DATE: Friday, August 15, 1997               TAG: 9708150730

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 
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MILESTONES

CHESAPEAKE

Sid Oman, chairman and co-owner of Oman Funeral Home, was chosen as president-elect of the Virginia Funeral Directors Association at the group's annual convention in Richmond.

The association represents more than 700 funeral homes in Virginia.

Oman, a former mayor of Chesapeake and Elizabeth City, N.C., was a member and president of the Virginia State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, the regulatory and licensing board of the profession. Oman has been a licensed funeral director and embalmer for 47 years.

NORFOLK

Lytton J. Musselman, eminent scholar of biological sciences at Old Dominion University, has been awarded his third Fulbright grant and is serving on the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Jordan in Amman for one year.

During the appointment, which began this month, Musselman will research parasitic weeds of various plants including tomatoes, eggplant and cabbage. The plants are high-value crops planted on irrigated land in Jordan.

For the past 20 years, Musselman has been researching parasitic weeds and has published numerous manuals and books on the subject. During his year in Jordan, he will also research the uses of Middle Eastern plants by studying ancient literature, including the Bible. He has published two books on plants of the Bible.

Musselman's two previous Fulbright awards allowed him to conduct research on the same topics for two years in Sudan and a year in the West Bank of Israel in the 1980s.

A Norfolk resident, Musselman's grant is funded by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the U.S. Information Agency.

PORTSMOUTH

Debra Y. White of Portsmouth recently was appointed city clerk by the Portsmouth City Council.

White is the first African-American to officially serve as the city clerk in Portsmouth and, according to the city's available records, the youngest person appointed to the post. There are only four other African-American municipal clerks in Virginia.

In six years, White has been promoted from receptionist for the city's legislative and executive offices to senior deputy city clerk to chief deputy city clerk.

While serving as senior deputy clerk in 1994, White was selected as ``City Employee of the Year'' by the Merrimac Kiwanis Club.

White will succeed Sheila Powell Pittman, who has been city clerk since Feb. 1, 1988. Debbie Hebert will succeed White as chief deputy city clerk.

White, a Churchland High School alumna, resides in Portsmouth with her husband, Alan, and daughters Tiffani, 8, and Alexis, 6.

SUFFOLK

Tywana German is the newly appointed director of fund-raising for the United Way campaign in Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.

She believes her work will make life less difficult for some, since the United Way supports such programs as The Food Bank, Meals on Wheels and the Suffolk Shelter for the Homeless.

A luncheon to launch Suffolk's annual campaign will be held at 1 p.m. Aug. 28 at the National Guard Armory.

``I'm a staff member, but the United Way is run by volunteers,'' German said.

``What motivates me is working for the community,'' she said. ``I care so passionately about non-profit agencies.

``My role is collecting funds to see that the agencies can keep their doors open.''

German's husband, Les, is director of the Boys and Girls Club in Norfolk. They live in Chesapeake.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Virginia Beach Councilwoman Louisa M. Strayhorn has been selected to serve a year as a National Urban League trustee.

Strayhorn, who represents the Kempsville Borough, began her time on the board last week at the league's annual conference, ``Economic Power: The Next Civil Rights Frontier,'' in Washington.

The league, a social service and civil rights organization, was established in 1910 to work with American businesses and governments on behalf of African Americans. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group.

Strayhorn said she will be able to be an ambassador for the city, promoting the Beach to the national corporations - such as American Express and NationsBank - which serve on it.

Perhaps, she said, some might even consider the city as a home for their businesses. ``You have an opportunity to show to them what our city is all about.''

W. Page Cockrell, vice president of Patton, Harris, Rust and Associates, has been appointed to the Virginia Geographic Information Network Advisory Board by Gov. George Allen.

Cockrell is a ``governor'' representing the Virginia Association of Surveyors for the National Society of Professional Surveyors and a member of the Virginia Association of Surveyors. He is also a member of the Hampton Roads Utility and Heavy Construction Association, the Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate, the Society for American Military Engineers and the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. He will serve a five-year term.

Allen also appointed Peter B. Schultz, a professor in the Department of Entomology at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center, to the board of trustees of the Chippokes Plantation Farm Foundation.

Schultz received his bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California in Davis, his master's degree from Midwestern State University and his doctorate from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. ILLUSTRATION: Sid Oman

Lytton J. Musselman

Tywana German

Louisa M. Strayhorn

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