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Friends mourn Radford girl’s tragic death
After back-to-back news reports of a dangerous man on the loose in Radford on Friday, a 10-year-old boy felt the urge to protect himself and his sister while they waited alone at home for their parents to get off work, according to a family friend. He searched high and low until he found the key […]
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Death-dodging feline survives apartment fire
August 5, 2011
By Sheila Ellis It could be true. Maybe cats do have nine lives. Sam, a cantankerous orange cat, has been run over by a car. He survived, but his tail didn’t. He pulled through major abdominal surgery, costing his owner almost $10,000 in veterinarian bills. Now he’s made it through fire. Read more.
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A “fairy tale” Crystal Spring Elementary School reunion
July 12, 2011
By Sheila Ellis Gail was the serious one. Judy was the talkative one. And Ann was shy and quiet. In 1952, the three little girls were second-graders at Crystal Spring Elementary School in southwest Roanoke. They dreamed of being just like their fresh-out-of-college teachers, Miss Shilling, Miss Johnson and Miss Colhoun. The girls called them […]
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Enslaved in life, Smithfield Plantation slaves newly prominent in death
June 21, 2011
By Sheila Ellis Near the Virginia Tech football stadium in a grassy field stands a black iron fence protecting the remains of a prominent Montgomery County family. It’s the cemetery of the Prestons — a family whose members were leaders in westward expansion in the 18th century. Col. William Preston’s grave anchors the family plot […]
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50 years later, Roanoke School Integration: ‘I tried to look like everyone else’
May 30, 2011
Integration in Roanoke schools was gradual but strategic starting with the 1960-61 school year, nearly six years after the landmark civil rights case, Brown v. Board of Education. By Sheila Ellis CECELIA LONG VIVIDLY REMEMBERS her first day of junior high school. It was September 1960. She wore black oxfords, a plaid skirt and a […]
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Charges dropped in violent robbery of Roanoke convenience store
May 28, 2011
By Sheila Ellis Corey Jamale Hairston says his eyes welled with tears Tuesday morning when he saw his name in a newspaper article, describing him as the suspect in a convenience store robbery and attack on the clerk. Hairston had served 14 years in jail for an armed robbery, and when he was released in […]
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Sheila Ellis | Journalist 
August 16, 2011
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