Lisa Aliff
Former Miss Virginia

Miss Virginia to “B” Movie Star
After winning the Miss Virginia crown in 1983, Roanoke Valley native Lisa Aliff moved to California in search of an acting career. After landing numerous guest spots on television shows and starring in a few “B” movies, she returned to the Roanoke Valley in 1995. Aliff hit some rough patches in the late ’90s, as custody of her son was temporarily awarded to her ex-husband and an ex-boyfriend assaulted her. She opened The Studio of Performing Arts in Salem and continues to build her business. Aliff didn’t return calls for comment on this article.

Victoria Bond
Conductor and composer Victoria Bond c. 1990

We caught up with Bond in Chicago where she is conducting Verdi’s opera “Ernani” with the Da Corneto Opera Company.
“Roanoke was such an important period in my life,” says Bond. “I’m very grateful to the community, the board and the orchestra for giving me the opportunity to stretch my wings and fly. Give my regards to everyone in Roanoke.”

Earl Bramblett
Executed For Murder

Earl Bramblett allegedly killed the Hodgeses, a Vinton family of four, and set their house on fire in an attempt to cover up the murders. The two Hodges daughters, Winter – 11 and Anna – 3, had been shot in the head twice. Their father, Blaine was shot in the head once, and his wife Theresa had been strangled and set on fire. Bramblett was executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia on April 9th, 2003 for his crimes. Bramblett maintained his innocence throughout his trial and up to his execution. Some continue to maintain Bramblett’s innocence.

Buster Carico
Newspaper Legend

Melville “Buster” Carico – in his famous red baseball cap – covered Virginia politics for The Roanoke Times for 23 years. During the years he covered the state legislature, Carico says that the most interesting story he ever witnessed was desegregation of Virginia schools.
“I was probably the first reporter in the front row when they closed [rather than desegregate] Warren County High school in Front Royal,” he says. “Later that evening, the place was swarming with reporters from all over.

Ann Compton
At the White House
She’s been sitting at the same desk at the White House for 30 years. After Hollins graduate Ann Compton was a news anchor at WDBJ Channel 7 in Roanoke in 1974, she became the first woman to be named full-time White House Correspondent. She is now covering her sixth president with ABC news.
In the past five years, the most dramatic thing Compton has covered has been September 11th, 2001.
“I was the only broadcast correspondent allowed to stay with the president as we flew from location to location on Air Force One,” says Compton.
Right now Compton is covering the president’s campaign for re-election, and attempting to adjust to having an empty house. Her last child just went off to college this fall.

Tai Collins
“Baywatch” Beauty Queen
In the late 1980s Tai Collins, Roanoke Valley native and Miss Virginia USA 1983 allegedly had an affair with Senator Chuck Robb. Afterwards she posed for Playboy and was named one of their “sex stars” of 1990. Collins also pursued an acting and modeling career, eventually landing guest star roles on “Baywatch” and writing for both “Baywatch” and “She Spies.” While working on “Baywatch,” Collins and her boyfriend Greg Bonann – co-creator of “Baywatch” – started the Camp Baywatch/A Chance for Children Foundation in Pacific Palisades, Calif. which Collins currently directs. The foundation teaches inner city children basic swimming and water safety skills. Collins did not return calls for this article.

Annie Dillard
Too Busy to Talk?

She won the Pulitzer Prize for “A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” written while she lived in Roanoke. Since Annie Dillard has left this area, she’s lived all over the country, written more books and countless short fiction pieces, poetry and essays for literary journals – Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, Harvard Review and others. Over the years Dillard has also been married and divorced, had children, and has been known to describe herself as a soccer mom. Her last known residence was in Connecticut. We couldn’t confirm her place of residence as Dillard declined, through her agent, to be interviewed for this article due to personal time constraints.

Jack Fishwick
Enjoying Retirement

Jack Fishwick, president and CEO of Norfolk & Western from 1970 to 1981, still keeps an office in the Norfolk Southern building in downtown Roanoke. He has been officially retired from the company for 23 years, and says he uses his office in the company building to “get out of his wife’s hair” and take care of business matters. He proposed and presided over much of N&W’s 1981 merger with Southern, though he retired before the merger became official.
Since retiring, Fishwick and his second wife travel to London once a year to take in the latest theatrical productions, and they spend part of the summer in Canada.
“I’m not doing much,” he says. “I’m just trying to be.

Barbara Gibbs
North Carolina News Anchor

She was one of the most popular news anchors in Roanoke, even after she left. Barbara Gibbs was voted Best Local Television Personality – Gold (female) and Best Local Sex Symbol in The Roanoker’s annual best of poll in 2001, six months after her mysterious departure from WSLS News Channel 10.
Gibbs is now the morning and noon news co-anchor with WTVD Raleigh-Durham, N.C. As much as she loves her current job, she still misses Roanoke.
“I miss the people in Roanoke,” she says. “I continue to be surprised by e-mails and letters from Roanoke viewers. They send me the sweetest notes – how cool is that?”

Don Flanders
Gone to the Midwest?

Don Flanders walked out of his job as the Roanoke County Administrator in 1985 during a board of supervisors meeting. He left the meeting, drove home and never came back. Shortly thereafter, Flanders left Roanoke for Florida. After that it appears he returned to his native Fond du Lac, Wis. We found a Don Flanders involved with the Portland, Mich. city government, but that Flanders did not return our calls or e-mails so we could not verify if he is the Flanders formerly of Roanoke.

David Hayden
Has the Storm Abated?

After a 1998 article in The Roanoke Times about his planned move to Youngstown, Ohio, the unorthodox advocate for the poor and homeless, and strident opponent of the Explore project, disappeared. Calls to some of the people and organizations in Roanoke he worked with, and sometimes against, produced no leads. An old friend of Hayden’s with the National Coalition for the Homeless in D.C. had no information either. He thought Hayden might be in Montgomery, Ala. but that lead produced nothing.

Bob Herbert
New Career, New Direction

Bob Herbert became Roanoke’s city manager after Bern Ewert stepped down. Herbert faced many challenges during his tenure from 1985 to 1999, such as the closing of Hotel Roanoke, and the failure of the consolidation vote.
Since his retirement Herbert has been working as a fellow for Virginia Tech in the Center of Organizational and Technological Advancement (COTA) from an office in the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. Herbert works with the governmental and nonprofit areas of the project.
“It’s so exciting to take a whole new career on,” says Herbert. “My focus is now external. I’m working with Roanoke and the rest of the commonwealth, and sometimes the rest of the country.”

Mike Ives
At Sea

He was fired from his position as a columnist with The Roanoke Times in 1979. Since then Mike Ives has written for papers in Arizona, been a roaming pool shark, started writing a couple of as yet unfinished books and moved to Florida – where he discovered sailboats. “Sailing is what I was meant to do,” says Ives. “It only took me 50 years to figure that out.” Ives still lives in Bradenton, Fla.

Mike Kavanaugh
Community Oriented

Since losing his re-election bid for Roanoke County sheriff in 1991, Mike Kavanaugh retired from law enforcement, but has been keeping busy with volunteering and community-related events.

Kavanaugh spent a couple of years working with Federal Emergency Management Agency covering large disasters. After leaving FEMA, he was appointed the U.S. Army Reserve Ambassador for Virginia by the Chief of the Army Reserves. In this position he helps take care of the soldiers that have been called into active duty, and their families.

“You’ve got to give back to the community,” says Kavanaugh. “You can’t just take.”

Bob Kopstein
Former CEO

Thus far, our attempts to track down Bob Kopstein have been futile. We contacted Optical Cable where he was formerly president and CEO, and everyone we spoke with professed no knowledge of his whereabouts. We tracked down Kopstein’s stock-trading lawsuit attorney who said that he wasn’t in a position to confirm or deny whether or not he was even in contact with Kopstein. However, the attorney did suggest that having had known Kopstein in the past, he was positive that Kopstein would not want to contact us after the skewering he took in the press around the time of his dismissal from Optical Cable and the lawsuit. Other leads have failed to produce any information.

Steve Lucion
Disappeared After Release From Jail

In one of the biggest scandals in Roanoke of the past three decades, Steve Lucion and a partner bilked many investors in the Roanoke Valley out of millions of dollars in a real estate scam. After a lengthy criminal trial, Lucion served four years of a 10-year sentence. As soon as he was released from prison, a civil suit was leveled against him by the investors who lost money. He was ordered by the court to pay back the investors, though there is little hope of recovering the money. Attempts to track Lucion down have been unsuccessful.

Richard Hamlett & Debbie Reynolds
He’s Still Here, She’s Coming to Perform

Roanoke-area real estate developer Richard Hamlett famously married actress Debbie Reynolds in 1984. He moved from the valley to Las Vegas where he and Reynolds attempted to create a Hollywood nostalgia-themed hotel and casino. That project ended up bankrupting the couple, and they divorced in 1994. Reynolds eventually opened her casino and museum in Las Vegas and will be appearing with the Roanoke Symphony at the Roanoke Civic Center in February 2005.

Granger MacFarlane
Still Politically Involved

Former State Senator Granger MacFarlane has been out of office since the early 1990s, but that hasn’t stopped him from being involved in local politics. Aside from staying busy running the family business – Eastern Motor Inns – he is on the executive committees of both Blue Ridge Public Television and Total Action Against Poverty (TAP), and is a member of the Roanoke Airport Commission.
“I’ve been involved in every single election from the courthouse to the White House from 1952 until now,” he says. “Since 1959 in Roanoke.”
When asked if he has considered running for public office again, he says yes, but business concerns have prevented him.
“I miss it,” MacFarlane says simply of his days in office.

Don Terp
Moved to Pennsylvania

Former Roanoke County citizen Don Terp moved to Roanoke after retiring from Hewlett-Packard in New Jersey and rapidly inserted himself into the local political scene. After spearheading the fight against valley government consolidation among other issues, he ran for a seat on the county board of supervisors and was defeated in a landslide. In 1999 Terp became “fed up” with Roanoke and decided to move back to his wife’s native Pennsylvania. His wife has since passed away. The latest information we found on Terp is that he has recently had a stroke and is now in a full-time care and rehabilitation facility in Allentown, Pa.

Frank Tota
Retired to California

Former Superintendent of City Schools Frank Tota retired from his highly paid position and eventually moved to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. to become the superintendent of schools. His legacy in Roanoke was mixed: He was seen as an energetic and innovative administrator, yet his departure was marked by controversy over paid leave, sick days and an extended contract that in the eyes of many called for little work for his money. When he retired from the New York schools he moved to Pasadena, Calif. to be near one of his children. Tota could not be reached for comment.

Ezera Wertz
Still Peddlin’ the Produce

For 55 years Ezera Wertz has been in business – in Roanoke City Market as Wertz’s Country Store and now in his newer store – Wertz’s Farm Market – on Brambleton Avenue. He gave the store on the market to his daughter and her husband Gary Crowder a few years ago. Crowder runs the current incarnation of the downtown store – Wertz’s Country Store and Wine Bar.
Wertz, with Andy Williams, was an early leader in the revitalization of the market area. Opening the market store filled a niche that most Roanokers had been missing from downtown. Wertz provided specialty food items and a caring presence to customers.
Ask Wertz about retirement and he’s succinct:“As long as I’m able to do this, I’ll keep at it. This is what I love doing.”

Andy Williams
From Gallery Owner to Financial Advisor

Andy Williams and his wife Maronda were at the forefront of the Roanoke City Market revitalization when they opened Gallery 3 on the market in 1977. Gallery 3 was the first new business to move back downtown after the area’s decades of decline.
The Williamses sold their business in 1992 so that Maronda could be at home with their children full time.
In 1993 Andy went into training as a financial advisor with a small regional investment firm that was eventually bought by the international firm UBS Financial Services. He is a vice president in the Roanoke branch today.
“Becoming a financial advisor was my goal after finishing VMI and my Air Force commitment,” says Williams. “Twenty-eight years later that dream was fulfilled.”