Urbanna man spotlighted in TV program that was an Emmy winner

At the 66th annual Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science (The Capital Emmys) awards banquet on June 24, reporter Grey McQuade of CBS Channel 6 news in Richmond won a regional emmy with the “Military No Time Limit category.” The entry featured Urbanna’s own Bob Means.

The Capital Emmys represent excellence in television journalism for Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The feature on Means aired Oct. 21, 2023 with the opening of the five-minute clip at Hidden Green Golf Course on Red Hill just outside of Urbanna — a private nine-hole golf course Means built himself.

As part of his therapy for PTSD, Means authored the book, “My Soul to Keep: A Marines Journal After Combat,” which tells his experiences in the war and returning from Vietnam.

The book has taken on a life of its own as it is being made into a film by Voyage Media/Zero Gravity Productions. “They want to make it into a love story with Juliet and I meeting in Vietnam,” he said. “That’s all good, but we actually met in Nicaragua. It will be based on my life experiences with some alterations.”

Bob and Juliet moved to Urbanna in 1999. When Juliet died of cancer in 2011, the funeral was conducted at Urbanna Baptist Church. “I spoke at the funeral on my life with Juliet and after the church service Mead Usry approached me and said I should write a book.”

Usry owns a publishing company and continued to encourage Means to write his life story.

After the book came out in 2022, Usry contacted movie producers and sold them on the idea of making a movie, said Means. “They are currently in the process of hiring a director for the film,” he said.