By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Wednesday’s meeting marked the end of an era: the last appearance of Donald W. Weaver as the supervisor from Cunningham.
Weaver announced his retirement earlier this year. He was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1998 and went on to serve eight consecutive terms, for a total of 32 years.
County Administrator Eric Dahl presented Weaver with a resolution recognizing his retirement and a plaque commemorating his service. Sheriff Eric Hess also presented him with a resolution thanking him for his service.
Finally, Weaver was given a framed picture of Pleasant Grove Park, which he had been instrumental in creating during his time on the board.
He told the audience that the park had grown out of a need for a new courthouse. The land had initially cost $1.5 million, but he recalled that the county administrator at the time talked the seller down to just over $1 million.
But then they learned that they couldn’t build a new courthouse so far from the old one, leaving them with almost 1,000 acres and nothing to do with it. Eventually, they decided to turn it into a park.
“I think Pleasant Grove is one of the greatest places in Virginia,” he said.
Current supervisors took a moment to recognize the role Weaver had played in their time on the board.
Tony O’Brien said he had heard a lot about Weaver when he first became interested in local politics and joked that “all the things I heard about him were wrong.” He said Weaver had become “a mentor” to him during his time on the board.
Mozell Booker said she had probably known Weaver longer than anyone there, not just from her 14- year tenure on the Board of Supervisors, but from Weaver’s time on the School Board while she was working in the school system.
She recalled when she was named principal at Cunningham school that Weaver had come to her office and given her a single long-stemmed yellow rose. “Do you remember that?” she asked him.
“I don’t,” he replied, “but it sounds like something I would do.”
“We’ve had a good time,” Booker said. “We don’t agree all the time, but we always can call each other and talk to each other, and it has been a pleasure to work with you.”
Mike Sheridan said that the word that always came to mind when he was thinking about Weaver was “integrity,” calling him “an example of a Christian gentleman.”
Sheridan said Weaver’s was diligent in studying the mountains of material given to each supervisor and joked that he never knew anyone who could ask so many questions about 50 cents spent on a lightbulb.
“Chris, you got some mighty big shoes to fill,” Sheridan called out to Chris Fairchild, who will take Weaver’s seat in January. “You don’t come up with a 50 cent question that first meeting, you’re out of here.”
