Robert Lee Lynn rose from a clerk in Roanoke’s Heironimus and Brugh store to president of the S. H. Heironimus Company, shaping its growth into a leading Shenandoah Valley department store. A civic, commercial, and church leader, he served the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Calvary Baptist Church, and other organizations before his death in 1936.
William Daniel Staples (1907–?) was a Virginia lawyer, editor, and public-relations director. After graduating from Princeton and the University of Virginia School of Law, he practiced in Roanoke, served with the War Production Board, and undertook World War II military-government and civilian-supply assignments. He later directed public relations for West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company and married Mary Elizabeth Macdowell.
Frank Armstrong Sr. was a West Virginia-born fruit-products executive, cattle breeder, and longtime leader of the National Fruit Product Company. Born in Central Station in 1871, he worked in wholesale groceries before helping establish the company in 1913. He later managed 1,300 acres near Haywood, breeding Aberdeen-Angus cattle. He married Nellie Steel and had two children.
Whitwell Wentworth Coxe, born in Roanoke in 1884, was a Virginia lawyer and public official who became general solicitor for the Norfolk and Western Railway. A University of Virginia graduate, he practiced law in Roanoke, led bar associations, served on the Roanoke Board of Aldermen, and helped with Virginia’s 1933 repeal convention.
Colonel Morgan H. Hudgins was a Virginia educator, military-school commandant, and longtime superintendent of Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro. Born in Portsmouth in 1878 and a Virginia Military Institute graduate, he also served eight years as Waynesboro’s mayor and led wartime civic efforts. He married Elizabeth Milnes Austin in 1913.
Judge Rose MacDonald Skoggs of Berryville, Virginia, built a distinguished career as a librarian, educator, author, welfare worker, and juvenile and domestic relations court judge. A native of Lexington, she studied at several colleges, served in public education and Red Cross leadership, wrote several books, and married J. Lewis Skoggs in 1947.
Hollie Brockenborough McCormac Jr. was a Winchester, Virginia textile executive who led The Virginia Woolen Company and Varel Mills, Inc. A Lehigh University graduate, he also served as a director of Shenandoah Valley National Bank and took part in civic and fraternal organizations. He married Evelyn Montgomery and had one daughter.
Hollie Brockenborough McCormac Sr. was a leading Shenandoah Valley industrialist, banker, farmer, and civic leader. Born in Frederick County in 1875, he rose from farm management to president of Virginia Woolen Company, served in numerous business and civic roles in Winchester, and died at his home in 1937.
William Mahone, born near Courtland, Virginia, in 1826, rose from civil engineer to railroad builder, Confederate general, and U.S. senator. He helped develop the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad through the Dismal Swamp, fought at major Civil War battles, and later led efforts to rebuild Virginia’s rail systems during Reconstruction.
Major General Richard Jaquelin Marshall (1895–1946) was a Virginia-born U.S. Army officer who served in World War I and rose to chief of staff of U.S. Army forces in the Pacific during World War II. After retiring, he became superintendent of Virginia Military Institute. The article also outlines his family, marriage to Isabel Crum, and children.