a son, a daughter, two grandsons and two granddaughters who joined with Fay Atkins to nominate him as a community hero.
Virginia Wesleyan College junior Jamie Labbe was nominated for the honor by Mary Russo, coordinator of Virginia Beach's Volunteer Council.
For the past two summers, Labbe, the college's recently elected student body president, has put in 32-hour work weeks as a volunteer in the office of Circuit Court Administrator Matt Benefiel.
Like Edwards and Atkins, community service is something Labbe started early, does often and enjoys much.
Although a rare form of muscular dystrophy requires him to use a motorized wheelchair much of the time, it has not restricted his activities. He's taught Sunday School, advocated for any number of on-campus causes both in high school and college and served as a poster child and goodwill ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
``The MDA has been very, very good to me,'' Labbe said. ``I like to pay them back whenever I can.''
His plans include law school, a continued commitment to community service and maybe even a venture into politics.
Like Labbe, Elizabeth Linville's physical challenges haven't kept her from contributing to her community.
``When I saw the article in the paper about community heroes not always being who you might expect,'' said her mother, Phyllis Duncan, ``I thought about Elizabeth and all she does.''
The outgoing teenager was born with some learning disabilities and apparent, but not handicapping, physical differences. Now a student at Cox High School, she's overcome more than her share of challenges.
``Sometimes it's easier when your problems are more obvious,'' Duncan said of her daughter. ``When you're just a little bit different, the other children don't understand as well.''
Lack of understanding has never been an obstacle to Linville. ``She's always held her head high and approached every day with a smile,'' Duncan said.
Among the young torch bearer's activities is her volunteer job at the Virginia Beach SPCA. ``I work every Sunday of the month,'' she said proudly, ``doing whatever needs to be done. The best part is when I get to hold the animals and pet them.''
Linville has been practicing for her torch run by running a lot while carrying a weight. ``Three pounds,'' she explained, ``just like the torch.''
Recent Green Run High School graduate Lou-Ann Baines is another who is making practice runs. She also has been having a few restless nights.
``I have nightmares about catching my hair on fire or something. I'm going to be holding it very tight,'' said Baines, who's quick to admit that in all her years of cheerleading she has stayed away from things like flaming batons.
Baines was nominated by Green Run history teacher Marion Broglie for her participation in a long list of school and community programs, especially those involving tutoring.
Over the years, she has read to children at Rosemont Elementary School, tutored other high school students in a project organized by the National Honor Society and led a program that matches Green Run students with youngsters from Creeds Elementary.
She also has led food drives and held offices in a half dozen or more school organizations.
Being chosen for the torch run wasn't the only honor that Baines received this spring. Thanks to $11,000 in scholarships, she will pursue her dream of studying accounting at Virginia Tech this fall. MEMO: [For a related story, see page 9 of The Beacon for this date.] ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
TORCH TRIAL
JACK ATKINS: The semi-retired dentist, who annually did missionary
dental work in India and Africa, now uses his avid biking hobby to
help raise funds for his favorite funds.
ELIZABETH LINVILLE: This Cox High School rising sophomore has worked
through her physical and learning disabilities as a volunteer at the
Virginia Beach SPCA.
JAMIE LABBE: A rising junior at Virginia Wesleyan, he volunteers at
the Circuit Court, teaches Sunday school and serves as a goodwill
ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
ROSA EDWARDS: A physical-educaton teacher at Alanton Elementary, she
sponsors a multicultural club and works to improve the self-image of
young black males.
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
LOU ANN BAINES: The recent Green Run High School graduate has
tutored elementary and high school students, led food drives and
held offices in a half dozen or more school organizations.
Staff photos, including color cover, by MORT FRYMAN
Staff photo, above, by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT by CNB