Dennis Partridge
Hon. Floridus S. Crosby was a Staunton lawyer and judge, born in 1893. After graduating from the University of Virginia Law School in 1917, he served as Commonwealth attorney and Corporation Court judge before becoming judge of Virginia’s Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in 1942. His civic, professional, and Episcopal Church service, along with his 1925 marriage to Martha Virginia Bell, are also documented.
Harry Flood Byrd Jr. (born 1914) of Winchester, Virginia, was a newspaper publisher, orchardist, and Virginia state senator. Son of Senator Harry F. Byrd, he edited the Winchester Evening Star, published the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, and cultivated apples. A World War II Naval Reserve lieutenant commander, he married Gretchen Bigelow Thompson and had three children.
John Campbell Boggs (1896–?) was a Virginia educator and longtime principal of Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal. A Duke graduate, he served with the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, earning the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross after being wounded. He also served in the Virginia National Guard, was active in the Methodist Church, and married Mattie Walton Epes.
Junius Parker Fishburn was a prominent Roanoke newspaper and radio executive, banker, and civic leader. President of the Times-World Corporation, he also served on banking, railway, utility, educational, and civic boards. A Princeton graduate and Presbyterian, Fishburn married Katherine Rodes Nelson in 1926; they had two children, Sally Hart and Robert Nelson.
Junius Blair Fishburn’s biography traces his rise from a young Roanoke banker to a leading financial, publishing, and civic figure in Virginia. It details his family heritage, marriage and children, decades with the National Exchange and First National Exchange Banks, leadership in business, major land and park donations, educational service, church work, and extensive organizational affiliations.
Charles Vernon Eddy of Winchester, Virginia, was a printer, publisher, librarian, civic leader, and prominent Freemason. Co-founder of the Eddy Press, he later led Handley Library and served numerous community organizations. Elected Sovereign Grand Master of the Allied Masonic Degrees in 1948, Eddy was also active in Presbyterian church work, the Red Cross, Boy Scouts, and local historical organizations.
Samuel Thomas Brown (1896–) was a Cornell-trained mechanical engineer, industrial executive, and consulting engineer who led several coal companies and the Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company. A United States Naval Reserve ensign, he belonged to prominent civic, fraternal, and business organizations and lived in Roanoke with his wife, Katherine, and their three children.
Major General Evarts Walton Opie (1893–?) of Staunton, Virginia, was a newspaper publisher, civic leader, and longtime Virginia National Guard officer. He led the 116th Infantry through expansion and wartime training, supervised combat replacements during World War II, and retired in 1946 as a major general. The biography also traces his family, Episcopal service, marriage, and children.
Eugene Paul Sakers (1922–?) was a Baltimore native who served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II before becoming a commercial pilot, flight instructor, and executive secretary of the Winchester Chamber of Commerce. This biographical and genealogical account covers his education, career, military service, Episcopal faith, and 1949 marriage to Marcia Whipple.
Robert L. Lynn was a longtime Roanoke business leader and president of S. H. Heironimus Company, one of the Shenandoah Valley’s leading department stores. A Virginia Military Institute graduate, he was active in civic and religious organizations. Lynn married Virginia Dawson in 1935, and they had three children: Robert, Elizabeth, and Richard.