Lunch with Polly Campbell … surprise presentation of RPV resolution

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Polly Campbell stood Friday on the front porch of the historic and stately Mimslyn Inn overlooking Luray and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She and I had made plans for lunch but she didn’t know a couple of friends would be joining us and that she was to receive a commemorative resolution from the Republican Party of Virginia honoring and thanking her for more than 50 years of service to the party. She was also actively involved in the Page County Republican Committee during those years. (See Polly Yager Campbell … growing up in the shadow of Shenandoah National Park.)

A Commending Resolution in Appreciation and Gratitude to PAULINA “POLLY” YAGER CAMPBELL
For 50 Years of Service to the Republican Party of Virginia

This photo is of Governor John Dalton and Polly circa somewhere around 1979. These two were Young Republicans and lifelong friends. When they began working within the party in the early 1960s, the Democratic Byrd Machine was in control of Virginia but the generation that included Polly and Governor Dalton saw that change as they worked to bring the Republican Party into relevance.

From Encyclopedia Virginia: “Although the Daltons hailed from the western ‘Mountain and Valley’ region, where Republicans tended to be centrist in their political outlook, John Dalton became a leading advocate in the 1970s for a party-building strategy that stressed recruiting conservative converts from the ranks of former Democrats. In this, he was allied closely with Richard D. Obenshain, the Republican state chairman, and with Byrd-Organization Democrats such as former governor Mills Godwin. Godwin exited the Democratic Party as its more liberal faction gained control early in the 1970s, and ran for governor again as a Republican in 1973. Dalton joined the Godwin ticket as the candidate for lieutenant governor, and the pairing helped to cement an alliance between the Republican moderates from the west and the conservative former Democrats in the eastern two-thirds of the state. Dalton simultaneously cultivated ties to the state’s moderate-conservative business establishment and projected a youthful, energetic appeal to the state’s fast-growing suburban areas.”

Resolution honoring Polly Campbell for 50 years with Republican Party of Virginia

Polly Campbell and Governor John Dalton

A Commending Resolution in Appreciation and Gratitude to

PAULINA “POLLY” YAGER CAMPBELL

For 50 Years of Service to the Republican Party of Virginia

WHEREAS, the Republican Party of Virginia wishes to recognize Polly Yager Campbell, a lifelong Republican who dedicated more than 50 years as a volunteer for the Party and many candidate campaigns, and

WHEREAS, Polly was born into a third generation Republican family and was raised to stand up with courage for the Republican convictions during the “Byrd Machine” years.  As a child, Polly witnessed those who supported Republican candidates not being considered for the few available jobs in the private sector in her community, and vowed to commit herself to changing her community and the Commonwealth, and

WHEREAS, Polly became active in the Republican Party in 1960 at a time where being a Republican remained unpopular and where there were few actively engaged women in the Republican Party, and

Judge James Turk … ‘His one wish was to become a judge’

By Lynn R. Mitchell

I opened an email earlier this week from Polly Campbell and the first thing she said was, “I just learned of Jim’s passing — he was one of the greatest people I have ever known.”

It had not occurred to me that Polly knew Judge James Turk who passed away Sunday at the age of 91. Then I wondered why it would surprise me since Polly, who was a volunteer with the Republican Party of Virginia for more than 50 years and served 44 of those years as secretary of RPV’s State Central Committee, knew many political giants. Judge Turk was just one of them.

And then Polly added, “His one wish was to become a judge; John Dalton’s wish was to become a Governor — they both met their goals.”